Well, most important thing's first:
- RENE WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY! We met him exactly 24 days before his baptism. It is crazy how the lord leads you to prepared people who are ready to receive his gospel.
- When we were getting out of the car to teach Rene a man pulled up in his car and said, "hey are you guys mormons?".. yes! "My wife wants to talk you you, here's her number". My jaw fell open as we walked away. #MIRACLE. We went over the next day and she is a member who lived in Puerto Rico, but never knew where the church was here in Laredo. She just had a baby and wants him to be raised in the church. Her family is ADORABLE.
- We had raspas (snowcones on steroids) with icecream and fresh mangoes. #heaven
- It was spring break this week and so to celebrate there was a kite festival. (one of my life dreams) It was so fun! We went to hand out pass-along-cards and talk to people. It reminded me of Art Splash in Sioux City. <3
In the action of sin, a cut appears. The blood comes, and the pain bites. The wound bleeds, then scars over. You try to forget, but the scab itches and irritates you. It lets you know you made a mistake. You might get so annoyed that you pick at it because of the discomfort, which just opens the wound again, not helping the healing process. If only you didn't do it. However as the wound heals with the savior, he takes the pain away. It doesn't hurt you anymore and after awhile, all that is left is a scar to remind you of the pain you once went through. It doesn't hurt, but that little imperfection reminds you to never do it again.
As I have been studying the week before Christ's crucifixion, I have read a lot about the sacrament and the atonement. I wanted to share a quote from Melvin J. Ballard.
"Who is there among us that does not wound his spirit by word, thought, or deed, from Sabbath to Sabbath? We do things for which we are sorry and desire to be forgiven... the method to obtain forgiveness is to repent of our sins, to go to those against whom we have sinned or transgressed and obtain their forgiveness and then prepare the sacrament where if we have sincerely repented, and put ourselves in proper condition, we shall be forgiven and spiritual healing will come to our souls.
What a wonderful opportunity it is that we can partake of the sacrament every Sunday and renew our baptismal covenants. I encourage all of you to take the few minutes during the sacrament to really reflect on the week and repent. There is an overwhelming peace when you really do feel clean. The Savior paid for all of our sins, but
sometimes the hardest part is handing it over to him and forgiving yourself.
Then I just wanted to share a little thought about Rene's baptism. My favorite moments of my mission are the few minutes right after a baptism. I sit in the back row of the room watching as the members go up and congratulate the person recently baptized. They all beam with excitement and love. After a few minutes, everyone starts to leave, and I walk up to my convert. The words that express their gratitude are the most fulfilling moments of mission. They say, "Thank you. I can't express how grateful I am that you helped me come to know my Savior." and then for a moment I can see them as my Heavenly Father sees them, with their full potential, and I feel like I have done exactly what I was called to do. "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo."
Love yall more than mexican food.
ehemm.
congrats to Jacob Moos for getting his mission call to Brazil! (almost as good as Texas.)