Monday, February 24, 2014

Be thou humble

 


 
 
 
Zero time. Like always.
I straightened my hair for the 3rd time in my entire mission this week. So that was cool.
FIRST BAPTISM in 4 MONTHS.
 
 
 
 
 
Yessi and Josue are super great. They go to all the church activities, including seminary and go to get the less active youth. Josue already wants to go on a mission and Yessi is helping her less active boyfriend get back to church so he can serve too.
In these past 4 months I've been trying to figure out what it is that God wanted/ wants me to learn and most of all I think it's humility. "Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee to serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love."
God is so good. This gospel is so true and the only way to return to him.
Read Helaman 14 because it's super powerful.
I love EVERYONE.
TANNER training? Coolest!
Natalie Stilson, got your announcement. You are a babe! So happy for you!
Goodman Family, thanks for your letter. Love you guys!


B
                                                     

                                              and
That moment you realize you are just like your mother......
 
 
Helaman 14
Samuel predicts light during the night and a new star at Christ’s birth—Christ redeems men from temporal and spiritual death—The signs of His death include three days of darkness, the rending of the rocks, and great upheavals of nature. About 6 B.C.

 
 
And now it came to pass that aSamuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written.
 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for afive years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name.
 And behold, this will I give unto you for a asign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.
 Therefore, there shall be one aday and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is bborn.
 And behold, there shall a new astar arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.
 And behold this is not all, there shall be many asigns and wonders in heaven.
 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall afall to the earth.
 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall abelieve on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.
 And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord.
 10 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have acast me out from among you.
 11 And ye shall ahear my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;
 12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the aFather of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.
 13 And if ye abelieve on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his bmerits.
 14 And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his adeath.
 15 For behold, he surely must die that asalvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he bdieth, to bring to pass the cresurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the dpresence of the Lord.
 16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the aresurrection, and bredeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the cfall of Adam being dcut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as edead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
 17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ aredeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
 18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not ahewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a bspiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
 19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
 20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another asign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his blight unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of cthree days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.
 21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the aghost there shall be bthunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the crocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be dbroken up;
 22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be afound in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.
 23 And behold, there shall be great atempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called bvalleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great.
 24 And amany highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate.
 25 And many agraves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.
 26 And behold, thus hath the aangel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours.
 27 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that adarkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days.
 28 And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that athese signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men—
 29 And this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a arighteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation.
 30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are bfree; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a cknowledge and he hath made you free.
 31 He hath given unto you that ye might aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.

Monday, February 17, 2014

I think this means we've hit 10 months ya'll. Not that I'm counting, the shoes count for me.

 

 
 
 
Well I wish I had time to write these scriptures out for you, but I don't, so you better look em up!
-D&C 76:40-42 (good news of the gospel)
-1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (without charity we are NOTHING)
 -added at the bottom


Well this week went by super fast and was super great.
1. Hermana De Leon and I have less than two weeks together and we are already hoping to stay together for the next transfer. This week alone we placed 4 baptisemal dates one of which being with Lila who's husband is a less active member. They are super great and we are going to reactivate him so he can baptize his wife. (4 and 1 just this week) Plus we're planning to place a date with a family we are teaching when we go visit them tonight.
2. We had a Zone Conference with our zone and the Zone from Siguatepeque so basically all of my companions (except for Hermana Moran and Hermana Matthews (my companion from the MTC)) It was fun to see them all again and remember the good times. (Well, if there were any to be had... cough cough Hermana Peruch... cough cough.) No but really it was fun to see them all.
3. President had us re-read the talk the 4th missionary this past week and it made me realize and remember that I've come a long way since my first week in the field reading it, and that I still have a long way to go. These next three weeks our personal study will be focused soley on the atonement, so obviously I'm super excited.
4. Hate to end on a bad note, but its also kinda funny. This week we met Jose, who's the husband of a less active sister. His whole family are members, but he finds every reason and excuse not to believe. In my entire mission I've never met anyone so ignorant, and to be frank, in my entire life. We had a "lesson" with him that really only consisted of him bashing on the church because we do baptisms for the dead, because the Book of Mormon mentions horses when in that time they only existed in Spain and all sorts of things like that. He also doesn't believe in the Spirit World or that we will have a second chance to hear the gospel there for those that didn't except it in this life. Its super sad because in this moment he's one of the people that will need that opportunity unless he repents and accepts the gospel in this life. ANYWAY. I'm excited to teach him. He'll come around. They all do. Eventually. Everyone is prepared to hear the gospel, some just a little less than others.
I LOVE EVERYONE.
Tan, Meish, and Bay. I'm writing you this week!!!
Anyone else who wants a letter, write me one first duh! :)
God is good and the gospel is true.
B


-D&C 76:40-42 (good news of the gospel)
 40 And this is the agospel, the glad btidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—
 41 That he acame into the world, even Jesus, to be bcrucified for the world, and to cbear the sins of the dworld, and to esanctify the world, and to fcleanse it from all unrighteousness;
 42 That through him all might be asaved whom the Father had put into his bpower and made by him;


-1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (without charity we are NOTHING)
 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not acharity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
 And though I have the gift of aprophecy, and understand all bmysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the apoor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Meet Hermana De Leon


 
 


1. Transfers.
I'm still here in La Paz with Hermana De Leon. She's super great.
She's from San Marcos Guatemala, super awesome and we teach super well together. She actually came in the same group as me, so we have almost the same time in the mission. (I just have four weeks more from being in the MTC longer.)
2. My daughter (Hermana Rojas) left Talanga and is openining an area in Comayagua. Proud mother right here.
 
 
 
 
3. Alison (from the Menocal family) turned 3 on Saturday, so we went over there for cake and lemonade (cake eaten with our hands and lemonade probably made from pila water.) Rock hard stomach!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
4. We placed two baptismal dates this week with Yessi and her brother Josue who we also just started teaching this week. Yessi is dating one of the boys in the ward, and they are friends with the whole family. Theyre super great and super ready.
Read this scripture today in my study and loved it. Look it up. Matthew 10:39
Also I was listening to the CDs mom sent (best Mom on planet earth) and loved this line in I Believe in Christ. "While I strive through grief and pain, His voice is heard "Ye shall obtain.""
God is good.
The gospel is true.
I love everyone.
Happy Valentines Day.
B
 
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Olvin



1.This is Olvin. He's 8 years old and got baptized along with his parents in September. They're both Mofofos (Potheads) and Olvin spends his days selling tacos in the streets and chopping and collecting fire wood for his family. He comes to church and the ward activities every week alone because his parents are inactive. He's super obnoxious and reminds me a lot of Aragorn and for that reason I love him.
2. Another rough week. The Menocal Family didn't come to church and they aren't really progressing much. But I know God has a plan for them and that I'm a part of it. Patience is a virtue.
3. Transfers are this week, so I've been praying and fasting a lot for the outcome. I've got a good feeling about this next transfer. I'll probably be staying here in "La Paz" and receiving a new companion. But we'll find out tomorrow who's leaving and transfers are on Wednesday.
4. We did a lot of contacting and finding this week because honestly we don't have a ton of progressing investigators. It felt good to talk to everyone we could find in the street and turns out we found 3 pretty positive families. This also included passing out A LOT of Word of Wisdom pamphlets. (There are so many bolos (drunks) here.) Its a GOOD TIME.
5. This is what the beautiful rivers of Honduras look like everyone. So while you're all sending me photos of Utah mountains, Moab, Chile beaches and such, this is what your missing out on.
God is so good and he loves each of us.




 
                                          The rivers of Honduras (stray nasty dog included)