Hola familia y amigos!!
I want to talk mostly about some things I learned this week.
Whereas it's a little too time consuming at this point to study in Spanish for my personal study, I've been trying to read from the BoM in Spanish in little bits of free time that I have and I started in Alma. Recently I started Alma 5 which I love reading. I still haven't finished it, but I learned a lot from the first part. Alma the Younger is preaching to the Church which at this point is mostly made up of 2nd or more generation members. He asks them if they remember the mercy of God in delivering their fathers from captivity, referring to both physical and spiritual captivity. Alma explains that their fathers, like Alma's father (who happened to also be Alma), were saved from spiritual captivity because of their faith and the mighty change of heart, such that they were true to God until the end. Then he asks the members, do you have this faith, have you had this mighty change of heart, so much so that you will stay true to God until the end, no matter what?
I learned first the power that inspired questions have in teaching. Not inspiring, or intelligent questions, but questions inspired of the Holy Ghost. But I also learned that we must have, in ourselves, each of us individually, this mighty change of heart. It must be mighty, it must be great, or else it won't be enough to carry us through to the end and deliver us from spiritual captivity. And it is only when investigators, less-actives, and members have this mighty change of heart that they are converted. We can't give up until we've done all we can to help them have this kind of change.
I also learned this week how important loving people is to be able to teach them. I knew this before, but I'm just starting to actually understand it for myself. I say this because I had a bad day Saturday; I got frustrated with myself and felt like I was not doing well at missionary work (for reason, it's really, really hard sometimes!). I felt bad for quite a while, but what really helped me was that Elder Perez showed me and told me he loved me. He was there for me the whole time and wanted to help me, even though he didn't really know what to do, or how to comfort me. I really think that the only reason he was able to help me was because all he did was show me love. I now know that sometimes all we can do, or all that will help, is express love and try to be there for people. And if the rest of the things we do aren't done out of love they won't be as effective.
With that being said, I still am at a bit of a loss as to how to develop that love for every investigator, member, and companion. I have a love for them, but I feel like it's lacking sometimes. But that's why I've got personal study, Preach My Gospel, the Scriptures, and many other resources to help me figure that out. I'll get back to y'all later on that and what I've learned!
Love you all and hope things are going well for you!
-Elder Whitaker
I want to talk mostly about some things I learned this week.
Whereas it's a little too time consuming at this point to study in Spanish for my personal study, I've been trying to read from the BoM in Spanish in little bits of free time that I have and I started in Alma. Recently I started Alma 5 which I love reading. I still haven't finished it, but I learned a lot from the first part. Alma the Younger is preaching to the Church which at this point is mostly made up of 2nd or more generation members. He asks them if they remember the mercy of God in delivering their fathers from captivity, referring to both physical and spiritual captivity. Alma explains that their fathers, like Alma's father (who happened to also be Alma), were saved from spiritual captivity because of their faith and the mighty change of heart, such that they were true to God until the end. Then he asks the members, do you have this faith, have you had this mighty change of heart, so much so that you will stay true to God until the end, no matter what?
I learned first the power that inspired questions have in teaching. Not inspiring, or intelligent questions, but questions inspired of the Holy Ghost. But I also learned that we must have, in ourselves, each of us individually, this mighty change of heart. It must be mighty, it must be great, or else it won't be enough to carry us through to the end and deliver us from spiritual captivity. And it is only when investigators, less-actives, and members have this mighty change of heart that they are converted. We can't give up until we've done all we can to help them have this kind of change.
I also learned this week how important loving people is to be able to teach them. I knew this before, but I'm just starting to actually understand it for myself. I say this because I had a bad day Saturday; I got frustrated with myself and felt like I was not doing well at missionary work (for reason, it's really, really hard sometimes!). I felt bad for quite a while, but what really helped me was that Elder Perez showed me and told me he loved me. He was there for me the whole time and wanted to help me, even though he didn't really know what to do, or how to comfort me. I really think that the only reason he was able to help me was because all he did was show me love. I now know that sometimes all we can do, or all that will help, is express love and try to be there for people. And if the rest of the things we do aren't done out of love they won't be as effective.
With that being said, I still am at a bit of a loss as to how to develop that love for every investigator, member, and companion. I have a love for them, but I feel like it's lacking sometimes. But that's why I've got personal study, Preach My Gospel, the Scriptures, and many other resources to help me figure that out. I'll get back to y'all later on that and what I've learned!
Love you all and hope things are going well for you!
-Elder Whitaker