I just started this email with "Dear Elder Santos". Then I realized that it makes no sense, erased it, and then realized that I didn't have anything else to start this with.
Also, look at how good I am at transitions!
This week has been a very fun one. Way back on Monday, we had our Sister Training Leader, Sister Crompton, fly in from St Martin to do exchanges. Yeah, we're in a special mission. She was there until Thursday and, as a non-sister, we really only saw her when picking her up and dropping her off, but it was a good experience for them!
Tuesday we had a zone meeting, in which we taught, among other things, about positive thoughts. One big takeaway is that negative thoughts and feelings come from the adversary. A quote from someone says that, while he would love to see us fighting for evil, he still rejoices to see us dispute and quarrel for what we believe to be a righteous cause, because we are still accomplishing his purpose. So be kind.
Now, since teaching this principle, it's been on my mind a lot, and I've realized just how hard it really is to delete negative thoughts and words from your mind. The natural man really is such a pessimist! But I have also seen that when I do my best to avoid being negative about people or situations, true love rushes in to fill the space that all that negativity was taking up.
Other than that, yeah. Please pray for Karine and Slorane Nagera, whose baptism was announced in church on Sunday.
I wanted also to add my testimony to that of Pono's about the enabling power of the atonement. One of the best things about a mission for me has been the fact that, maybe for the first time in my life, I have consistently found myself in situations that were simply too big for me, in which I was wholly and entirely insufficient. I testify that when we come unto the Lord, He will show us our weakness. I know that there are many things in this life, and not only our ultimate salvation to come, which we cannot do on our own. And I have learned in many times and in many ways, on my knees and on my feet, that when I cannot, and when I do not, and when I am not, that there is another, greater than me, who know exactly where I am and who desires greatly to succor me in my afflictions. I know that He will lift me up. He will deliver me still. I am His representative and I am His witness, in all times and in all things and in all places. And so I invite you all, every person who reads this, to seek that Jesus of which the prophets have spoken, and to receive of His grace.
Pono, I love you. As the apostles have said, go home, but don't leave the mission field. I'll see you soon.
love,
-Elder Santos
ps pictures from a hike to la chute de Moreau the fall of Moreau on Monday.
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