So this week was amazing. I got to attend the Young Women's broadcast & the worldwide missionary broadcast. God is sending so much new revelation - I can feel the work hastening and I'm thrusting my sickle in to build the kingdom as much as I can! I'm so grateful to be apart of it! Such a blessing to be a missionary - I wish I could fully describe the happiness it brings.
Our schedules have changed and become a lot more flexible. They kept emphasizing how we would be blessed for using our agency correctly - and I'm so grateful for the change, because I feel like it's preparation for how life's going to be after the mission. Obviously, no one's going to be keeping me on check and watching my every move...but I know that God is watching, and that He expects so much out of me. He's prepared me for this life...so how could I possibly give Him less than my best effort?
I was so inspired about their insights - I'd love to share some with you:
1. If your investigator (or your child) is not keeping commitments you extend, before assuming something is wrong with THEM, reflect on yourself and your teachings. Why did is it not important to them? What did they not understand? Was the spirit present during the lesson, to bring the message to their hearts?
This really applied to one of our progressing investigators - Rom - who is 16. He'd been taking the lessons because of his tito. He's respectful and willing to listen, and even goes to church. But I feel like he still can't see the personal importance of the gospel in his life. He'd lied to us about stopping his smoking and drinking...and UGH it was the most awkward situation trying to get him to admit it (bc his tito had given us a heads up). I was so disappointed - not just because we'd have to push back his baptismal date...but because the importance of the wow obviously didn't impact his heart. He kept continuing to give into peer pressure.
I kept wondering if maybe it was because of me - because perhaps I wasn't able to bring the spirit as powerfully as I should've been. At the broadcast, we learned about the importance of practicing the gospel in our lives - especially daily repentance. Not just repenting about the big things - but even things we don't really consider sins...but just bring us away from God. Not only sins of commission, but sins of omission. I know that I'm not perfect and there are still things I need to improve and fix.
Because another key point they expressed was that we don't have to worry about if we're doing enough, if we ARE giving are best. like it says in alma 26:27 - success is "given"...so if we have to double guess about if we're doing are all...then we're probably not. and the real question should be, "what lack I yet"?
I learned about the importance of baptizing CONVERTS. people ready for the gospel, and who love the gospel. I realized that if they just do it for no good reason, then they have a better chance of falling away. I actually felt really prompted to ask mom to speak with ateh soo...to express the difference in your life with getting baptized for your future family and then after reading the bom and REALLY becoming converted. I know each of us should still continue to develop our testimonies everyday. Have personal and family prayer, both morning and night. Read your scriptures. Go to church and understand the importance.
I know that at times it's hard to know if we have a testimony. We may doubt it. but i love this quote i read this week
"a testimony is the holy ghost bearing witness to our soul of the truthfulness of the gospel and restored church. when we fail to pray and study the scriptures, the influence of the spirit is weakened - lowering our resistance to tempation. when we sin and become unclean, we lose the spirit all together and w/o it can wonder if we had a testimony at all
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