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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Mexico Week 35 -- Todo Lo Puedo en Cristo Que Me Fortalece

Buenas tardes mi familia eterna, 

So turns out at least six more weeks here in Tlaquepaque with Hermana Malacara! Woo! Hoo! The elders called us at about 10:30 last night.  They always call at about 7:30pm, so we were all nervous and tight stomached for so long!  We had so many people nervous too.  All day long when we arrived at their houses, they would ask, ¨Sooo, what’s the news? Is somebody leaving?¨.  We had to inform a few people after the news arrived! I am going to be honest ... I literally squealed. I’m not really good at the whole goodbye thing. Get ready for one crazy transfer after so much work! 

These are my new favorite pants!  They are green like the Mexican flag, and I got them for the equivalent of about $3.  They are so soft! 

  
Every Monday, I have been searching long and hard for a Coke with my name and today I found it! The only sad part is that Alexis is a boy name here! Ha! Ha!


 This would be me attempting to play the piano and singing hymns today. Life is great with the Spirit and some hymns. 



Also, just in case you were still wondering, I still don’t have full feeling in my lip. Remember the crazy wisdom teeth surgery? Oh well, ni modo, I will have partial feeling the rest of my life!

This week was ... A WEEK OF MIRACLES. 

Hermano Oscar is practically a member! Once we ditch cigarettes, we are golden! Tuesday we were walking for mil años and not finding anyone. The light at the end of the tunnel is that he was going to go to Ward FHE and we were going to talk about repentance afterward. We show up at church and well...he didn’t. We were so bummed. He calls us and says ¨Hey are you still at the church?¨ We said, “Of course!”  He told us he was sorry for being so late, but that he would be there in about 15 minutes and he had a surprise for us!  He showed up at about 8:15 WITH HIS WIFE AND KIDS. They live about 15 minutes from here, but wow, they are so special! We talked about families and one of the counselors in the bishopric gave him a blessing to help him live the Word of Wisdom. BUT, his blessing also mentioned that lots of people including his family, would receive the gospel through him, and that he would be SEALED IN THE TEMPLE.  His wife started to cry and told us how she is so grateful that her husband has found God and she keeps asking where He is. 

Another night, we had another lesson in the chapel and we talked about families more and our Father in Heaven. His wife is opening up so much and his 10 year old son is an angel! They all want to learn more and be baptized. One morning we went to visit Hermano Oscar and we talked about our baptismal covenant and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We were talking about what we need to feel before baptism and he gets teary up talking about mistakes he’s made and how he just wants to change and be better for his family. He wants to help his kids outside of his marriage to receive the gospel too. This is what it means to be repentant, to have this change of heart.

We went to church on Sunday and here comes Hermana Elsa (the mom who’s less active), both of her sons Oscar and Jose (the one who listened one time and then didn’t want anything) the family of Hermano Oscar, and Hermana Elsa invited her niece who also wants to learn more. All of this started by loving and finding a less active member and helping her to feel peace during a rough time. The gospel is incredible and when people are touched by it, they start to share it with everyone. Wow, this family blows my mind!!  It just felt amazing at church on Sunday. We had seven investigators come to church. AHH! 


This week my Heavenly Father taught me so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I realized how much I’ve truly been touched by the love of my Savior. All of my experiences and meditating this week helped me to prepare a talk for Sunday. The bishop asked my companion and I to speak. I loved it. I started out by sharing the story from President Hinckley la de “He Took My Lickin for Me”.  I asked everyone if they had been touched by the love of Jesus Christ.  When we feel just a little bit of his love, we start to have faith.  We start to believe in what He did, and we start to see that it is possible … with Him, everything is possible.  Our love for Him starts to grow and we want to repent. We want to use the sacrifice He gave us. We want to be better for Him. We want to show our love for Him and we trust Him enough to be humble and repent, and confess, or whatever we have to do. Fear doesn’t matter, talking with a bishop doesn’t matter, what others will say or think doesn’t matter because we just want to come unto Him. I told a BYU story too. In my 3rd semester, I was feeling a little hopeless. I was scared, I just wanted to do what was right and I remember one night driving to the temple in Brad’s car. I parked outside of the Provo temple and started to listen and sing “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” … then I started crying and stopped singing. I shared the lyrics of this hymn and talked about how we have made or are preparing to make covenants.  We have or will have the Holy Ghost and we have to be firm and faithful to the end, o sea, we have to allow the Lord’s love to touch our hearts our whole lives.  I used Elder Holland´s talk about the First Great Commandment (still my all time favorite talk)  and how he asks Peter if he really loves Him.  If we love the Lord .. we serve Him.  If we love Him .. He comes first. Last week Grandma Janice told me that I was finally accepting the Lord’s love. I read that and thought pridefully ¨Hey that’s not true, I always feel it!¨  The truth is, that’s not the truth.  I resist it so many times.  I put extremely high standards for myself and I’m really not very patient.  I have resisted His love so many times in my life, most thinking I wasn’t worthy of it, or that I could figure things out on my own.  My President gave me a blessing one time and in my blessing said that I needed to learn about and experience the Atonement and the Savior’s love on my mission so that I could bless my husband and kids.  IT’S SO TRUE!! 

I am finally feeling the Lord’s love.  I am finally understanding repentance.  I am seeing myself how He sees me.  My love for Him is growing more and more every day and my mission is the most incredible gift that He has given me.  I love the Lord.  If I don’t communicate anything else with y’all .. I want you to know this .. I love Him.  I love Him a whole lot and I love what He has sent me to do.  I love Him for his patience.  I love Him for what He did.  I love Him for always giving us a second chance.  I love Him for giving me this mission, and I love Him for being by my side every day.  I am just extremely grateful and happy and with Him it’s all possible.  ¨Todo lo puedo en Crist que me fortalece.¨ .. This scripture is so going on the wall in my home.  Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” .. not going to lie .. I like it better in Spanish!

I love you all to the moon and back and I hope that you are happy. Come unto Christ, forget everything else and come unto Him. Feel His love, do what He asks, and receive His love. 

Love you almost as much as He does! 

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