Boom!
Wow, there was just so much that happened this week, yet it seemed to pass super fast. I just am blown away about that. Every week on a mission just goes by so fast. It scares me.
So this week we once again worked our tails off and it was wonderful. We walk A TON. Seriously I think we walked across the entire zone at least 2 times this week. We had interviews to do and divisions to fulfill and people to help out. So we were running around. Thank goodness we have a day to just sit down and plan things out and organize the week ahead, or we would be lost! Anyways. We are having a good time. The whole mission is actually, as that mission manaus baptized over 300 people this week. Incredible! We are going to open new areas and new cities soon.
I forget who sent it to me, but I have on the mission Bananagrams. Well, I found it at the bottom of my bag and Elder Drake and I have been addicted to it! Every day we play a few rounds of odd scrabble like fun! Sometimes we try it our in Portuguese but really it just works out better in English. Thank you to whoever sent me Bananagrams. (It was his sisters)
So we had some incredible experiences this week. First is about Samiris, who was baptized this week. Wow! So we met her at the very beginning of the week and we started teaching her every day. Her sister is an active member so she had already known of the church. However, she had never spoken with the missionaries, nor had she ever considered being baptized. So we taught her and the lessons were wonderful!. She told us of how good she felt in the lessons. She wanted to be baptized. However, when it came down to the hour on Saturday, She started getting really nervous as 13 year old girls do and she was getting that cold, butterfly feeling in her stomach and said she did not want to get baptized anymore. When we came to pick her up on Sunday she was so anxious that she did not even want to go! But she had promised she would earlier. So she finally came. We were really worried that at church someone would tell her that she should wait and not get baptized, that she wasn't ready, even though is was. So we had been praying that no one would say anything.Well, just as we got there, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. OH man, I was not happy but with some help we got all the young women together and asked them to sit with her in church. They all got up and bore powerful testimonies of the church. Samiris felt so good, that her fear went away and she told us she was ready. The Lord came through for us. I was quite happy. It was a beautiful baptism.
Other amazing experiences were that all the wards had baptisms this week in the zone. That made me very happy. Also, I has been raining a ton so I am not that hot anymore. Though I still miss Portland weather. But I can wait a little longer more.
So, I want to share a very personal story with you all. The purpose of me telling you all this story is to LEARN and to UNDERSTAND how serious the Lord takes obedience. I feel much can be learned from this story. Today I went to play soccer. Actually I went to play ultimate frisbee, but someone brought a ball, so we went to the court and started playing soccer. (We put up some good goals but that is not important.) Well President Klein saw and gave ME a call. "Hello Elder Laws, how is the gaming going?" is what he said. I responded that we were losing, to which he said, "No Elder Laws, you do not even know how much you lost." We had a good chat. We will talk even more later today. You see, playing soccer in my mission, if you remember, is against the rules. This is a recent rules change.
However, why I wish to tell everyone this story is to understand that YOU cannot put your desires before the Lords revealed word. EVER. You cannot evade to listen to the Spirit. There are rules and laws given to men to protect them and guide them, to show them the way back to God. When one brakes these paths, he brakes all he believes and testifies by his action of his faithlessness. As did I and I feel terrible. I do not desire such a fate for no one. That is why I am on a mission. That is why I wish to help others. So that no one feels the pain of sin. So that through Christ we are cleansed. So, is soccer a sin? No. Disobedience is. I never want to disobey again. Ever. And neither should you. Do what what has to be done. Always.
Eu vos amo.
Elder Asa Laws
No comments:
Post a Comment