Dear Family!
Read your letter! thanks! Mom yes! Next time stay online, my sunday was great. I played the piano. ...dad, thanks for the sarcasm. You do have a beautiful voice annnd of course! I school everybody in bball haha. naw.
Well had the change to listen feet away from an apostle of the Lord. Elder Holland came and spoke to the three buenos aires missiones. Our mission hosted the reunion so I sat in the front! It was wonderful.There were moments when I felt the spirit so strongly, it reminded me of the day I received my patriarchal blessings. LIke my blessing, the messages shared were simple, but powerful because literally everthing said was the truth. I know it as because I could feel it. The spirit testified to me that what I´m doing here in Argentina is the most important thing I could be doing right now and that I am a daughter of God. Just wish I could fotocopy my notes and send them to you all, maybe I will...hmmm.
But! For you all to have a thought. He let us know that he loves us. He literally begged us never to forget what we are doing here and to always remember who we are. It was interesting, talked about D&C 88:33...that this scriptures has "haunted" him for a long time. That refusing the gift, we´re refusing the giver. How many times do we forget the spiritual experiences we´ve had?
Hermana Holland...she is a virtuous woman. She is humble..I wish you could have seen her trying to recite the few lines of spanish she must have practiced for hours in preparation for her talk. Truly humble. One of 1,000 people I could feel the love she had for me. It was powerful. I cried...learned alot in only 10 minutes....more about charity than anything else.
Personal study thought...Alma 17...Everything we do, seems we´re either serving/loving God, or we´re not. After the group of rebel lamanites steal their sheep, the servants of the king start to murmur (at least that´s what they did in spanish) Starts talking about how they´re basically dead, that the king will kill them. Sometimes I think things are hard or I instantly think of the most logical conclusion ( which can be negative) but no! Logical or not, I can do better. I I can show my trust in the Lord in everthing I do. Think that means being positive in every moment- in looking for miracles and for the way to be more worthy to see them...Let´s be like Ammon!
Yesterday I was out knocking doors with Hermana Medeyro trying to find people to teach. We were talking about our contacts, how we want to change the ¨habit words¨ we use and really focus in on the person. Really invite someone. We were practicing in the street in between houses and trying to put it into practice. We happened to contact a woman who had already heard from the missionaries and didn´t want to hear from us again. Anyone looking at the situation would think she really wasn´t interested. It´d be easy to leave with a ¨here´s an invitacion¨. But Hermana Medeyro kept talking, found a doubt, and then another time, asked if we could discuss this doubt. It was the coolest thing! Everything about Rosa changed, she invited us in, we had a great lesson and in the end committed her to read and then to pray about Jose Smith. The spirit softened Rosa´s heart and gave us the words to speak.
Another experience with Hermana Walton and Hermana Medeyro ayer. It was late and we still needed to find someone. We knocked and found Carlos. He told us no 3 times and in the very end I felt like I needed to say one thing more. I think my countenence changed as I started focusing not on the key indicator we were trying to fulfill, but about what Elder Holland spoke about yesterday: about saving a human soul. The word "exhort" comes to mind. I literally felt like I was begging this person to listen to us, that it would bless his life. I saw a miracle. After 3 hard "no´s" he said yes. I think.. now what changed there? What did we just do for him to change his mind? I think we became so desperate that we had to rely on the spirit. How great the day would be if we wouldjust rely on the spirit FIRST. Like Elder Holland said, this is HIS work. Not ours.
Another experience with Hermana Walton and Hermana Medeyro ayer. It was late and we still needed to find someone. We knocked and found Carlos. He told us no 3 times and in the very end I felt like I needed to say one thing more. I think my countenence changed as I started focusing not on the key indicator we were trying to fulfill, but about what Elder Holland spoke about yesterday: about saving a human soul. The word "exhort" comes to mind. I literally felt like I was begging this person to listen to us, that it would bless his life. I saw a miracle. After 3 hard "no´s" he said yes. I think.. now what changed there? What did we just do for him to change his mind? I think we became so desperate that we had to rely on the spirit. How great the day would be if we wouldjust rely on the spirit FIRST. Like Elder Holland said, this is HIS work. Not ours.
We´re working with several families right now. Specifically Tamara, Cecelia, Carlos and they´re family, as well as Feliciano, Maria, and Victoria. Seeing miracles with new jobs, coming to church....I´ll let you know more about them next time. I got to jet!
I love you all!
Love, Hermana Cleveland
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