Anímese Tu Corazón

Hey everyone!  Its been a very wet week from rain and baptizing!!!  We spent most of this week preparing our baptisms and also spent a couple days in Cuernavaca for our leadership counsel with President Spannaus.  We had a pretty funny experience on the bus when we were heading to Cuernavaca.  We got to the border of the states of Guerrero and Morelos where a police officer usually gets on to make sure there arent any problems with terrorism or narco trafficing.  This guy got on the bus and walked right up to us and asked us for our ticket and ids.  We were the only americans on the bus so it made us laugh that the skin color, shirt, and tie made us look a little suspicious.  But we had a great counsel with President Spannaus.  It was a very emotional day because it was our last day with him.  Many tears were shed but not before he gave us another great bit of advice for the future.  He talked once again about Moses and why the Lord, right before he died, basically told him that all his work was for nothing because all the people would go wicked after his death.  This talk went along with a lot of things that I have been studying personally.  It goes along with the experiences of Abinadi, Nephi, Enoch, and even Christ when He came to the Americas.  Each one of those great men knew of the wickedness of their bretheren and felt so much sadness in their hearts.  President Spannaus asked us a question:  Why would Heavenly Father tell that to Moses? (Deutoronomy 31:16)  Because He shares his sadness with us.  Heavenly Father has perfect love for us.  So when we choose to be disobedient, he feels so much sadness.  To become like Him we also must experience times of sadness.  Christ felt it in America when he remembered the sins of those in Jerusalem (3 Nephi 17:14).  This sadness for the wickedness of those around us is part of enduring to the end.  As missionaries, I have learned that the challenge is converting that sadness into something positive.  Enoch is a great example and help for us.  In Moses chapter 7, Enoch experiences this great sadness for the wickedness of the earth.  He even tells God that nothing will be able to comfort him (Moses 7:44).  But I love the Lords response to Enoch:  Lift up your heart, rejoice and look!  Enoch then sees the Redemption that Christ offers us.  He gains faith and his soul rejoices.  The ONLY comfort that can counteract the sadness we experience for the wickedness, lazinesss, and pride around us is the hope of the Atonement.  The Atonement that has already been done by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  As we continue in this the Lord´s work, we can always have our heads lifted up high and our hearts rejoicing, despite all the people that didnt go to church, that werent at their house for our appointment, the members that didnt come to the baptism we had.  Despite all those things our hearts can always rejoice.  My heart certainly did rejoice when Alma and Andrea got baptized this past Saturday.  The rest of their family is about half inactive and half non member.  They have had a couple trials recently and decided to not support Alma and Andrea in their baptism.  A couple members showed up to support but the room looked pretty empty for the baptism.  Despite all this, Alma and Andrea were excited as can be to be baptized.  Elder Quinnelly baptized Alma and afterwards I baptized Andrea.  Alma shared her testimony after the ordinace and the Spirit was so strong.  I had the opportunity to confirm Alma on Sunday and it was a great experience.  I love this Gospel and am so grateful for the Atonement that can work in each one of our lives.  This Gospel and Atonement has completely changed Alma and Andreas lives and we hope to help out the rest of their family to become an eternal family one day through this great plan that the Lord has set up for us!  Love you all!  Have a great week!!!