 |
| Cole's Birthday Avocado...no cake...he improvised! |
Happy Bday mom, hayden, steph, audrey, eddie, tierney and michellle! and thanks for the letter, em. really super duper appreciate it. and I opened the package/Gifts! snickerdoodles.... mmmm.... peanutbutter cookies...... mm....... brownies will have to be made soon. and the mo-phat shirt? AWESOME. lovin´ the sweater that i´ll have to use here in a few weeks/ months. I think I´m gonna make corn pancakes today. And, the talk in the BYU magazine by brad wilcox, "His Grace is Sufficient" is spectacular. if you haven´t read it, I highly highly recommend it. (link at bottom) Also, We didn´t have a cake or anything, but we had some palta! (avacado) And so I stuck some candles in there and had a wonderful little celebration.
Gosh, I don´t even know where to start. Tuesday night, I guess. The Best I´ve felt so far in this sector! I don´t know if I wrote you guys about the milagro de 5th Avenida? I think i did. like 2-3 weeks ago. Well, we finally got back in to teach everyone that´s living there. Mom Silvia, Dad Vicente, and Daughters Daiana (16) y Tamara(15). Okay back up. Last Sunday, the 4th of March, we went by and taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon, and The 4 of them were all ears. Silvia was taking notes (what?)! They had good questions, and it was just a great lesson. We left them with a few Book of Mormons. We felt pretty good leaving their house.
Then on Tuesday, they were actually there for the cita! that´s a good sign, because most of the time the people forget or avoid us. Anyway, we get there, and Silvia hadn´t read, and she felt bad. So as we waited for Vicente to get out of the shower and were talking with the daughters, Silvia started reading. When Vicente was ready, they sat down and were like, okay so what are you going to teach us today? they´re so eager to learn! I asked her about what she just read and she totally got it. She had some questions, but they were super good questions and pushed us right into what we were going to talk about anyway. "Faith moves mountains" is a common phrase. "but can you move my scriptures? they´re a lot smaller and easier to move than a mountain." Vicente sat there for a little bit, thinking, then reached over the table and picked up the scriptures, and set them down again. "There. They moved." He got it. "EXACTLY. you had faith that the scriptures could be moved. But you also knew you had to do your part. you did your part. you acted. Faith Requires action. faith requires works." BOOM. We talked about Faith meet for repentence, and how to fully repent, a covenent of obedience is required (See Elder Christofferson´s "The Divine Gift of Repentence"). John 3 and Mateo 3. And then we started talking about The Holy Ghost, and how it can guide and protect us. If offers us, among other things, peace.
Then Silvia siad, "Ya know what? just earlier today we were having a little argument, and Daiana said, ´I want peace. I just need peace in my life.´ " In that moment, I felt the need to ask Daiana a question, and I needed to ask it in that very moment, and not wait. I have absolutely no doubt that my thoughts were guided by the spirit. "Daiana," I said, "How do you feel right now?" "I feel peace. Más Tranquilidad." "Daiana, that is the spirit. That is the spirit testifying to you that what we´re saying to you right now is really the Gospel of Christ. It is the Holy Ghost. Would you like to always feel this way?" Then, with a serious and hopeful look on her face, "Sí." "Entonces," dije yo, "Hay que entrar en la puerta, en la senda y camino de Dios, El camino de Jesucristo. Como ya dijimos, esta puera es un bautismo com Jesucristo, en la Iglesia de Jesucristo. Si ésto es algo que quieren lograr," now addressing the family, "se bautizarán en la Iglesia de Jesucristo?" Immediately, with a look of relief, gratitude, and i´m-so-glad-you-just-asked-me-that, Daiana responded, "SÍ!" Then Silvia, then Vicente, then Tamara. The Spirit was so strong, you could definitely feel it. It was testifying to their hearts.
Then my comp invited them to set a goal, a date to work towards, the 21st of April. They asked what time :) But then Daiana, obviously rocognizing how special it would be, asked, "can we do it on a different day? Like my Birthday?" After getting everything worked out, They have a fecha for Sunday, the 8th of April (not her birthday). Then Silvia asked us to leave something for them to read. It´s really nice when they want to have things to do, and realize that Living the Gospel starts with commitments, and living the gospel is more that listening a few days a week to the misisonaries, but it is really living it. Silvia took her Libro de Mormon with her to Argentina for her weekend visit to her oldest daughter. Vicente also offered to drive us home. The whole family came with. Oh, Familia Castán.
Then Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder Aguilar in his sector, and stayed at the pension with him, Elder Monsen, and Elder Adair. we made the snickerdoodles. Also Wednesday, we got the iniciatives for the month. one about the Family, another about el don de lenguas (completely new daily schedule for the entire mission---huge change, and it looks like for the better), and the zone leaders had one about planning and using time wisely. Thursday, we had Capacitación Especial. Happy Birthday! it was great. And President King called me that night and him and his wife sang happy birthday to me over the phone :)
Good week. And it sounds like the BoM marathon was a success!! We actually left Moroni 10 for Familia Castán to read. Guys, the Book of Mormon is so amazing. please read from it every day. there´s nothing we have to do that´s more important than reading the word of God, written, inspired, and revealed specifically for us, right now. It was written specifically with Roger in mind. It was written specifically with Christine in mind. It was written specifically with Hayden in mind. It was written specifically with Spencer in mind. It was written specifically with Luke in mind. They saw our day. They wrote what they knew, and they wrote what they were inspired to write--- inspired by the all-knowing, all-powerful God, our loving and personal Heavenly Father. Read, study, and apply the Book of Mormon to your life.
I love you all.
Elder Moffat
