Monday, October 24, 2011

La Parte Divertida de la Misión es la Compañía del Espíritu Santo

Hey Guys!
Hope the week went well for everyone! We had quite an excellent week with some ups and downs! We did divisions with the District Leaders this past week. Elder Smith stayed with me in Tepoztlán and Elder Oswald went to Zapata with Elder Gonzalez. It was a tough day as we didnt teach any lessons. I was bummed that we had walked the WHOLE day and didnt teach at all while Elder Smith was there. He didnt mind though and actually loved the time we spent talking to so many people, even if they didnt want to accept us. We felt really good about the work we had done at the end of the day so we kept our heads up. Elder Smith taught me a lot about the attitude towards the mission and how to measure success. We also talked a lot about finding the elect of God, or in other words, finding those who have been prepared to hear the word and really, truthfully want to listen to you. That can be challenging sometimes because there are a lot of great people out there that we have taught but truthfully just are not ready to start making covenants with God. So we are really focusing on finding those who are prepared to hear our message. We had a baptism this week!!!! Yazmin was baptized on Friday and it was amazing. She is 8 years old and all her brothers and sisters are members but her parents are not. We asked her the week before if she wanted to get baptized becuase she had just turned 8 a few months ago and told us she didnt really want to. We asked her to pray about it that night. In the morning when we walked down to their house, she ran up to us and yelled ¡Ya me quiero bautizar! She prayed and felt great about it. Kids are such great examples of faith!!! Her nonmember parents went to the baptism and practically all the active members of the branch came as well! The support and love from the branch was amazing and the parents noticed it. They also came to church on Sunday to see the confirmation so that was really special. We are going to continue working with the parents because they want to get baptized too. The problem is they sell shoes in the mercado every sunday and dont want to give up their work to go to church because its their source of income. It is going to come down to faith with them. If they exercise their faith in the Lord and stop selling on Sundays and come to Church, He is going to bless them with enough money to sustain the family. One trial of faith we experienced was that a family that we are teaching right now and that is preparing diligently to be baptized got robbed this past week. Everything from their house, money, tvs, telephones, everything. We were heartbroken because we love this family so much. We know this trial of faith is going to help them be even better members of the church when they get baptized. So the title of my email comes from something in the Missionary handbook. In the introduction it talks about the importance of the Holy Ghost in the calling of a missionary and that we should STRIVE TO ENJOY THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THE HOLY GHOST. I dont think I ever thought of it that way, I mean I have always loved feeling the Holy Ghost but we should always enjoy His presence. I have really tried to do that this past week. Pray for His guidance and ENJOY it. I have found greater joy in following Him and doing this work for the Savior than I have ever felt in my life. I know that sometimes the world makes bad decisions look more fun, but the true joy comes from the companionship of the Holy Ghost that comes according to our obedience and willingness to submit to the Lord and do His will. I hope we can all strive to enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost this week as we do all we can to do the will of the Lord. Love you all lots and appreciate so much your prayers in my behalf!
Con Muchísimo Amor,
Elder Stutz

No comments:

Post a Comment