Dear Family and Friends,
Hope all is well in... well... everywhere. Today we went to the Temple and had Pizza Hut afterward. It was great. That´s why i´m doing email on a wednesday, cuz the temple is closed on mondays. This week I forgot my cable, so still no pictures. sorry. But I´ve got some good ones I´m just dying to share.
Unfortunately this week we had to drop 4 people because they just won´t come to church. It literally breaks my heart. I hate giving up on people, because the Lord didn´t give up on me. The problem is that we just don´t have the time or energy to spend with people that don´t understand how important this is and don´t want to keep commitments. There is a difference between trying hard but coming up short, and just plain not wanting to act. It´s been tough to learn again and again that my purpose is to invite, and the powers of the priesthood can only be exercised through patience and long suffering. It´s hard because the people I listen to the spirit, pray, ponder, study, and fast the hardest for are the same ones that we had to drop. The ones that are closest to being baptized are the people that have just kind of fallen into our laps.
However, I refuse to let it get me down. I studied lately in chapter 9 of Mormon, which reminds us that God is a God of miracles today, yesterday, and forever, and that his servants will be recognized as doing the same. I was called of God through a prophet and set apart to do this work. These are his children. I was endowed with power in the temple. I was given the gift of the holy ghost and promised through the scriptures that he will guide my thoughts. I am not a casual or social missionary. I will be a sacred missionary. Miracles are not out of reach if I maintain my faith and obedience.
To close, I would like to repeat more or less what I shared with Rosana the last time I saw her. Unfortunately, she didn´t come to church this week either, so we will probably have to drop her too. She has had trouble deciding which church, this or her evangelical, is true. Our blunt discussion on authority didn´t seem to get through to her, but I later found out that she has yet to ask specifically in her prayers about this church. She just says that she prays every day. I said, more or less, the following...
¨Rosana, I´m very glad that you say your prayers every day, but this is not what we have been inviting you to do. We have been inviting you to ask your father, through prayer, specifically about this church. This is the most important question that you could ever ask him. Also, prayer is not just you talking on one end. He truly is listening on the other end. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord, which means that as you pray, you have to be listening for his response. This will come through your thoughts and feelings, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Think about it for a moment. Other pastors are confident enough in their own interpretation of the scriptures to try to convince you that they are right. But we are are saying to ask God. Would I tell you to ask God about this church if it was a lie? No. In fact, I can stand here as a witness and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and promise you that if you ask the Father he is going to tell you that everything we are teaching is true. I can do this because I know, without doubt, that this Church is led by Jesus Christ himself, is the kingdom of God on the earth today, and is inviting you to be a part of it. It´s not a copy of his Church led by a group of men. It is the kingdom of God, and as your loving Father in Heaven, he will comform it to you if you just ask him in sincere prayer.¨
My time is up this week. Thanks for your letters and thoughts. If there is anyone reading this that is not a member of the Church, please, don´t ask your pastors, families, friends, neighbors, or even the Mormons themselves if this Church is true. Are you willing to put your salvation in the hands of fallible, imperfect men? I would hope not. Ask God. He is the source of all truth and light. He will not lie. He cannot lie. He does not want to lie. He wants you to be happy in this life and the next. Ask him the most important question of your life. Eternity hangs in the balance, and blessings are in store. I leave this with you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
