Hello family and friends!
What a wonderful week and just as you all know the weeks are just flying by fast. It is almost Easter and a time to remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, he is someone that I have come to know really close, His love, comfort, and of His example. This Sunday the members had the opportunity to talk about the importance of the sacrament and how we should take that moment to make it holy. We should keep our thoughts on the Savior while the sacrament is being passed out, not thinking about what we will be eating or doing after church. Remembering what our Savior sacrificed for all of us. Here is an insight; baptism gives us that cleansing process signifying that we are promising the Lord that we are showing him that we are willing to serve him all our life and that we are moving forward and letting go our old life and starting a new perspective of life. That is great that baptism does that but here's the catch, we are not always clean so we can't be baptized every time we make a mistake. Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, have given us the sacrament to help us continue being cleansed through the atonement without having to go through the process of baptism again. The sacrament is a symbol of us renewing or re-making those promises that we made with our Heavenly Father when we were baptized. It is acknowledging that are willing to allow the atonement to cleanse us from our sins. Even though we have been baptized we still need that continual thirst for the sacrament. A person who doesn't continue to partake of the sacrament is one that will see themselves further distancing themselves from the spiritual protection. In all the sacrament is very important and will be a impact in our lives if we take a minute, think and realize what we are taking, who we are making these promises to and how it can continually protect us.
This week we worked hard! To the point that when Sunday
rolled around our eyes began to be baggy. It was truly that first week
on my mission that my companion and I were able to truly push ourselves
to opening our mouths and start spreading the gospel nonstop. At times
we were usually in a rush and thinking we needed to get to an
appointment on the other side of town and then from there to go another
one as well. That worked well, but the difference this week was that we
were able to seek those people out even if they were interested or not
in the gospel and truly invite them to hear the message we had to share.
My companion and I were biking from neighborhood to neighborhood, from
house to house looking for the opportunities to invite people. We would
practice every morning, taking an hour or two in our study to practice
how to do brief one minute power statements so that the spirit can touch
the hearts of those we would talk to. We noticed that teaching takes
the skills of not only talking but also, listening, watching carefully,
and listening to the promptings of the spirit, knowing what to say and
do at the right time and moment. As missionaries we have had the time in
our life in two years to develop these skills, but we are still a work
in progress. It takes time little by little to be fully were we need to
be. Why am I talking about this? Well it is because it is to show that
everyone of us has this ability to become a teacher just like Jesus
Christ. It is a like someone learning how to play a sport for instant
basketball. The person who wants to be in the big games takes all their
time and energy to practice that one shot or free throws so that when he
or she gets that opportunity to play in the big game he doesn't have to
have that feeling like he is not ready to perform, rather he is fully
confident that all the practices that he did is well worth all the time.
Just like us, we can be put on the spot in life were for an instant,
like a missionary, we need to open our mouth to share the gospel or for
those at home stand, we need to stand up for what we do believe in. We
won't have to be unprepared. Just like athletes who learn the basic
fundamentals we as Later Day Saints can grown and learn the basic
fundamental principles of the gospel to help us in times of needed
reassurance. Learning the basics is something that my companion and I
have found that has helped us during this week. For example one basic
would be opening our mouth to share the truth.
During
the week our investigators have been progressing and accepting the
gospel of Jesus Christ. For example two of our investigators named Con
and Peter are accepting the challenges that are put in front of them all
because they are willing the change their life and follow our Savior
Jesus Christ. Peter is giving up his addiction to smoking and is willing
to read the Book of Mormon for that extra protection of spiritual
armor. Con is starting to recognize the spirit and is willing to give up
his past and follow the path of our Savior. He has been taught by many
missionaries but this time it is different because he is very meek. Also
Dentzen, a mom that is stuck in her wheel chair and can't move, is
finally softening her heart to the spirit and is now understanding what
she is needing to do to move on. She has a smoking problem. She is
wanting her family involved in the discussions. Everything is going
great, we are getting rain and the work is moving along. My companion
and I are excited to push ourselves and to be more in tune with the
spirit.
Thank you all for the help and prayers, hope you all have a great week! Elder Thorpe
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