Wow, such a good week full of changes and recapacitation (repentance).
We had our interviews with President Perez, along with the accompanying training. Hna. Duarte and I set our goals and are putting them in practice. She calls me a nerd because I keep on saying effusively, “I love repentance! It’s the best thing in the world.” A lot of the change is simply a matter of putting a “cuando” or scheduling a time to do it. It can be immediate. Why wait for the New Year to change? Change every day! We are writing a lot of thank you notes now and are writing down (immediately) when we feel an impression from the Spirit. I am greeting every person I meet, and we are walking faster. We have lived some very beautiful spiritual experiences this week.
We spent all this week trying to find blood donors for a family member of our investigator, Romer. We found many people that had the right blood type, O+, but had contaminated blood, and so they could not donate. The importance of the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity….it can save lives. (Obviously those are not the only reasons why people cannot donate blood.)
We talked with a ward member who gave us the referral for Zaida and her family (they have plans to be baptized May 1), because they are in dire economic circumstances. She said that she would visit them and see how they are doing. When we visited Zaida and her family, we found out that this Good Samaritan had bought a big bag of bread and lots of coal for the family to sell. With the money they earn from the sale, they can buy more bread and coal and can have at least some income. Also, the plan is for Angelica Maria to work 3 days a week at her house, cleaning. Hna. Duarte and I were SO grateful for this generous woman who knows how to help others. Microenterprise in action.
I love the scriptures and feel like they are coming alive even more, the more people I talk with and find out what their challenges and past experiences are (especially the talk that Jacob gives in Jacob 3 (law of Chastity), and repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ´s Atonement (Alma 36). We spent so much time this week teaching people the importance of prayer and the power of forgiveness. So many people want to know, “Does God really forgive sins?” Yes, He does! (D&C 58:42-43), when we confess and abandon the sin.
I am so grateful for seminary and the Scripture Mastery scriptures, because I refer to them constantly when teaching. Maybe I didn´t understand the importance of them when I was in high school, but the more of life I experience, the more I understand the importance of them.
The mission is lo maximo(the best). Every day we are working hard, finding people to teach. The ward members are so important in the work. Really, there is no sustainable progress without their involvement. If they only knew how important their examples are for their families, for their neighbors, and how important their visiting and home teaching visits are, more people would be helped, more faith sustained, and they would feel more of the love of God in their lives. Our salvation is not just “I will be content with being a good person. I haven’t killed anyone.” No! Whether we want to or not, our example and influence helps or deters others, builds or destroys faith in God, and has an impact on every person that knows us. Our salvation is intertwined with the salvation of our brothers and sisters.
That’s all! May we constantly bless others with the blessings that God has given us!
Hna. Christensen
