Hola Familia y Amigos!!
This week we were able to see an investigator, Maria Hernandez who is very open and interested, but more importantly, she's been reading in the Book of Mormon, granted it wasn't a lot. We invited her to continue reading and to also pray about it and she agreed to do that. She also said that she thought the Book of Mormon was the Word of God, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she still lacks sure conviction, and also the understanding that that means this is the only true church of Jesus Christ on the earth. We also saw Jenaro, who I think I told y'all about, but unfortunately we decided to drop him for a time at least. He's willing to let us into his house, and may be willing to read some things and pray about our message, but he is not right now willing to actually listen to us (different than letting us into his home), and it doesn't seem like he's willing to change. It's sad, but we can't keep teaching him with where he's at right now. Basically that's what we had for the week.
Also, I decided on Friday that what I really want to accomplish on my mission, more than anything else, is I want to sacrifice my own desires, and my own will to that of the Lord's. We've been talking a lot about sacrifice and obedience a lot in our mission this past week and it'd been on my mind a lot. I've decided over these past few days that I will focus on how He CAN help me overcome my problems, how He DOES know what I need to do, how He IS perfect and He SACRIFICED, so that I can become better, and strive toward being "good enough" or "perfect". I'm still going to have difficulties, and challenges, but I want to turn to the Lord for everything, sacrificing my will to do His. I will have to work on this a lot, as all of us do, but I've made the decision, and I will strive to turn myself over to Him.
I love all of you and I love hearing from y'all. Thanks so much for little notes and letters/e-mails that I receive, they make my day! May you have a wonderful week!
-Elder Whitaker
This week we were able to see an investigator, Maria Hernandez who is very open and interested, but more importantly, she's been reading in the Book of Mormon, granted it wasn't a lot. We invited her to continue reading and to also pray about it and she agreed to do that. She also said that she thought the Book of Mormon was the Word of God, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she still lacks sure conviction, and also the understanding that that means this is the only true church of Jesus Christ on the earth. We also saw Jenaro, who I think I told y'all about, but unfortunately we decided to drop him for a time at least. He's willing to let us into his house, and may be willing to read some things and pray about our message, but he is not right now willing to actually listen to us (different than letting us into his home), and it doesn't seem like he's willing to change. It's sad, but we can't keep teaching him with where he's at right now. Basically that's what we had for the week.
Also, I decided on Friday that what I really want to accomplish on my mission, more than anything else, is I want to sacrifice my own desires, and my own will to that of the Lord's. We've been talking a lot about sacrifice and obedience a lot in our mission this past week and it'd been on my mind a lot. I've decided over these past few days that I will focus on how He CAN help me overcome my problems, how He DOES know what I need to do, how He IS perfect and He SACRIFICED, so that I can become better, and strive toward being "good enough" or "perfect". I'm still going to have difficulties, and challenges, but I want to turn to the Lord for everything, sacrificing my will to do His. I will have to work on this a lot, as all of us do, but I've made the decision, and I will strive to turn myself over to Him.
I love all of you and I love hearing from y'all. Thanks so much for little notes and letters/e-mails that I receive, they make my day! May you have a wonderful week!
-Elder Whitaker