We
had a good week this week. On Tuesday one of the kids in our ward had
his birthday. His name is howie, I don't know how he spells it though.
He lives with his grandma and his grandma told us that he hasn't had a
birthday party in a couple of years and if we could help her out with that. So we
invited all of the kids his age to his house, and bought a cake and some
chips for a surprise birthday party. Howie was so stoked when we showed
up to his house with all of his friends and cake. His grandma was so
thankful, she told us that they weren't planning on eating cake with him
for his birthday because they couldnt afford that.
Yesterday, we had a really
cool experience. One of our investigators has a girlfriend who is a
member of the church. They want to get married but the girlfriend said
that he has to get baptized before they get married. He feels stressed
out about all of that. He told us that he doesn't want to get baptized
for the wrong reasons. He likes what we teach and likes the Book of Mormon and wants it to all be true, but he just hasn't gotten an answer
that he is looking for. He told us that he reads his Book of Mormon
every night and brings it with him to work because he just wants to know
if it is true or not. And he's not lying, he has his Book of Mormon all
marked up with notes and highlights. Elder Jimènez shared his
experience with praying and receiving an answer that the book of mormon
is true. Than he asked me what my experience with getting my prayer
answered was like. I told him the truth, that I don't have a definite one time miraculous
experience where everything came together and I knew everything was
true. My experience is that I have read diligently the scriptures and
have had many small experiences of feeling the spirit. And they build on
each other, until now I can say that I truly do know that God exists
and this is his church. Line upon line.
Kind of in
relation to this I have been thinking a lot about a couple of scriptures
that I would like to share. The first is in D&C 58:6.
6 Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you—that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come;
The
first part of this scripture makes sense, that we were sent here to be
obedient. But I didn't understand the second part, What does it mean
that ´´that our hearts might be prepared to bear testimony.´´ There is a
cross reference to Isaiah 43:12. I really like this scripture. I think
that we come to earth to realize that Jesus is our savior, and is our
redeemer. His grace and his mercy are real, and he does exist. It's not
easy to come to this knowledge because it requires patience and
diligence. But he wins our hearts and he gains our trust through big and
small things over time. He is always with us always his hands extended for
us to come to him, love him, and trust him.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, whenthere was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
Please tell Paul and Luke their big brother knows they are never alone and the Savior is their best friend. That would be an amazing Christmas delivery from me.
Like I said in the beginning I'm so excited to talk to you guys this week and see your faces. Have a wonderful christmas!
Elder Terry
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