Nov. 9, 2015

Friends, Family-

 

How are you guys doing?! Everything is good over here, we had another good week. I am still loving being here with Elder Miles in this area. On tuesday I went to my first consejo (means "counsil", its where all the zone leaders have a meeting with the mission president and the assitants and they give messages about what we need to do as a mission to get better). And then on Thursday we had our zone meeting. At the zone meeting we just say to the missionaries in our zone almost exactly what President Franco said to us in consejo. So I did my first zone meeting and it went really well, Elder Miles and I just talked for like 3 hours in front of 15 missionaries. It was very spiritual and everything went great, the missionaries really liked it and I think we did a good job saying what we needed to. The sister training leaders in our zone gave the part that Sister Franco said in consejo. So that was all very exciting! The rest of the week was good, just the same old. Romina and Antonela didnt come to church again, so that was a little disappointing. This week we are just going to start from scratch and find new investigators to teach.

 

Something that I am really liking about the Book Of Mormon this time I am reading it is how often the prophets say, "Remember, Remember".. I think it is fascinating that Laman and Lemuel were so quick to be disobedient even after the had seen an angel and known of the surety of the existence of God. As well I think it is fascinating that in the story of Moses and the Children of Israel, the children of Isreal were so forgetful in remembering the miracles that Moses had done and were quick to sin. One of the prophets of our latter days (I dont remember who) said that the word Remember is the most important word in the english language (and in any language). Ive noticed as I have been reading that as long as the characters REMEMBER the tender mercies of the Lord that they have seen in their lives, they avoid sin and remain faithful to the Lord. But as soon as they would start to forget the Lord, then God would withdraw his blessings and they become unhappy. So it is the same with us. Its not easy to read the scriptures and pray everyday and go to church, but if we can just remember the spiritual experiences that we have had and all the blessings our God has given us, we will realize the responsability and the need we have to do those things. And we see that as we keep the commandments, we are blessed and we live happy. Its like a cycle. When we start to not keep the commandments, thats when things start going bad for us, until we remember God again and the promised blessings if we keep his commandments and do the little things (read, pray, church). And then we are blessed and we live happily. So, I invite you all to remember. Remember big things as well as everyday miracles. For example, just remembering the wonderful family that God has blessed me with and the amazing youth that I had (growing up in Riverton, Utah, having all the friends I did with good standards, having the blessing of going to church growing up, my parents that taught me so many good things, being born into a family that always had what we needed, etc.), I realize how truly blessed I am. I realize that I am a very very choosen son of God, and with great power and knowledge comes great responsability. So that motivates me to always go to church and live the gospel. As well we need to remember the everyday tender mercies of the Lord. For example, the other day I was really worried about talking in front of the whole zone because I am not the best at public speaking and my voice always shakes, so I said a prayer and asked God to help me, and as soon as I got up there and started talking, all my fear went away and I was able to talk clearly and I could think staight. I knew that God answered my prayer and helped me in that moment. So, I wrote that all down in my journal. And for all that day, I just remembered that tender mercy from the Lord, and that motivated me to be obedient and work hard that day. As humans, we are so quick to forget. But I promise you all that if you remember God and look for the ways that he blesses us, we will always be happy.

 

This week I will be doing divisions with Elder Cordero (Mexico), he is an office Elder. We will probably just be working in my area. So that will be fun. We also have a multi zone conference tomorrow. So this week should be pretty good!

 

I hope that you are all doing great, thank you for your emails and support. Have a good week!

 

Elder Miles

 

P.S. I will be sending some photos in another email.