This last week and last Sunday has made me leave very content from this area. This whole transfer I was thinking about how I has going to work so hard that I was going to be able to leave the area better then I found it. I really think that I have done my part. All of the converts that have been baptized since I was here are active and are having amazin gconversion processes. And more then anyone is Manuel. I want you to come here to my mission just to meet him! He is so amazing. Last night we went to his house and had yet another spiritual experience. Like always when we sit down he starts going off about what happened in the last few day since our last visit. He always has an amazing story, or something that happened that he shares with us. This time he told us the he was really struggling for money and needed to pay a debt saturday in the night and on friday he was running around trying to figure out how he was going to pay the debt. He finally got the money and went to work on Saturday. He was going to pay the debt after working but he got assaulted at work and they robbed him of all his money. He was so depressed and felt like the Lord had abandoned him. He even thought about abandoning the church and his faith. Then after finishing working he went to his bosses office to see if there was some way he had a pay check. He still doesn't know how, but he had a pay check that he didn't know where it came from. He said that it was the perfect amount to pay his debt and pay tithing. Right now he doesn´t have any money but he payed his tithing and his debt. His faith grew a ton.
After telling us his story he asked us how it was that we always shared a message exactly according to what he was passing by. For a while he thought that is was a pre programed lesson that the missionaries have to share with every new convert, but then he said that he realized that it wasn´t possible because he always felt that God was talking to him with every message that we shared and scriptures that we read. I felt really good in that moment, knowing that I am doing my part. I explained to him that we study for 3 hours in the morning every day with a spirit of pray to know how we can help him specifically. And then we follow the spirit to see what the Lord wants him to know. Sometime as a missionary I wonder if I am good enough to represent the Lord but it is moments like this when investigators and new members confirm to us that I am doing my part that make every pain and hunger and lonely moment in the mission worth it. I told Manuel that most of the time we don´t even know that what we are sharing is what the person needs to hear but we hope it is. D&C 31 came to my mind in the moment(I have only read that section one time in my life but) I followed the impression and once again the spirit and the Lord didn´t let us down. I didn't know what the Lord wanted to tell him but it became clear as we began to read. He wanted Manuel to know that he would one day be in the church with his family(D&C 31:2) If he supported his trial with faith being constant in all things. There is not a doubt in my mind that the Lord speaks to people throught the holy scriptures. Reading the scriptures under the influence of the holy spirit is like receiving a very personalized priesthood blessing. I didn´t have a clue why I needed to read that scripture with him but the Lord had a need to talk to his son. There is nothing better then helping the Lord talk to his children. Manuel was hit with the spirit once again because he knew that it was true and began to cry. I love this work.
Dad, Sounds like you had a great week with you baby girl. I love seeing the video every week and watching her grow week by week. I saw the video of you and her at the car dealership. Hey you told me that you were going to keep me updated on sports. When the new missionaries arrive they inform me what happen while I was gone...hahah. No just kidding I don't really think about sports that much. I pretty much forgot that all sports existed besides soccer. But I did think that it was kind of interesting that Lebron went back to Cleveland. I heard that Cleveland has a dream team now. Where is Jimmer playing?
Well I am excited for you and Shelby to see each other and I can't wait to see a video of the first interaction between Shelby and Abby.
Today I am going to finish packing and we are going to play soccer with the whole zone. And then in the night I am going to go around to my favorite familys and say goodbye.
Love you dad
Love you Shelby!
Elder Quist
No comments:
Post a Comment