Missions are exhausting, but bearing testimony gives you strength!
When we started out our call with Luke he was exhausted! I could tell he didn't even have the strength to tell us about everything. He worked so hard this week and was feeling like he didn't even have time for himself to rest and get rejuvenated. But then as our call went on it was amazing to see the change in him as Gavin walked in and Luke perked up and started bearing testimony to Gavin! (What a huge tender mercy that the kids were half day this week so Gavin could be home to talk to him!) He was in tears as he told Gavin that the mission is the most important thing he could do. He said there are times that you are going to feel alone. You are going to talk to people and they are going to be so rude to you. In fact just this week he passed a guy and asked him how he was doing. The guy rudely turned to him and said "Better than you!" :( He told Gavin, people can be so mean but you learnd to just laugh about it and move on.
He kept telling Gavin how much he loves him and what a great missionary he is going to be some day. He urged him to keep working to grow his faith. He said he has felt God's power in his life is different times. He keeps a picture of him at his baptism and shows it to people when they are talking about baptism. He said that in this picture he had no clue exactly what he was doing. He just knew he was being obedient and if felt right. That's how is friend Lino is that just got baptized. He doesn't know all the doctrine, but he has such faith and he knows he feels good and knows it's true by the Spirit he feels. Then other people help you along the way and you lean on their testimonies until you know for yourself that this is truly Christ's church. He told Gavin that now he knows for himself! He talked about how his Patriarchal Blessing tells him that he will have small a small testimony and that it will grow and grow until he knows it's true.
He shared that he wants to be converted like his amazing friend Juan. Juan joined the church about a half of a year ago and he has become so converted. He is truly dedicating his life to the gospel. He is always going out to teach lessons with the missionaries and when he bears testimony, you feel the Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of what he is saying. He was just made the 2nd Counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency! And part of his duties is that he is the Ward Mission Leader! He is going to be so great. He was already doing so much! He wants to be converted like Juan and is working hard on it.
I just cried as I sat there watching Luke perk up and come out of his slump to bear testimony to his brother. Both Luke and Gavin were in tears and I felt the Spirit so strong as it lifted Luke up and helped him to have the strength to bear testimony! Man I love this gospel and I love missions and what they do to teach not only all of God's children, but especially those sweet missionaries carrying the gospel message!
Some exciting things from Luke's week....they have 2 people that committed to baptism for next week!!!! Lucia is a girl that is 12 years old. She is the neighbor of a member and they introduced her to the gospel. Luke and Elder Reyes were so worried that her mom, who is not a member, wouldn't give permission for her to get baptized. But it was such a tender mercy because when they went to her house and asked her, she had no problem saying yes!!!
And then they committed to baptism a little boy named Santi who is 8 years old. His parents are not members but the Grandma is. Luke said one day this week they walked 45 minutes to get to Santi's house to teach him. The rule is there has to be another adult male there in the lesson for them to be able to teach him. Luke said they got there and there were about 8 men in the house. They went around and asked each man if they would sit in on the lesson and they were turned down each time they asked. They were getting so frustrated. The men were all just sitting around smoking and not doing anything important. Finally they got one man to agree to just stand near the doorway while they taught. Well that guy lasted through the prayer and by the time the prayer was done he had slipped away! UGH! So they ended up having to just leave because they couldn't find anyone to help them. It was so frustrating to walk that far and Santi was so excited for his lesson. Luke said he is so in awe of little children, they are so filled with faith and have such a desire to learn the gospel, they are so much more in touch with heaven! They had a tender mercy later in the week when they had another male member with them and the lesson they were going to teach fell through and so they rushed back to Santi's house and were able to teach him then!
Since Luke and Elder Reyes have baptized so many of their investigators, now they are working hard to find now people. But Luke learned that when it says in the scriptures to work with all our might, mind, and strength, it doesn't mean just get out there and hit the streets trying to just contact anyone and everyone. It means to think about it and pray about it to find the ones who are ready. They're not just supposed to be busy, they are supposed to work effectively! So they have started visiting members and inviting them to give them referrals. I love all the pictures he sent of them at members houses. They encouraged them to post these pictures and invite their friends to learn more.
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