Hola all! Cómo están? I hope you are all doing well and had
a great week! I am so thankful for the things I have been able to experience
and learn this week! I've had some great moments but also there have also been some
really difficult times. I want to share a little bit of what I have learned
about the Lord´s work and how all we experience can be for our good!
So first of all to start out with the "good" that I have been
able to see this week:
As always I have been able to see tender mercies each
day and I am so thankful for them. The little things, the answers to prayers and testimonies are what keep me going! So we have been working with a man named
German who is living with his pareja (girlfriend) Ana, and is a less-active member of
the church. They are really amazing and are just so loving and wanting to
learn and progress. At first when Elder Letelier and I met them we were not
sure of how to approach the topic of marriage with them, but this week we met
with them a few times. On Tuesday we were able to talk with them about temples
and a little bit about eternal families which was really amazing. We left
feeling good. Then on Thursday, they we were talking and the subject changed to
what they are wanting to do with life and all of the sudden Ana said "our goal is to be
sealed in the temple." At first Elder Letelier and I were like - what! That is
amazing!! So then we were able to talk with them about what they need to do to
get there, We invited them to pray together to be able to know if they
ought to begin the process of getting married, which here in Uruguay takes
three months. It was an amazing thing to be able to see that this lesson was
directed by God and to see the joy and hope in their faces as we talked about
what it means for them to be together forever. Throughout the rest of the week
we were able to find a few new people as well and begin teaching them which was
another amazing thing! We had lots of great opportunities to talk with the
people here who are wanting to learn which has been an amazing blessing this
week.
On the other hand, we had a rough time on Saturday. We had
planned to have three lessons in the Church building with Julia, Esperanza and
Luisa, and Sharon, and everything seemed to be working together towards it, but
in the end not one of the lessons worked out. We were super excited to have
these lessons and help these people. I honestly was really
devastated when we weren't able to have them come. We went to look first for
Sharon, and she didn't answer the door. We had called and talked to Julia the
day before and she told us she was going to come to church, that she had been praying, so we waited for a bit for her and then it was clear she wasn't coming.
I was just crushed. Elder Letelier and I were able to pray together and sit for
just a moment, as we did the peace and calm that I felt was remarkable. He
told me that we had done everything we could do, and that we needed to be happy
with our efforts and I felt better. We decided to go look for Luisa and
Esperanza, and she was out cutting the lawn and said she couldn't come but
scheduled a time for Sunday to come back. We then decided to go and find Julia
at her house. She answered and we were able to talk with her about repentance
and the atonement. She is struggling with being able to let go of her sadness
and pain of losing her son a few months ago, but isn't wanting to act so she
isn't able to receive healing. It has been really difficult to be able to feel
such great desires and hope to have these people come to the church, but then
feel such great sadness when they don´t.
The thing I have learned though this experience is that this is the work of
God. We have to be able to struggle and experience hardship to be able to be
perfected and learn and improve. Without sadness there can´t be joy, and the
truth is it´s gonna take work to be able to receive this fullness of joy. I
testify that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that even in the hard times
we can hold to the tender mercies and see the good. He wants us to progress and
improve. He wants us to become like Him, and we can if we just keep working. I
promise that every effort you give to draw closer to Heavenly Father will be
worth it. You will see the great blessings that come from your faith
and time and tears and striving. I love you all and hope you will find
strength to continue in the work of the Lord. We need each other to do it! This
is a joyous work, and we will find success, fulfillment, and love if we continue. Yo lesprometo esto en el nombre de Jesucristo amén. (I promise you this en the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.)
Scripture of the week: 1 Nephi 3:7
Quote of the week: El sólo desearlo no lo hará
realidad. El Señor espera nuestro razonamiento; nuestra acción; nuestro
trabajo; nuestros testimonios; nuestra devoción. -President Monson (Only desiring it, doesn't make it real. The Lord expects our reasoning, our action, our work, our testimonies, our devotion.)
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