Where to begin! This past week has been one of the MOST, if
not THE most, amazing weeks of my mission. It sure had its trials, but then just
right before. and after great spiritual experiences, Satan comes to try and ruin
it all.
I am going to only talk about two things that happened that are pretty
key. I will start by talking about yesterday. Last night my heart melted as it
was filled with gratitude for what the Lord had done for us. Yesterday morning
we met with Johnny Guerrero to plan the monthly goals for the Branch. As we
took what we planned to the Branch council, we then proceeded to modify and make
the goals together. It was a Revelatory experience! For this month we have the
goal.......
To have 25 members come out with us on splits (we originally had set it
higher because last month we had 24).
We will have a Family Home Evening every
week where a member invites non-members over and also other member families.
Every member will invite 1 person to church/activities, etc. every week &
that includes children as well (we have 60 active members every week, so do the
math for the month).
We are going out to help the men complete their Home
Teaching.
We are doing "Preach My Gospel" focused lessons with members linking it
all to missionary work.
We have one Sunday every month focused on Missionary work.
We are
going out with members to meet with at least two less active members a week.
We
all counseled how to keep track of these goals and all the ins and outs of
them. It was a very uplifting experience and neat one to witness the Branch and
missionaries working as one.
Last night we had our first Family Home Evening
for this month. There were 5 non-members, one of which read a little of the
Book of Mormon and there were 15-17 members there - 3 different families. The
family that invited these non-members over were just Steller! They did a great
job introducing us and guiding everything in the beginning and sharing a little
about the purpose of Family Home Evenings and later why they invited their
friends over. Elder Sanchez and I gave the lesson and watched "Our True
Identity," the Mormon Message by Pres. Uchtdorf, and tied it into the Plan
of Salvation and how God has a plan for us. It was very powerful as we shared
how we came to know this plan and let them know they could as well. The best
part was that the members jumped in as well, but not in a manner that made it
awkward or pushy. After that we played a game for a little bit with them before
we had to leave. It was a "Guesture" like game that I played with my family
before, where you write down a couple of movies on paper, you put it into a bowl
and then some one has to act it out. It was a blast and everyone had a great
time. Claudia, the lady that had read a little bit of the Book of Mormon is
interested in learning more and wants us to come meet with her.
Also, at church,
before I forget, we had Alfonso, an investigator, come to church (in this area for some
reason it has been so hard to get investigators to church, so this was big!) and then we
had a member bring his friend as well. We taught Gospel Principles and both of
these non-members are pretty knowledgeable about the scriptures and had some
great questions. My favorite part was seeing the members in the class answer
the questions and see how we all worked together in unity. That was another
amazing experience. Guess what? The amazingness of this last week doesn't stop
there. We had another Family Home Evening with the Ortegas and Fernando, the
16 year old, invited one of his friends from school over. Her parents talked to
his parents so it was all good. We shared the same message with her, but in
English, and the Spirit was so strong. She wants to keep learning more. We
will be having another Family Home Evening with her and the other Elders to
pass her off to them. Since her parents speak Portuguese, the other Elders
will be perfect for them because they are from Brazil.
Now for the BEST part.
On Friday we had our Zone Conference in Bloomfield, CT with Elder and Sister
Lawrence. He is a Seventy. Sister Lawrence taught us about the Scattered tribes
of Israel; the lost tribes and about the Blood of Israel as well. She talked about
the Savior's mission and pointed out how he followed the exact same things we
do. For example, he never left his area to go preach to the Gentiles except on a few
occasions, but he had to get permission from Heavenly Father, just like we need
to get permission to leave our areas. A lot of very interesting and amazing
things.
One of my favorite parts was when they talked about the
Pre-existence and how that ties into our role as missionaries now and
also the blood that we have flowing in our veins as members of the church, because before this life we all developed our own spiritual gifts and how those
who have the Blood of Israel had developed the gift of Spirituality to
recognize and act upon truth when it is in front of them. They then talked
about gentiles and many more things.
Even though all this was so fascinating
and amazing, the best part was during the lunch break when Pres. Packard and I
were walking in together and talking. He was just asking about me and
everything. He had his arm around me and then as we talked he was starring into
my eyes, but it was as if his glance didn't stop there. It was as if he was
looking deep into my soul. As I recognized this and felt the Spirit I asked him
what he saw. He paused and simply replied " a fight." Those words for
some reason lifted my soul and filled me with the Spirit and I wasn't sure why
at that time. We then finished eating and went back into the chapel to finish
the conference.
President Packard and Sister Packard got up and told us a
little about the Training they and the other mission presidents had in New
York with Jeffrey R. Holland. He then asked all the Mission Presidents,
"Presidents, what do you dare promise your missionaries?" He then left them all an Apostolic blessing that whatever they
promised us would happen. President Packard expounded on this making sure
we knew it was conditional, as long as we did our part, just like
everything else in the gospel when receiving a promised blessing. He then
expounded on the reason he felt they had all been with this blessing, because
he trusted them to not ask for anything contrary to the Lord's will.
In short, we
set a goal for the mission to have 70 baptisms for this month. The leaders met
with President and had a revelatory experience all feeling that it was the
Lord's will and that it was accomplishable. President called up the missionary
leaders and some of them shared the experience with us. The
spirit that built up in the room was almost to the point of overpowering us as
we all were blessed to have the same experience and confirmation that it was
possible and indeed guided by the Lord. With that and after asking all of the
leaders, and us, if they supported this goal and if we would believe and find
something that we could put on the altar to offer the Lord to show him we were
serious, we all raised our hands and supported it. There is a lot more that
happened, but in short we were all filled to the point of overflowing with the
Spirit.
Elder Lawrence then allowed us to stand up, whomever felt like it, and
share what we had learned or felt after that day. It was after all this and
hearing the testimonies of a few that it finally had struck me what President
had meant when he said he saw a fight. I knew right then and there what it was
I needed to place on the altar before the Lord's feet and KNEW that this time I
would be able to truly and fully give it up as I did my part. I remember
being filled with the Spirit in a way that I haven't for a while. My heart
started to race, my palms started to sweat and I knew I had to stand up and
share my experience and whatever else it was that the Lord wanted me to say and
that somebody else needed to heard. I wish there were words sufficient to
describe the power and spirit that was in that room.
To close, Elder Lawrence
then shared with us many things, things I will not share except for one. He
went through 6 steps of exercising faith and what is required in order to Fully
exercise it. Then he left us with a little heads up that Satan will not just
sit idly by after this meeting because of what was about to happen in this
mission.
We as a mission are praying for, in every prayer, that we will be able
to help all those who have baptismal dates this month be baptized. We have 114
dates and the goal is for 70 of them to be baptized. We are praying by names
for all of the dates in our zone and even names for back ups. People who could
possibly be baptized this month as well. There is a very sweet and powerful
spirit in the mission right now and it is growing each day. I have experienced
the increased opposition and know that yes the Gates of Hell are gaping open,
but more importantly and more miraculously the Windows of Heaven have been
opened and are pouring out more blessings than we have room to receive. I know
that we truly do have ...."Angles round about us on chariots of fire who will flee
to our aid," - Jeffrey R. Holland, if we are faithful, wise and rely on the
Savior to do what we cannot do for ourselves. What we have done is set goals as
a mission that will allow miracles to happen because they are "gap goals," what we can do is only a portion of what is needed to reach the other side. They
are goals that as we do ALL in our power, focusing on the goals we have, that the
Lord's almighty omnipotent hands will then come in and intervene. These are
the goals that we as the Massachusetts Boston Mission make and goals that I
would like to invite all reading this to make. I know the power behind them
because I have seen the results.
I am so grateful to be on my mission, to have
learned all the many things I have and to have met all the wonderful people
here. I know that this is the Lords work, that it is being hastened and will
not be stopped. If only we as members would get the full vision of what is being done
here. Why not help the Lord in his work so that we can fill our days with great
rejoicing and happiness as we show our Lord and God that we truly do love our brothers. Why not simply invite 1 person each week to come and see what
makes us so happy. Why should we stop at 1? The way is simple, the work
is simple and the fruits are more delicious than anything we can ever
comprehend. As we but strive to work together in unity and become one, we
become the Lords and can better fulfill his will in our lives. If God who is
perfect, all powerful, who knows all things and only wants us to be happy, has
prepared a way for us to accomplish just that, and every righteous desire of our
hearts, why not follow the plan he has for us? If God didn't want us to share the
gospel by simply inviting our friends and family to come and hear the great
news, why would he have established a church that has always been a missionary
focused church? Why would our very first covenants/promises
that we make with God be about helping others, keeping the commandments and
being a witness of Christ at all times and all in all places?
I know that God loves us and
has prepared a way for each of us to come back to live with him once more. I
know that he has given us commandments and covenants to help remind us of what
it is we need to do to accomplish that. I know that as we do our best to do his
will he is with us. He and his angels are on our right hand and on our
left, infront and behind us to support, uplift and guide us to what we need to
do and say.
I know that Christ lives, that this is his work and our great test
is the exact same as his. To see if we are willing to do whatsoever it is that
God the Father asks of us. I have seen
the Lord's hands in my life so much and have seen these magnificent blessings
pour down from heaven and I want more than anything for ALL to receive these
blessings as I have.
The invitation is the same "Come unto me all ye that
labor and are heavy laden and I shall give you rest." The best way we can
truly come to Christ is to walk the same path he walked and do the
same things he did, which was reaching out to others and sharing with them this
wonderful plan of happiness. I invite all of you reading this to think about at
least one person to invite to church, a family home evening or something, so
that they can meet the missionaries and feel the Spirit talking to their spirit
telling them the message we have is good and familiar. In the sacred name of
Jesus Christ, amen.
