Hola Familia!
Elder Lewis here, making a recording to send to you this
week. This week has been good, I think I will start from today and work my way
back. SO today, we went, first of all, to the temple. It was my first time in
about 8 months, and I loved every minute of it. It has really helped my
understand what power in the priesthood is, and I dunno, I read an article by
Russell M. Nelson that said that If you want the Lord to teach you about his
power and his priesthood and how we can use it, go to His temple, he loves to
do his teaching there. That’s really true. I really learned so much. It was
like going into it with a new perspective. These past 8 months have really
helped me to appreciate that power and what it is.
Then we went and played Micro with the Elders Quorum, that
was really fun. It’s kind of funny, here in Colombia, you guys joke about
Mormon Standard Time, well Colombian standard time is 10 times worse. We
started an hour and a half late. But it was fun. I have been getting better with
my feet. I had a couple of good goals today. That was pretty good from where I
started. I couldn’t score a goal on a Colombian to save my life. I guess we
will have to play when I get back. I took a pretty good slip and kinda smashed
myself against the cement… It’s a bit difficult to walk right now… haha. But,
ya vamos! I just think I bruised my hip a bit. It could have been worse. One
thing is that a Micro ball is really hard because to make it roll like it’s
rolling on grass it has to be heavy. Somebody kicked it right into the face of
the Elder’s Quorum president today. Got his nose pretty good. The ball is
pretty heavy, it kinda stinks to head it in or anything like that because it’s
kinda pesado…. Haha. But we came back
to the apartment and relaxed for a little bit, and now I’m here!
Yesterday, we went to church, and we had 3 investigators in
the church but… investigators… it just breaks your heart when they don’t show
up…. But we aren’t getting down on that. We are just gonna try harder next
week. Then after church we went and had lunch at a restaurant, because a member
bought us lunch there when it was his turn to feed us lunch, so we went there
and man… I remember Dad talking about eating Fish Heads in New Zealand… well
they do the same thing here. They serve the whole fish. They just cook it. They
just stick a stick through it and cook it. Luckily they take most of the guts
and stuff out, but it’s a bit hard to get used to… then we went down a little
bit further and met with an investigator that we have been trying to get an
appointment with for a long time. We had a baptism in April with a muchacho
called Victor, and Victor is now 12 and his parents… I don’t know.. we have a
great relationship with them. They have a bread store, or a panaderia, and we
go down there quite often to see if we can teach them a message. We ended up
the other day helping them clean their store for a little while and that was
really fun. They are really awesome. But we went and Victor’s Dad, Victor Sr.
was there and it was a little bit slow and we just started to have a
conversation, and that conversation turned into the day of Sabbath… crap… the
Sabbath Day is a hard thing for them because their panaderia is really busy all
the time. The conversation turned to that and we felt the spirit so strong that
we should go ahead and share a message with them about it, and we testified to
him that if he closes the shop one day a week, so that his son will able to
attend church, their family will be so blessed. We shared experiences with him,
our experiences with the Sabbath Day, and we could see that it touched him. He
kinda shook his head a bit, but it touched him. He said that he would think
about doing it, about closing the shop one day a week just to see if the Lord
would bless him. I know that he will. But it was just an example of the Lord
puts you in places. We have been trying to find a way to share that message
with them for a week, and there it was, just having a conversation. The
conversation actually started out talking about beer companies here in
Colombia, but it turned to that somehow. The Lord had prepared him. He was
already thinking about it. Thinking about how his son really doesn’t have a lot
of time with his dad and I don’t know… It just reminded me how grateful I am
that my parents took time with us. That’s part of the thing that I shared with
him. I could tell that that really touched him. Then after that we went to
Elvira, una investigadora, she is an
investigator that has read the Book of Mormon two times now, and because of
work hasn’t been able to attend church. BUT she has worked things out, and she
will be able to attend church from now on! So we are hoping to get her baptized
in July. Her only concern is that… well she just wants to repent. She wants
complete repentance. She wants it so bad. She had an Evangelical church take
advantage of her and in the name of diezmos,
or Tithing, basically rob her and that left her with a bad taste in her
mouth of Christianity. But now she is just so humble. She is so teachable. She
puts her faith in the Lord. Tithing is a hard thing for her to accept, but she
says “I’m gonna put my faith in the Lord.I don’t see why it’s a commandment,
but if you say that it is, then it is. And I know that the Lord will bless me.”
I feel so blessed to be teaching her. That’s really how I feel. So that was
Sunday.
We met 2 new families, Familia Sanchez, there are 3 people,
a mom and 2 kids, and another family of about 5 people this last week. There
are new investigators coming out of the woodwork and we are hoping to really
get going. Saturday, there was an open house at (?) and we went and helped out
there, and then our zone leaders informed us that there was a baptism that
night, and that if we brought investigators then we could attend. I knew who
they were baptizing. His name is Juan Encico. And Juan has had so many
problems. So many troubles, including a good struggle with homosexuality. In
the last 3 months he has really just bent his knees before the Lord and allowed
the Lord to help him with that problem. Now he is a member of the Church! We
brought Griselda, one of our investigators, to the baptismal service, and I
will tell you that when he was baptized, that may have been one of the times
that I have felt the spirit the strongest in my life. It was visible in every
person that was there. Griselda, I heard her say “wow. What is that feeling?”
well, while the rest of her family aren’t progressing, I know that she is, and
although it’s hard for her to understand the scriptures, she is still reading.
I am so grateful for her. I am so grateful for Juan and his decision to be
baptized. I’m not gonna lie, I judged him a bit when the Zone Leaders told me
about him and his past, but with certainty, when he was baptized, I felt, I don’t
know it’s something that you feel not really that you hear, “ I don’t remember
his sins anymore, and neither should you.”
Well, I just want to close with my testimony of baptism and
the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the Evangelio,
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, reception
of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End that we can get clean and stay clean
from our sins. I am a witness of his love. I have seen it. It was such a tender
mercy of the Lord to let me see that baptism, for me personally. Because even
though our main investigators right now don’t want to get baptized, I felt that
we should be there and see someone come unto Christ like that. Maybe that strengthening
experience will help me so that I can teach with more power so that we can have
some more baptisms. I testify of the way that the Lord works. I know it is
perfect. I feel it in my chest right now as I speak of it. I testify of this
Church. I know the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the keystone of our
religion. I testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I testify that the
priesthood has been restored, and that without it we would be utterly lost. I know
and testify of these things. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Elder Lewis
"Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven,
and I, the Lord, remember them no more."
-D&C 58:42
No comments:
Post a Comment