This past week has left Elder Silva and I exhausted but in a
good way. We spent it finishing getting everything ready for Jose's baptism
yesterday which went amazing! He was tickled pink and had a great
time. Plus we all had a massive feast afterwards which just made it all the
more merrier, haha.
Also this past week we spent a lot of time on the computer, going through and updating all the programs that we have in place to
keep track of the growth of the branch and to help get the leaders more
integrated in what we are doing. We spent a lot of time Saturday doing that as
well because that night Presidente Martin wanted us to come to church so we
could start to make a Branch Mission Plan. To add to the fire, we finally have a
Branch Mission Leader! Well, sort of. It is Jonny Guerrero who is the
1st counselor in the branch. He is just acting as one parttime until we actually have
someone called. It is great to have someone though.
We spent 2 hours, or so,
Sat. night coming up with a 5 step branch mission plan. We feel pretty good
about it. The only reason it really actually got done was that President
Hutchins, the Stake President, found out we didn't have one and met personally
with Presidente. It was a great experience. We talked about it in Branch
Council and everyone is on board! Now as we start to implement it everything
will start getting pretty crazy over here in Central Falls, RI! I am stoked!
It is going to take a lot of work getting it going though, but once it is, it
will be a huge blessing. Sunday was great for that reason and I don't know if I had
mentioned this, but Jose Rosas was the first baptism the branch has had since it
was started a little over 9 months ago! The members are stoked.
We picked
up 5 new investigators this past week all of which are looking very promising.
Two of them have baptism dates for the end of October. The hard part is that we
just found out they aren't married. Good news is they have been together for
a while now so we shall see how it goes. Sometimes on my mission, especially
being in the Spanish Program, I feel like a matchmaker. I have seen and been
a part of more weddings on my mission than my whole life before the mission.
Needless to say, everything is going great here in good ole MBM Mission. It
seems to me like we are taught all these things in our mission over the course
of two years and it isn't until the end everything starts to finally click. I remember
hearing time and time again from missionaries going home that now that they are
going home they finally understand how to do missionary work! I feel that is
what is happening with me as well. Things are finally starting to click where
all the pieces are starting to come together and it is amazing! I am so
grateful to be out here on my mission, to strive to lose myself in the work and
to leave behind all problems and concerns. I have no clue what will happen
afterwards, for the most part, but that is the beauty of it. I don't need to worry
about it because it will all work out the way it needs to as I do my part.
On
Sunday I tried to prepare my talk since we didn't have anytime during the week.
I don't know why, but it seems like ever since my farewell talks, I have never been able
to get anything written down for talks. It drives me crazy at times. I
spend so much time trying to figure out what the Lord wants me to say, the
focus that I am going to have in the topic I have been given. Anyway once again I had nothing
written, but right before Sacrament (really only a few minutes before) it
finally came. Out of all the scriptures that I had read a few that I had selected
stood out to me and I knew how I needed to focus on everything. Then, I wasn't able to
give it because one of the testimony bearers spent 15 minutes bearing testimony,
so I only had a small, small moment to get up, but I feel that it is something
that we all lose sight of at times; what our message as Latter
Day-Saints really is. I think at times we focus so much on the Restoration or
the Plan of Salvation, etc., that we often don't comprehend the REAL MESSAGE
which is about Christ and his Atonement. I would invite all of you to remember
what the first covenant, or promise that we make when are baptized is when we enter
into the church. You can find that in Mosiah 18:8-10 and then read all of 3 Nephi 17, but focus especially on the first 10 verses because verses 5-10 to me are
really this covenant in action.
The invitation from Christ has been the same
ever since sin had entered the world and that is to come unto him and be
saved/healed. We are all afflicted in one way or another. All of us. I love
this chapter because when it talks about the people who were healed, bringing
those who were afflicted and those people are us. If we have experienced the joy
and love of the Savior then it is us that should go and bring those who are afflicted,
in whatsoever manner, to Christ himself, so that he can heal them. That
is our message.
Why does Christ want to heal us so badly? The answer is in
D&C19:16-19. He loves us so much he suffered for us more than we can even
come close to comprehend. "Which Suffering caused himself, even God the Greatest
of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore and would not
that he should drink the bitter cup and shrink." Nevertheless, he partook and
finished his preparations unto the children of men. He knows what our
sufferings feel like, whatever they may be, and because of that he is
filled with compassion wanting nothing more than to lighten our load and
make us whole again. That is the message we have. I invite all of you as you read
verses 7&9 of 3 Nephi 17, to think about all the people in your life who
are afflicted in one way or another. That includes family, friends and even the
people on the street you don't even know. Think about the great joy you have
felt as you were forgiven and made whole and then with "ONE ACCORD"
go and gather them and bring them to Christ. The result will be one of the most
beautiful scenes you could ever imagine in verse 10. Our joy will be so full
that we will ALL worship him together bathing his feet with our tears. This to
me is the message that we have. That Christ suffered, died and was resurrected
that he can make us whole again. That WE, as we come to taste of the fruit of his
Atonement, then go out and bring others to taste of that fruit as well, with ONE
ACCORD meaning all of us acting together. That ALL may bathe his feet with
tears of gratitude and joy having come to know Him.
This is my prayer that
these words which were engraved upon my heart will be engraved upon yours. That
you will work closely and personally with the missionaries and other members in
your ward to GO and BRING those who are afflicted to Him our Savior that ALL
may experience this great joy as a result. I know that this is Christ's Church
restored on the earth today. The significance of this is that we have the
fulness of his gospel, which will allow us to fully come to him if we chose to
let it.
I know that Christ is filled with compassion toward us to the point
that he weeps when we weep, and wants nothing more for us than for us to be
happy. He wants to forgive and make us whole. I know that to be true for I have
witnessed that time and time again in my own life. I know that He lives and truly
what joy that sentence gives. I leave these things with you all in His sacred
name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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