1/25 We had a wonderful lesson with Julio Cesar last Monday. Unfortunately, he can only meet right in the middle of preparation day, but we are willing to sacrifice a little time to teach him. Last week we taught a wonderful first lesson on the restoration. He participated and was very interested the whole time. Near the end of the lesson, I testified of the Book of Mormon and told him that he could receive an answer too. I looked to Elder Cook, and he invited him to be baptized. I wasn't even thinking about the baptismal invitation yet, but he tied it in perfectly to receiving a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Julio then looked at each of us quietly, looked at his wife, smiled and said that that was something he would want. We set the date for this Saturday, the 30th of January. It will be really hard to get him prepared, because he doesn't have much of any time to visit with us during the week, but we will get him ready some way or another.
I was able to work with Elder Barton on another intercambio this week. We spent more time with Jordi, and did a lot of street contacting. We also had several good visits. From the short time we had to work together, I can tell that Elder Barton is an excellent missionary. He speaks Spanish incredibly well for the amount of time he has in the mission. He teaches very clearly, and seems to teach just what is needed. He has a sincere desire to be obedient and constantly looks for ways to improve. He has so much potential. The work in Tortosa is still progressing very quickly. They have a very large pool of investigators, many of which are very close to accepting baptismal dates. I'm excited to see what Tortosa can accomplish in the coming months.
Elder Cook and I are still working hard to find new investigators. We do have a few people with baptismal dates. Ferran finally has one, and will be baptized on the 6th. He is the son of a previously less active family. I can tell Elder Cook has improved a lot since I got here. His Spanish is better, and he is more excited about missionary work now. It's such a cool experience to see how the mission molds and changes new missionaries. It makes me think back to when I was new, and how much the mission has changed me in so little time. Incredible to think about!
Well, thanks to the world wide mission conference we had on Wednesday, what I learned this week has a lot to do with repentance. We learn from the 4th article of faith that repentance is one of the first principles of the gospel. We read from countless scriptures the call to repentance. We know that repentance is a necessary step to receive forgiveness of sins, and as such, is of utmost importance in our lives. As missionaries we often don't put the emphasis that repentance deserves in our lessons, and as members, we can often take for granted what a blessing repentance truly is. Preach My Gospel outlines the importance to repent daily and gives a promise that if we do, we will receive much more joy as we enjoy the full blessings the Atonement of Christ brings to us. I know that Christ suffered for our sins, and He wants to forgive us of our trespasses. Our responsibility is to repent every day, even the days we don't feel we have sinned, and He will bless us with peace and joy in our day to day lives.
¡Un abrazo querido amigo!
No comments:
Post a Comment