Go Look in the Mirror

March 17, 2016

Elders Moreira, Teves, Garcia, Burke

Hey there everyone, I am here in Las Palmas today and not in Resistencia Capital for this P day, so we won’t be eating Subway or enjoying the sites or air conditioning unless we are at the church.

Big news!! We had better success this last week than the week before!  It’s not that huge of a change, but it all went up in the numbers and also in the character of the members and investigators.  First of I’ll share this experience.

We have a guy named Fransico who is Catholic and is a great dad as well.  When we were talking to him just this last time (I think it was Tuesday) we talked about the doctrine of Prayer, how important it is, and the way we should pray.  We read where it says in the Book of Mormon- 3 Nephi 18:19-21, a simple scripture that we are commanded of God to pray in our families and individualmente. When we read that it’s really simple and easy to understand, and guided by the Holy Ghost, I asked the question "If God was right in front of you and you could ask him whatever question, what would you ask?"  He really opened up from there.  It’s interesting though because he says that he’s a really rough person who doesn’t want to change religions but later on during the lesson he’s actually changing.  Something I have noticed in the mission that many people do, is that they label themselves.  Have you ever labeled yourself?  Have you ever told someone, "Yeah but I’m more of a (fill in the blank) type person and I can’t do that?"   Or in other moments when we explain ourselves.  Sometimes we look in the mirror and think that the person we see is someone that we refer to as another person, that we can’t change, but the person in the mirror is you!  You can change.  Stop referring to yourself as someone else thinking "well if I talk to myself or ask them to do something, he’s not gonna like it."  If we look at ourselves as someone controllable, we then become the masters of the natural man.  The mirror is a tool to reflect and guide us to change.  How we change our hair for the perfect style, the decisions we have to make to lose or gain weight -so we see ourselves as healthy people, or even to make yourself presentable to that special someone.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is that Mirror, it is the tool that invites the Spirit to really look at ourselves spiritually and then change, and then (this is the best part) our outward appearance changes for the best.

So being with Fransico we showed him the mirror which was the gospel of Jesus Christ (his Doctrine) and the Holy Ghost was present and when he looked at his life and himself, the Holy Ghost showed him the changes he needed to make for his well-being.  Yeah it was a great lesson, even though he said no to going to church or even thinking about changing religions.

We talked to Lorena and Omar again and it’s getting better.  One of the hardest things in being a missionary is being a stranger and having to make strong bonds to people to gain their confidence and also have them really feel that we are their friends.  It takes time for that to happen.  But through members and help from the Holy Ghost, we manage to get them to open up and really see our purpose of our ministry.  To help them be saved in Jesus Christ.  They came to church and it was great because there were many testimonies shared and they are starting to open up, and when they open up, the Holy Ghost can be heard.  We will be talking to Omar this night to help him open up more and tell us what is stopping him to embrace completely the gospel.  He and his wife are in some contention but they are getting better, the steps are:  First, to help one another accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and that He can help us repent of everything that was done to us and by us. Second, to help him see that the commandments of God (Get married, Law of Chastity) are for his benefit and will bless him eternally.  Third, help him and his wife find that page of their book they have written together and that they can start writing of the better future they will have together thanks to the Atonement of Christ.

We also have been borrowing some bicycles and there will probably be pictures on the blog later on.  It’s a lot of fun that the members are letting us use them for one time things ha ha.  The branch is so small here but the members are true heartfelt Disciples of Christ with the desire to help.

I love and miss you and have you in my prayers.  Please pray for my Grandmother Mary Burke, she’s having some health issues and I know that all of you can help her with your prayers and the promptings of the Spirit.

Con muchisimo amor,

Elder Burke

Game Night

Meditation before going to work- ja ja