Monday, April 8, 2013

So abundant, that there would not be room to receive it


Sun over Popocatépetl

April 8, 2013

            Soooooo much has happened this week!!! So we really need to dive right in if we don't want to be at this computer all day....and trust me i got stuffff ta dooooz.

Some gorgeous but sketchy path we walked down on a 30 minute "shortcut"
            So like i have been saying we really teach a lot of less active members in our ward and we don't have a lot of investigators. So this week Elder P. and i made it a goal to mention that in our prayers, more that we would be able to find the people that God has prepared to hear the Gospel.....soooooo we have about 8 new investigators this week with 3 of them being families and more coming!! God has totally blessed us this week in that regard and we found out that we have so many new investigators we can't even meet with all of them this week so we have to plan appointments in 2 weeks, thus where the title of this post comes from. We were also able to help a family who is struggling with the passing of a close friend and boyfriend of one of the daughters. They were catholic and went to their church trying to find some kind of comfort but the minister just told them that the boyfriend was stuck in limbo and he was lost. They have a cousin who is an older lady in our ward and she invited them to an activity where we talked with the family and taught them about the plan of salvation, life after death, and how God knows each of us personally
Elder Hamm and his club
and wants us to return. Then we were able to give them all blessings...here's the interesting part.  haha.  So there are 4 members of the family and it was Elder P. and i, the bishop, and the first counselor. Elder P. blessed the daughter, then the first councilor stepped in and my mind started calculating......now we all know how absolutely awful i am at math so it took me a bit but i realized that there were 4 of us and 4 of them so either someone was going to be blessing twice....or i was gonna have to put on some big boy pants. The dad was last and i didn't even know if he was going to get a blessing, i was thinking hey he is tough he doesn't need one....but then he stood up and sat in the chair. The bishop looked at me and motioned with his hand in my direction. I turned around and kindly informed him that the woman behind me was indeed a woman and therefore couldn't give blessings. But he of course was motioning to me. I stepped over and looked at Elder P. who gave me a look of confidence...mixed with the emotion a parent has sending their child off on a bike with two wheels for the first time knowing they are going to fall. He told me what to say but i couldn't repeat it now if i wanted to.  The dad's name was very hispanic and very long the likes of which i can also not recall. But as i approached this brother and placed my hands upon his head the words began to flow. I was able to say what the spirit wanted and i didn't know half the things i was saying. The spirit was truly speaking through me and i gained a testimony of the gift of tongues for sureee. Then later that week i also had the opportunity to do divisions which means my companion goes with a brother from the ward and i do the same, meaning i have to teach a lesson by myself. it was a little bit hard at first but sure enough the spirit came to the rescue and i was able to teach a lesson filled with the spirit. This week we alsooo had General Conference!!....oh i know, so did everyone else, but i bet you watched it in English! No i'm kidding, luckily there was the stake technical guy and he hooked all the americans up with English conference for 2 sessions on Saturday and the 2 sessions on Sunday. That being said, priesthood session is another story. We tried and tried to get the session in English but it just wasn't gonna happen so we had to watch it in Spanish.....yah that was nottt enlightening haha but luckily halfway through we found the urim and thummim in the form of English subtitles and we finished conference understanding what the heck was going on. Fun fact the translators are translating directly from the words but not with the same emotion. When people with emotion speak the translator doesn't change haha and then at one point he was getting choked up with the spirit while the speaker remained calm. Just interesting.
Elder Hamm and Elder P with a lion cub
               So this Pday we got to go on an Africam Safari which was actually really cool. it was like 20 dollars a person and we got to see all kinds of crazy animals, the likes of which i will include with pictures. But it was a really fun day today.
The Crew

Flamingos
               Lastly, the spiritual thought for the week. This week's spiritual thought comes from conference which i'm sure you all watched but whether you did or did not, just hear me out. When i was coming out on the mission, to be honest i didn't know what the heck i was doing. i didn't really WANT to go, but i really knew it was what god wanted and what i SHOULD do. I would at this time like to speak to anyone who is facing a similar situation in their life. Jeffrey R. Holland spoke about belief in his talk and mentioned the story of a young man. This young man said to him Elder Holland, i don't KNOW that the things in the gospel are true, i just believe them and WANT them to be true. He went on to say that this is not a problem, in fact this is one of the greatest starting places you could ask for. he says "Even if you can no more desire to believe, let thy desire work in you until it is belief." When i came out on the mission, i didn't know it was the right thing, i didn't beliveeee that it was the right thing...but i had the desire to follow the commandments of God and like the story of the man with the seizing child, said "Lord, help thou my unbelief." We don't know why we do some things in the church or in life, we only know that we have been asked by righteous prophets of God and church leaders and if we can just have the desire to believe, we will be able to come to a knowledge. He finishes saying "Fan the flame of your faith. All things are possible to those who believe." Hold fast to what you know and pray that more knowledge will come with experience through walking in the light. I know this is a true concept because i have seen it work in my life. I know it, and you can know it too. You only needs desire.



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