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Elder Burke
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| Sunset Lookout |
Look up on
the screen!!! It’s a smudge1 it’s a typo! No!!! Its Elder Burke!!!
Alright
enough goofing around, it’s time to tell you all the story of my week!
So first off
we start with the last time that I got to write you all. Last Monday we were on the way to go write and
we had this old lady who was raking the leaves in her front yard, which were a
ton of leaves. So we offered her help
and she was like, ok if you want to. So
we raked leaves for her for thirty minutes shared a brief message and asked her
if we could pass by and share a message. She was super happy that she had help and said
sure why not. We visited her two days
after and got to know her more. Her name
is Magdalena and she is the funniest grandma ever. Sadly she never married because she’s really
shy from what she told us, but that happened a long time ago. It’s somewhat sad because she doesn’t have any
kids and lives alone. So we taught her
about the church and she seemed very interested and when we told her we would
come back in two days to teach again she was really excited! When we returned, she was all dressed nice
ready for Sunday church, but it was Thursday, she misunderstood that when we
would pass by again it would be for church!!! Let me tell you that to get someone to go to
church here is like finding a needle in a haystack!!! We were so surprised and we told her that we don’t
have church today but in a couple days we will have it. She has so much faith and is so loving, truly
she is an answer to our prayers- to find someone who can be baptized during
this translado. She came to church this Sunday
and absolutely loved it and seemed to love every part of church. She’s such a sweetheart and loves to make
jokes about our accents. We will see
what happens when we invite her to be baptized this week!
We found
another family who live so far away from us that we have to walk 45 minutes to
get there! They are in the area that I
never went to with Elder Nava because it’s so far and we don’t know anyone
there so we didn’t have a reason. Elder
Smith gave us a reference to go look for a guy that lives there but we found
this family instead. They are called the
Saboa Family and they are so cool. They
have three kids- 13 Nirvana, 11 Mauricio, and 1 a baby! And they are so cool, the parents are named
Hubo and Marena. We will see how they
progress with the more we teach them. They
only have one moto to use to get to the church and they live super far. So we
are praying that they can use that moto to get all of them there even if it is
two trips, we will see next Sunday! Also
when we were leaving, the small daughter of 1 year of age started crying
because we were leaving. It was so
freaking adorable!!! Anga bebe!!!
I’ve been
studying a lot about faith and how it is the greatest teaching tool that our
Father in Heaven uses. It’s having trust
in everything God teaches and tells us is good and that He will never lead us
astray. I read a lot in Ether 12 and it’s
a good chapter in helping you understand how big faith is. Every time we invite someone to exercise faith
and read the Book of Mormon or pray to know if joseph smith was a real prophet
of God, I come to know that by faith we are more sensitive to the spirit. It always says in the scriptures that the people’s
hearts were softened or hardened and it resulted in the outcome of them receiving
revelation or a confirmation of the truth or not. Having faith softens the
heart to let the spirit fill in the parts that you don’t know yet about the
gospel. It is impossible to get to know
Joseph Smith on a personal level and know whether he was a prophet of God or
not, therefore the spirit testifies that he was called to be a prophet but we
have to have a softened heart to receive a confirmation. It’s the same with whichever apostle or
prophet we have had in the church, we cannot get to know them as it says in Matthew 7:16- Ye shall know them by their fruits.
But we can hear
the words which they say and write if they have received authority from God to
be a prophet or apostle. Why do you
think that every Mormon invites whoever will listen to read the Book of Mormon?
It is a chance to test your faith and
look FOR YOURSELF if these things are true. It is a test of faith that God
talks to us by prophets and scriptures. It’s
a test of faith to soften our hearts and be teachable to the Holy Ghost because
(by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.) Moroni
10:5. I invite every reader to strengthen
their faith by reading the scriptures, searching diligently and praying to God
that he will guide you. It’s not to know
just if Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon is true, it’s to know that if God
really does exist, if He is there, and that He does have a plan for every
person here on this earth. I share my testimony that I have read the Book of
Mormon, I have prayed to know the truth, and I was open and patient to hear
what my Heavenly Father would say to me about these things and it wasn’t
written words nor a voice, but a feeling of clarity and joy. I testify that God lives, that He calls prophets
to guide us, and that He did indeed call Joseph Smith to restore his church
upon the earth. The Book of Mormon is true and testifies that Jesus is the
Christ, and I know it because the Spirit of God testified to me that they are. May all of your faith be strengthened. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Burke
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| lizard time |
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| beautiful sunset |
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