Monday, November 6, 2017

Week 60: A Testimony in, and of, a Taxi.

Hey! Buenos Tardes!

Still here in Sogamoso, and doing well. This week we had transfers and I am getting a new companion names Elder Varillas from Peru. I am pretty excited for that, sad to see my old companion go, but I have faith that we are going to keep going strong here in Sogamoso. We have had a really good week, actually. The first part of the week we visited some of the investigators that we haven’t visited in awhile. We found some really great things. The first is that familia Alarcón has been reading the Book of Mormon and Liliana, and Juan Diego, they want to get baptized. Alfredo is just a little bit hard of heart still, but we will be working on him. The other one is Adali. Adali Cano. She and Liliana and Juan Diego all came to church, they all want to get baptized. So we are going to have some baptisms here soon in the end of November or December.

So I went with the guys from ? to their internet today, and this is so much better! They just gave us some herbal tea, Aromatica, that’s what they call that here in Colombia.

Anyway, so we have some baptisms coming up it’s looking like, fasting and praying that that will come to pass. But I just wanted to tell you guys about an experience that I had on Friday. So on Thursday we went out to Bogotá, because we had leadership council on Friday with Elder Godoy of the Seventy, or from the Area Presidency. He is the President of the South America Northwest Area which included Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and I think Paraguay but I am not sure. But various countries. That was a great experience, but we were supposed to be there by 8 o’clock and so we get out of the house of the Zone Leaders in Bogota by 7:30, with plenty of time to get there. We go out and we try to get a taxi, and no one stopped! We stand out there with our bags, our luggage, because we have to bring materials back to Sogamoso, and for that people wouldn’t pick us up because they thought that we were going to the airport and that’s too far. No one would pick us up, and we are standing out there and it’s already 8:20. I am super stressed out because I didn’t want to be late, and the thing started at 9:00. We should have been there by 8:00. So I am standing there stressed out to be being mad because no one stopped and we went to various places to try to get a taxi and no one stopped. When they did stop, we said “hey we are going to this place”. And they said “uh, no you have luggage.” They didn’t want to haul our luggage. They didn’t even give us time to explain that it’s empty. It doesn’t weigh anything. But ya, they just sped off. That made me MAD. I was TICKED and stressed out because no one stopped. There wasn’t a taxi to be had. So I prayed that we could get a taxi, and still, we were trying to get a taxi for an hour. Then I finally called a taxi service. And we waited there for the taxi to come, and the taxi came and we got in the taxi with all of our bags and everything. I was stressed out but my companion had a little more calm. He started to talk with the guy, his name was Salvador. And Salvador was really nice, really good guy. He is from a little town outside of Bogota, and my companion starts to talk with him I didn’t say a word. I was stressed out and I didn’t want to be late to go to a meeting with a special witness of Jesus Christ as a privilege. I didn’t want to embarrass President or anybody by being late. But here we are at 8:50 and the thing starts at 9, and there is just traffic that’s insane. So my companion is just talking with this guy, and I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to say anything. I was just stressed. The conversation went on, and it turned to religion like it always does, “what are you guys doing here?”, “well we do this…” and he said “ you know, I actually woke up this morning and I don’t know if it was a dream but I heard a voice that told me that I need to change.” And before he had talked about his family, talked about his kids, and about his wife and talked about… he liked to drink. His whole family. They liked to drink. But he heard a voice in the morning that said “Salvador, you need to change, or you cant be with me.” And he said that he just knew that it was the voice of the Savior, and it impacted him. He asked us what we thought about it, and I sat there just in awe because I felt the spirit and I knew why we were there. I told him “Salvador, I testify to you that Jesus Christ has sent us here to talk with you. We know how you can change.” And he was just amazed. I knew by the look on his face, by the way that he talked, that he believed me. That was because the spirit testified to him that in actuality, that Christ has sent us here. In that moment, I almost heard a voice say to me “Did you not trust me?” and that cut me to the heart. I just sat there amazed. So we got out of the taxi, and I paid him. I took his information and I passed it to the zone that it applies to. But I could just see by the way that he looked at me that he understood by the spirit, who we were and that Jesus Christ knew him. I walked into the church house and I couldn’t hold back the tears. I just felt the spirit so strong like I do right now. It just testified to me that Jesus knows each and every one of us. That his sheep are counted and he knows them all, and his sheep know his voice, up to the point that he would send us, for me what was a trial. So that was my spiritual experience for the week. After that Elder Godoy, awesome awesome man, talked to us about the Savior. I just felt that we needed to have that experience to understand what he was going to say to us. It helped me understand and I feel like I am really coming to know my Savior. I am certain that I heard his voice, and I am certain that Salvador heard his voice telling him that he needed to change. I know that he lives. I know that he loves us, I know that he knows us. I know that he has re-established his church here on the earth. It’s all true. Since then, I have been so happy. I just can’t even describe it. I have been so happy to be here and so happy to go and proclaim his name. I am sure that the rest of the 10 months that I have left are going to be full of experiences like that. I feel like I am really just starting to figure out why I am here. I feel like I am really starting to figure out how things are. It’s crazy that it has taken me this long, but it is all looking good from here.

Well, this has been a long recording, so I think I am going to end it. Elder Godoy also left the invitation for us to discover the enabling power of the atonement for us, The atonement has two sides basically, the side that makes bad people to good people, that’s the cleaning power of the atonement, and then there is the enabling power that makes us from good people to better. Sometimes we think that we have to do that part, good people to better, on our own. But that’s a mistake. We can’t do it on our own. We have to have the Savior, and his grace is sufficient to make us good people much, much better. That’s when we get to know him. So, like Elder Godoy invited us, I would like to invite you guys to think about that and study about that, because it has really blessed my life. I love you guys and I will talk to you next week. Chao Chao.


-Elder Lewis

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