(If you´re short on time, and don´t want to read my analysis about Conference, jump down the the specifically marked paragraph.)
All right, let´s get down to business. General Conference, and what I liked. First off was Elder Holland´s talk. And, as always, he did great. He explained a lot about what we as missionaries feel in the mission field. About how challanges will always come, but there are more important things to do in life. We must always have the desire and the courage to do what is right in the threat of opposition. Also great on Saturday Morning was Elder Andersen´s talk. That talk is really needed down here in Guatemala. We need to always focus on the things in life that make us stronger, and always welcome opposition in our lives.
Priesthood Session was absolutely incredible. I loved every single talk. One that really stood out to me was Elder Hallstrom´s talk. Please go look it up if you have time. I really enjoyed it. Also, President Monson´s talk about courage was really good too. We must always have the courage to do the right thing (or not do the wrong thing), no matter how small the thing may be.
Elder Ballard´s tlak was much needed in the mission. That chapter in PMG is one of my favorites, all about following up on comitments. So important. Most of the things we do in life will require follow up, and probably not even just once, but many times. We need to learn this principle, and do all that we can to live it every day.
President Packer is such a powerful man. He may be getting old, and I may not have gotten much from his talk this Conference, but this I do know: That man has got one powerful testimony. Amazing. He really does know the Lord, and I know it to be true. Just from his testimony, I learned so much. We all need to strive to make our testimony that strong. Wow, it just blew my mind how sure he was.
So yeah, that´s what I liked about General Conference. I loved all of the talks, but those were the ones that kind of stood out.
*This is the specifically marked paragraph!*
Other than Conference, the work here has been great. We had many investigators in Conference this week, so we are just waiting this week to see what they thought, and work on getting them to church next week. I really think we can, and there is a lot of work to do here in Colonia.
Luis and Edwin are still good for the 19th of this month. We are really excited, because that can mean turning their lives around for good in this early age. (13 and 15) They like everything, and are coming to church, so now we are just making sure this is something that they really want to do, and make sure that they know what to do when we eventually leave the area.
We had a really touching experience this week. While with a member going to a lesson, she told us about her aunt who had before listened to the missionaries, but said that she never felt anything special. The member, Nidia, was kind of reluctant to go, because the aunt, Antonia, has rejected missionaries recently, but we convinced her to go, so we went. When we were there, she told us that she had been sick for a while, and Nidia said that we could give her a blessing. And I was honored to give the blessing. During the blessing, I felt the Spirit really strongly, but didn´t think much of it. But when I ended, Antonia left the room, leaving us with the others in the room. Long story short, when we had left, Nidia told us that Antonia had left because she was crying, and Nidia had never seen her aunt listen to a blessing like that. Antonia seems really pilas now, We are excited about the change that happened.
With that last story, I feel like we all need to realize something that we all have. A divine potential. For example, I felt normal during the blessing, but I know that Antonia was feeling heavenly hands, and hearing heavenly words. All us of can do more that we really thing, we just need to go and do it.
To close it off, today for P-Day we went to a beautiful place called Laguna Magdalena. So surreal. The word I would chose to describe it would be mystical. Going there just made me think how amazing God really is. He has all the creations before him, and we are able to be a part of it. God really is all-powerful. I´ll send some pictures shortly.
Man, now I just feel like I´m rattling off some things... so I´ll stop now. I love this work guys. There is nothing like it. Until next time!
- Elder Stuart
1 Nephi 19:9
No comments:
Post a Comment