Being a missionary has taught me so many life lessons that I
want to follow for the rest of my life. I want my life to be so much different
than it was before. I learned the importance of sanctifying and consecrating
myself to the Lord. I learned that losing our lives and using our time to serve
others is what brings the most joy and satisfaction in life. I learned the
importance of being obedient to him. I also have learned the importance of
choosing to be happy and show love and do what is in my power to do to bring
love to others.
If there is anything I want to happen in my life, it's that
I want to serve the Lord. I want to dedicate my life to serving and working
hard. I desire that more than anything else. I hope that God will help me in
that desire and help guide my life to a higher plane. I want to make my
standards high and not lower them. I want to show love to all those I meet and
have long since been my friends.
I have been so blessed on my last week with wonderful people
to teach. We went to the Abat family last night to see how they were doing, and
we were taken away by the spirituality of Radclif! He went to FSY and he loved
it so much. He shared his favorite scriptures of the week -- 3 Nephi 5:13 and 3
Nephi 11:25-26. And then he expressed how
much he wanted to serve a mission. The Spirit was so strong in the room and I
was overcome with emotion. To see Radclif desire to serve a mission meant the
world to me. Sister Jensen felt impressed to say that someday there will be
many people that will come to Elder Abat and thank him for saving them! The
Abat family told us they would work to be sealed in the temple. We will work on
it! Keep praying and fasting for it.
Sayra is doing fantastic. We had a super spiritual lesson
last week on Wednesday. We had taught her the Restoration the week before and
had given her an assignment to ask God if this was true, and was the right path
for her. When we came, she told us that she was sad because she was really
trying to get an answer and wanted to be ready for us to come and ask her if
she had received an answer, but she didn't feel like she had gotten one. We all
started telling our own experiences with coming to know the Book of Mormon is
true, that sometimes we expect something crazy to happen like an angel coming
to us and confirming to us that is true. But for us and for Sister Mendoza,
things came as gentle feelings urging us to do good and telling us not with a
loud voice, but a small whisper that pierces to the soul. That's when a
wonderful feeling came in the room. Sister Sayra started getting goosebumps.
She started remembering all the prayers that had been answered in the past
week. How she had pleaded to God to help her finish her reports on time even
though it seemed virtually impossible, and that if he would that she would
believe that she is there. She finished her reports with time to spare. Then
she had remembered how she prayed the missionaries to her house. Then she
started crying and she didn't understand why. But we knew. She felt the Holy
Ghost confirm to her that everything we had taught was true. Her little family
came to church this week and accepted to live the Word of Wisdom without
question last night. I thought of this verse in Doctrine and Covenants 6
22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further
witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart,
that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?
What greater witness can you have than from God?
Christal came to church again this week. We had tried to
visit her that Saturday afternoon and she was obviously upset about something
but she was afraid to say it out loud. But when she was in the church, she told
us how much she feels peace here and safe and loved here. But starting since
she was young she had been abused and neglected and misused. It disgusted me to
hear about how much damage people caused to such a sensitive, sweet, and loving
daughter of God. It was so hard to see how much pain that she had to suffer. It
has hurt her life so very much. But Sister Flora is trying to arrange a way to
help her get better schooling in a new place. I'm not sure if it will go
through or not. But while she is here we are just going to love her and help
her get to seminary. She loves all the church activities and we sing with her
all the time.
We had a fantastic lesson with the Gallego family on
Thursday about one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3. It
was incredible to listen to Brother Gallego explain how that through the the
Atonement of Christ we can put off the natural man and become more like a child
and be submissive to our Father in Heaven. That turned out to be my talk in
sacrament meeting on Sunday. Our plan is to continue to read the Book of Mormon
with this family -- they are so great at reading the scriptures. They still
have a few things to do before they can get baptized, but I know that the Holy
Ghost through the Book of Mormon will tell them what to do.
We are really excited for the Musical Devotional on
Saturday! I really love to hear and sing testimonies expressed through song,
and I have a really intense desire to enhance my music skills when I go home. I
want that to become a big part of me because it helps me feel the Spirit,
develop my talents and share the gospel with others. We will invite everyone!
We saw a former investigator start progressing, Sister Leni.
She was taught a little before when her child died, but she had some anger
towards God because her sweet and innocent 6 year old child died without
warning 2 years ago. But now that she is meeting with us again, she told us
that her attitude is changing and the Spirit is changing her life little by
little. She loves reading and understands the doctrine that we teach her. She
told us that her prayers are becoming more meaningful and she is feeling the
love from her Heavenly Father and the anger that she felt is being replaced
with humility and love. Such a miracle!
We are still going to keep visiting members and helping them
share the Book of Mormon:)
Lynn and June's little boy Harvey is confined in the
hospital because his lungs are so congested and because of his situation he
can't cough. He could use a lot of prayers right now. Even though his family
has been praying and praying that somehow he will be healed, Heavenly Father
has been answering their prayers in a different way. Their faith is growing
tremendously. Brother June used to not believe in God but now is starting to
pray and read little by little even though he doesn't understand everything.
Sister Lynn is a solid rock in her family -- she never stops praying, never
stops hoping, never gives up. She knows that God is there and knows her
sufferings. She loves the Book of Mormon and told herself that she would read
it from the beginning if at least just a little every day.
KC and Jarwin came to church this week -- KC loves the Book
of Mormon and understands the importance of the gospel. They still love the
message of the gospel and are still working on growing their faith!
Sister Porter
Precious sister in Christ,GOD is for real and HE knows you and HE sees you and HE loves you. Now,if you too love HIM and Truth,it is important you come to know a well known documented and verified truth(although,cheaters try to deny it by telling silly lies);that is the book of Mormon is totally worthless(Never a Tribe of Israel went to the Americas to give birth to the Natives-the DNA test denies it-and far less the Lord JESUS. Truly,the so called original manuscript with the "pearl of great price" were mere lists of obituaries written in the old language of Egypt,which Smith had purchased in a library and not discovered in a wood,and the "apostles" in Salt Lake know it well;by the way,'cause Hyrum and Joseph were Freemasons,many rituals followed in the temples come from masonry). We have,already,a perfect testament,which you can find it in the GOSPEL(Galatians 1,6-9,Jude 3-4). May the Grace and the Love of our Heavenly Father find a warm welcome in your soul,so that his holy Spirit can protect you from deception,sin and hell(Luke 12,1-12);until the day-if,you turn earnestly and with humility to our Lord JESUS to get his personal revelation with his forgiveness and holy freedom;and,so,to taste his fellowship with his peace and mercy-you too 'll enter the joy of Paradise. In God's love and Truth
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