Investigators...Finally!!!

Aaaaaand this week´s emails is exactly why I didn´t say anything about my toe before :P haha, I still love you all :)

So, contrary to the Doc´s advice, I refused to stop working. Granted, we did stay close to the house and weren´t out as long as we normally would be, but I was still on my feet. The extra time we were in the house I began reading Jesus the Christ (hence my lesson on prayer about a month ago "randomly" from Jesus the Christ haha). It´s got a lot of big words and all I have is an English-to-Spanish dictionary :P haha

Normally not much happens during the week besides the usual visits to members and our one "eternal investigator", and unfulfilled compromisos, but this week a few new things finally happened :)

We were walking down the street (I don´t remember from where nor toward where we were heading) and a lady on the opposite sidewalk called us over. D. is is an ex-alcoholic (sp?) and wants her husband to overcome it too. She remembers having been taught be Sisters when she was much younger and when she was trying to beat her addiction those memories helped. She wants us to meet her husband and help him. She´s super willing to do what we ask and already has a friend in the branch from oh so many years ago.

Second, we started doing a "recorrido" or tour of the church building on Saturdays. It´s the starting point for always having the church open as announced in the June 23rd New Mission President Broadcast. Although only two people showed up, they agreed to be baptized at the end of the month :) (FYI, they are in the Sister´s sector so they aren´t our investigators)

Third, WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D B., our Eternal Investigator, with her member "husband" and non-member daughter-in-law finally came to Church for the first time since I´ve been here :D She loved it and it made me super happy, in case you couldn´t tell haha

Also, I saw a quote that gave me a better perspective on things in general, but also about a specific challenge. In my rough translation, it says: "God gives His toughest battles to His most able soldiers". I´d encourage you to ponder on that for a few moments before you keep reading....

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And now for my lesson, which comes from a talk I heard in church yesterday:

Similarly, I´d encourage you to ponder this question, maybe even make a note of your answer(s) before moving on: Why do we obey?

Simply put, it comes down to 3 reasons:

1) Fear of the consequences of NOT obeying - a.k.a. Telestial Kingdom

2) Desire for blessings - a.k.a. Terrestrial Kingdom

3) Love for God and Christ - a.k.a. Celestial Kingdom

Unfortunately I had a clear recollection of a conversation with my Heavenly Father earlier last week. I remember saying that I was going to do a certain thing because "we really need the blessing" that comes from obeying. As a result, in my personal evaluation I had to place myself in the Terrestrial Kingdom. However, thanks to the redeeming power of Christ, we all have the opportunity to improve ourselves each day and progress a little further to the Celestial Kingdom.

An interesting note that just came to mind: in the Celestial Kingdom we are together with our family. That means we should all be helping each other remember to do the little things (reading even just a verse of scriptures in the morning, saying our prayers, attending church, wearing a smile, etc.) and when we are reminded we should realize that, as Nephi said, it is not our leaders or our parents or our siblings who ask us to do things, "but it is a commandment from the Lord" (1 Nephi 3:5) "and I must obey" (2 Nephi 33:15).

 

I love you all and I encourage you to kindle and build a burning desire inside of yourself to obey out of love for Him whose you are. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Mom- A simple solution for all the challenges that I got out of your email: Alma 42:27.  I think Tricia would find that one interesting as well if you two wanted to discuss it.

 

Dad- What up dude?? You´ve got a serious backlog of questions to answer for me! (ex.: Is your dad part Native American?)

 

Trevin- Hermano mío, ¿Cómo está con su lectura del Libro de Mormón? ¿Han terminado como familia ya? jaja Hace 2 años empezamos y espero que han terminado jaja

 

Anna- Have you made any new friends at school yet?

 

Allie- I told your story (I hope it´s ok!) about what you told me about your reasons for being baptized with someone we met on Saturday and your example helped her decide to be baptized too :) Thanks for being awesome and helping me teach people from so far away!

 

Alyza- Are you giving Gigi lots of love and huggies for me?

 

Love always,

- Elder Daylon Crider

p.s. photos :)

1 - is my bowling score from last week that I forgot to send haha (I got second by 10 points :P)

2 -is a cake of Banana Bread topped with Nutella that I made from scratch. (there´s a video where the other videos were last time)