I only have one more week!!!
This evening we are going to read possibly the last email from Sister Dunne.
This week I ate a pitajaya (pee-tah-hi-ya) and it is the SWEETEST fruit i have tasted in my whole life. It just tastes like SUGARY GOODNESS. I was planning on buying lots this week so i could eat one every day…but it’s a good thing i waited to make that decision because it turns out that they have a laxidive effect. Imma leave it at that.
Also this week, my companion and I were eating some ice cream and mine fell on the ground. I picked it up and ate the part that didn’t touch the ground. My companion repremanded me afterwards because men frequently pee on the sidewalks, walls and streets here. I need some other opinions. Is that reeeeally that bad?
Also this week, we saw a man walking down the street. He tore a branch off a tree and put it around his neck. Then he kneeled on the ground and started doing some sort of ritual drawing a cross in the air. He also casually had a sausage hanging from the top part of his dredlocks. That’s all I have to say about that.
So This last week, I bought some peppers to make a sauce from Peru called “Huancaina”. I was SUPER excited, but when i got the peppers out of the bag, i smelled the pepper and it smelled like a sweet pepper to me and I got super upset because i specifically asked the fruit and veggies lady for the hottest pepper. I decided to open it up and take a little bite to prove to my companion that the lady messed up with the peppers. I took the bite, and it didn’t have any effect on me…until I spit it out. THEN MY MOUTH BURNED LIKE FIRE. ohhhhhhh yeah. So I ran to the fridge and drank some milk as fast as I could…and that helped calm the burn down a bit. After that experience, I started reflecting on life and on the gospel…and I came up with an analogy! Sin may not appear to have a negative affect on us at first. We may sin, and possibly confuse it for good at first saying “it’s not THAT bad”, and right afterwards feel fine. But as time goes by, whether it be minutes or years, we see the burn on our lives and the negatie, and painful effect it has on us. The only solution to get rid of the burn is to calm it down with milk. The milk may be the gospel…where we slowly learn how through Jesus Christ, we can eliminate that “burn” from our lives forever.
Now, how do we yield our hearts unto God? Just as it says earlier in the verse, when we fast and pray often, we become more humble, we strengthen our faith and are filled with joy and consolation which also comes from the Holy Ghost. Now when we yield our hearts unto God it also means that we are willing to do HIS will. We do not complain about our lives or circumstances or experiences or trials… we accept those things, find solutions, trust in God, and PUSH FORWARD. When we learn to be humble and to do as God wants, we receive a peace of conscience and a calmer, happier life.
As Christ assured us in D&C 29:L5, “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I AM IN YOUR MIDST.” He is with us. Trust in Him.
I was also reading Mormon 8:28-41 and DANG those verses are so powerful! He is talking about OUR DAY. I encourage you all to read it and see what changes need to be done.
Well honestly…I don’t know what else to say. This is weird. I cannot believe that i will be in TRACKTOWN, USA in a week. Like I said last week, time has flown by…but I have grown immensely from this experience.
I know that God lives. His hand is in our lives more than we know. He loves us infinitely and despite our challenges and weakness, He always wants us to come back to Him. He has given us all we need to return to His presence, all He requires is that we follow Him and His plan.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Saviour and Redeemer. He literally felt the excruciating pain of each and every one of our afflictions, sorrows, griefs, regrets, and sins. He knows us perfectly. He suffered afflictions and temptations of all kinds and never fell once. He understands our difficulties and our weaknesses. He understands how to help us. He has shown us the perfect and joyous way. He has loved us always and still does when we make mistakes. He forgives us if we give an honest effort to repent and follow Him. He glorifies and strengthens those who are obedient both in actions and desires.
I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ with all the necessary saving ordinances and the true authority of God Almighty.
I know that The Book of Mormon is true. It was written by prophets called of God in the ancient American continent. This book has changed my life and it has allowed me to know Jesus Christ on a more spiritually intimate level. I know that if we do not repent, it is not possible for mercy to have and effect on our souls and we, therefore, cannot be saved.
I know that in order to be saved, we must have faith on Christ, but that we also must act. (2 Nephi 25:23) I know that if we repent, are baptized by someone who has the power and authority of God, receive the Holy Ghost, and live the commandments joyfully and willfully until our very last day in this temple of flesh and bones… we will be exalted and be able to live with our Father in Heaven for the eternities.
I testify of the importance of doing family history.
We cannot be saved without our ancestors, and neither can they be saved without us. (D&C 128:15) When we do it, we learn more about ourselves, our potential, and our self worth as well.
I testify that families CAN be eternal and that we will see them after this life. We will be with them forever if we keep the covenants we make with God in this life, whole-heartedly.
I testify that you can change your life 180 degrees by living this excellent gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ can heal any wound, spiritual or emotional, and it can give us a great hope in this life and the life after.
I love this gospel…I love Ecuador…I love the Lord and His perfect love…I love life aaaand I love all of you. When we acheive a perfect love as Jesus Christ (which i’m stiiiiiill working on), we acheive greater happiness. We judge less, criticize less, complain less, and worry less. Christ is our anchor when the seas of tribulations come our way.
The waves of temptations and trials may never end, but Jesus Christ has power to calm the sea. Trust in His power, and secure your anchor now.
I don’t know if I will email much or at all next monday…there really isn’t a point. Sooo…until we meet again, folks.
Nothing is coincidence if we are following the Spirit of the Lord.
I back up the words in Jacob where it says”…our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream…” (Jacob 7:26) What an incredible journey…OH WAIT. It’s not over yetttt!!! But man, has it passed by fast. Faster than I ever thought possible…and every day goes by faster and faster. Que miedo.
I feel like this mission has blessed me in more ways than I can name. One of these ways is that I have been able to be more receptive and aware of the Holy Ghost. He is so real and speaks to us daily, in many ways, we just have to have the right mindset and be aware of Him and we will hear Him.
THIS WEEK HERMANO FEDERICO SE BAUTIZO!! Wow, So Federico got baptized and it was GREAT, but it sure was an adventure. We left the baptismal font filling up early and when we went back an hour before the baptism, turns out that the drain had been opened and the font didn’t fill up AT ALL. So we frantically started filling up buckets from water spickets outside to get more water in the font as soon as possible…the water ended up being yellow because it was dirty. Half of the room’s lights didn’t work so it was mostly dark. There was no gas to heat up the water. aaaand much more….HAHAHHAAHHA IT. WAS. RIDICULOUS. But hey, he was happy. He made a great covenant with God, he made a lot of changes in his life, and the Spirit was strong. He’s a great guy.
Yesterday, we were visiting people after church and then it started to downpour. We ended up visiting the bishop. He recently got hit by a bull and is very injured. He can hardly move and is on medication. When we showed up, he got really excited and said “THIS is the Lord’s work.” Then he started to talk about how when we work through rain or whatever else may come our way, that THAT is where the miracles start to come. He was in such a fragile state…and the whole situation made me reflect a lot on life. We didn’t have plans to visit the bishop, we kind of decided last minute…but it was always in the Lord’s plans. It’s amazing how much God leads us into the lives of others. He led us to go strengthen our bishop, but the bishop ended up strengthening US. What I learned that night is a lot more profound to me, but it’s sufficient for me to say that God always places us into situations with a purpose. Nothing is coincidence if we are following the Spirit of the Lord.
We are also starting “la fe de febrero trae los milagros de marzo” or “the faith of february brings the miracles of march” like we did last year! Basically in this time, we can’t have any activities, we can only listen to hymns, and we make some spiritual sacrifices. Although it’s a bummer that we can’t have activities or anything, the spirit is a lot stronger. I am starting to get up at 6 instead of 6:30 and I study the new testament…then we ruuuuuun! It’s a really fun experience. I am happy to be able to finish this mission out strong…the Lord is powerful and God is great. Miracles are real and God answers our prayers frequently.
Be strong and push forward.
This change we have 28 sisters to do divisions with so THAT will be SO MUCH FUN! They’ll keep me busy for suuure. AAAND Hna Zaragoza (mija) is in my region now!!! AHH.
Federico passed his baptismal interview and is ALL SET for his baptism this saturday!! ayyyy! He is the FUNNIEST guy ever. I love teaching people from the coast. They’re just alll funny. Buena gente, diga!
This sunday we also had LASAGNA for lunch! Second time in my whole mission. Definitely ecuadorian style though. There were hot dogs in it. haahhahah nevertheless, it was lasagna.
Yesterday I gave a talk on why this gospel brings us joy, analyzing the 5 principles of the gospel; faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. I invite you all to find scriptures and read the definition of every one of those terms…then look how you can receive joy from each of those things. It was really fun for me to study because I could see the reason behind it all as well. Heavenly Father really does have a perfect plan for us.
This week we had a specialized training with two other zones. President talked a lot about that talk i mentioned last week and also a talk called “Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/approaching-the-throne-of-god-with-confidence?lang=eng) which is FANTASTIC. There are 6 points we can follow and seriously if we strive to follow through with them, we become more confident. We begin to have a refreshing view of the world and ourselves, and we have a new energy to do what’s right.
1. Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being.
2. Take responsibility for your own physical well-being.
3. Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life.
4. Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly.
5. Become really, really good at forgiving.
6. Accept trials, setbacks, and “surprises” as part of your mortal experience.
I invite you all to read or watch this talk. It’s powerful; Changed my perspective a lot.
Be strong and push forward. Christ is mighty to save, you are able to repent, God is loving and merciful, and everything is in your favor to receive eternal joy. Discover it through living it and ask “the mormon missionaries” about the plan of happiness…or plan of salvation! It’ll change your life if you listen with open ears so you can hear, open eyes so you can see, and an open heart so you can understand–because THAT is how the Holy Ghost can testify to you of the truth.
read mosiah 4:2-3 to learn how you can know if you’ve been forgiven of a sin after repenting and pleading for forgiveness through prayer.
Celebrate the joy Christ brings us with all you know as much as you can!
Hey folks. How ya doinnnn?
I dont know why but i’m in a really good mood today! Probably because i’m about to go buy christmas lights. hehe.
Okay so wow, God really does give us hard times to help us reflect and see what else we can do better. Lots of self reflection this week. You might get to the point where you think “wow, i’ve worked hard for a while now. I think i’m humble!” Then BOOM ya get humbled again. Or “wow I have super strong faith…that was always a struggle, but ya know I feel pretty strong” and then BOOM your faith gets tried! My advice: KEEP AT IT.
On another note, This week we had our Christmas “dinner” (it was lunch) with President Richardson and his wife!! All of us leaders did a skit and it was super funny but at the end very spiritual. I had a few epiphanies there. Jesus Christ really is our Saviour. This really is GOD’S work and HIS will. If we do our best, we should feel good at the end of the day. God will do the rest always. I love Him dearly.
We can work super hard all day long all week with a bad attitude and see no fruits, or we can work super hard all day long all week with a good attitude and see many fruits hasta milagros. Put it to test. Change your attitude, and you’ll see changes in your life.
Something interesting that my companion shared with me this last week too is that when we receive health blessings, we may have the faith to be healed…..but do we have the faith to NOT be healed? Do we have faith strong enough to accept that maybe God has it in our plan to not be healed? To suffer a little more? To grow a little more through the same hard experience? To learn a little more? Do we trust in God enough to accept whatever trial may come our way and to keep pushing forward? Let us analyze our faith and cause it to grow by reading our scriptures daily, praying always, and going to church every sunday.
I love this work. It feels like time truly is winding down faster and faster every day out here. I’ll be SKYPING MY FAMILY AGAIN next week and two months later I’ll be home. It’s amazing how much you can learn in such little time.
God is great, life is a beautiful mountain range of ups and downs, but in the end the view of it all is priceless.
I hope you all have a really great week! Celebrate the joy Christ brings us with all you know as much as you can! And go visit christmas.mormon.org!! It’s seriously amazing! And the video is very touching.