Letter #52 - Don't Neglect the Things that are ESSENTIAL - 2.22.2016
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to our mission last week. It was such a great experience. First though, I want to talk about how easy it is in life to become busy with all kinds of things, even things that are important, but we have to be careful not to neglect those things that are essential. For if we forget that essential things, none of the other things matter.
Are we forgetting the one essential thing? One of those most essential things in our lives is our FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean it is the first principle in the gospel. :) Faith may be a simple concept in some ways, but every time I study it, I discover that there is still SOOO much to learn about faith. It amazes me and I see how much more I need to work on my faith to be able to have an unshakable faith! Here are 5 steps that I learned throughout studying more about faith this week! I hope you will all apply them this week!! 1. Have a firm belief that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. (John 3:16) 2. Recognize that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father only by relying on His Son's grace and mercy. (2 Nephi 25:20)
3. TRUST in him and what He says. Faith in Jesus Christ is more than just believing in Him, it is trusting in Him and that He loves us, that He knows what's best for us, and that His commandments are for our benefit. Conforming our actions to the will of our Heavenly Father comes from TRUSTING Him! Looking back on our experiences will help us appreciate that our understanding is immature compared to God's understanding and that we should trust in Him, even when the answers to our prayers are not what we hoped for at the time. I know that God's hand is in our lives even when we don't recognize it.
4. Remember that He has power to keep His promises. Every time that I read the Book of Mormon, I am reminded how many promises that we have been promised if we choose the right. His promises are amazing. As we were talking to one of our investigators this week about the death of her dad, it reminded me of the great blessing of the Resurrection. Once someone is dead and buried, there is no power on earth that can bring them back. There's no science, there's no physician that can get that done. Yet we know that through the power of Christ's Resurrection, our loved ones who have gone before us will be resurrected. What an amazing promise and that is just one of many!!! 5. Accepting and applying His Atonement and teachings. Faith always leads to action. It is something that I have learned over and over in my mission. If we believe that we can have the promises that are promised, then we will act in order to receive those blessings. I know that faith in Jesus Christ is ESSENTIAL to our eternal salvation. It leads us to keep the commandments and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Eventually we will stand before the judgement bar of God. I know that many of the things we put importance in are going to be totally irrelevant. But I do know faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, receiving the saving ordinances, and enduring to the end are essential, and if we don't do those things nothing else will matter.
The Importance of Your Example Our mission had a meeting with Elder Jeffery R. Holland this week and it was amazing! I will never forget it. It was the first time that we were all together as mission. There were 200 hundred of us. First, we got all together to take a picture with Elder Jeffery R. Holland. We all stood up when he entered and he blew us a kiss with a signal to sit down. He said "HOLA!". Then, he said that he wanted to shake hands with each of us. He wanted us to say our names and where we were from. We lined up and each of us got to meet him. He later told us that he didn't really care where we were from, but it was to give us more time to have a personal interview with him. He said " I don't know if you noticed, but I looked right into your eyes and if you looked away, I looked away with you". He said he could feel with each of us how we were doing in our missions, spiritually, and if we knew that the mission was important. Elder Holland started out by telling us HOW important our calling is. He said that he didn't know where he would be if he never went on a mission, but he knew that he wouldn't have been in Quito talking to us. He said that he is so committed to the mission that even if we didn't baptize anyone, he would have us in the mission because of the change that happens in us, the conversion that can happen, and the love of the Lord that grows daily within a missionary. The mission helps to have us have the conversion so that we can be an essential part of the kingdom of God. He said that he left on his mission, the most unprepared missionary there is. He joked and said that he is sure when his missionary president saw him walking down to meet him in the airport was thinking "Oh boy". He said that he worked hard in his mission and it changed him. There is NOTHING more important that you could be doing with your lives. "There were a 1000 reasons for me not to go on a mission, but if I chose not to go-I would have missed out on 50 years of blessings that I have received because of my mission. Take advantage of every minute, every hour, every week in your mission!"
He talked about the importance of us being committed to this FOREVER. There is nothing worse than to see a returned missionary who lost their way. Who has the attitude that they gave their 2 years or 18 months and that they didn't need to give more. They believe that they have given all that is required of them. "If we can't count on the PASTORS to be faithful, what is going to happen to the lost sheep." He then raised his voice and said YOU CAN'T EVER RETURN TO WHO YOU WERE! THIS IS A CHURCH OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION. Your lives will be destroyed. After what you have learned, after what you have experienced, what you have said and what you have testified. If you turn your back on all that, there is no integrity. What we expect others to do, He expects you to do. Remember, the example that we can be as members. Remember, the things that we testify of, what we have learned, and what we have felt. We are God's investigators. We have habits that God doesn't like, that will stop our progression, so we need to stop and work to improve them. We know what they are. We need to apply the Atonement and walk away from those things. We belong to a church that is a church of eternal progression. We need to progress daily to reach our potential that our Father in Heaven knows we can achieve. LOVE THE LORD AND DEFEND HIS KINGDOM WITH YOUR EXAMPLE!
Miracles, Miracles, Miracles
We didn't have a lot of teaching time this week because we were in the hospital with sick missionaries, but we were able to teach an old investigator which was a miracle. She was an investigator that we found when I was companions with Sister Narvaez. Her name is Mary. I don't know if you remember her? She is a mother of two cute girls! Her dad died who she had not known for her life. She had the opportunity to meet him and then shortly after found out that he had cancer. It was really hard for her and she didn't understand how something good could be taken away so fast. She really didn't want to talk about religion or God and ignored our calls. She was able to learn that God's hand is our lives everyday though and we had a powerful lesson with her! I love her to death and we are excited to work with her again! I hope you all have a wonderful week! :) Love always, Sister Pemberton
Me and my companion Hermana Salaz
