#letter47

ثمّ قال: يَا بَنِي عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ، لاَ أُلْفِيَنَّكُمْ تَخُوضُونَ دِمَاءَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ خَوْضاً، تَقُولُونَ: قُتِلَ أَمِيرُالْمُؤْمِنِينَ. أَلاَ لاَ تَقْتُلُنَّ بِي إِلاَّ قَاتِلِي. انْظُرُوا إِذَا أَنَا مِتُّ مِنْ ضَرْبَتِهِ هذِهِ، فَاضْرِبُوهُ ضَرْبَةً بِضَرْبَة، وَلاَ يُمَثَّلُ بِالرَّجُلِ، فَإِنِّي سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ (صلى الله عليه وآله) يَقُولُ : "إِيَّاكُمْ وَالْمُثْلَةَ وَلَوْ بَالْكَلْبِ الْعَقُورِ".

Hello!!! The Voice of His Servants This week had the opportunity to have a conference with Elder Godoy. It was amazing. I cried...(more than once). My testimony grew a hundred times that the leaders in the church are called through revelation. It was only with a few zones in our mission and then he traveled to Otavalo to talk to the other part of the mission. It was very personal which I loved. To begin the conference, he asked all of the missionaries that are leaving this change bare their testimonies. The Spirit was SO strong. Afterwards, Sister Richardson talked about the importance of our studies. That as we study the scriptures daily, we will be will literally be filled with the light of Christ. President Richardson talked about faith and diligence even when we don't see the fruits of our labours. He shared experiences from his mission. He showed a picture of a family that they had found after a long time of waiting and praying. Sister Godoy started out her part with asking us all of the blessing of the restoration. We wrote them on a white board. The white board was covered with blessings. Then, she said if we had to erase 2 or 3 then what would you take out. We were silent. She said ok let's erase tithing. All of us gasped. "NOOO", we said together. Then, she said let's erase Plan of Salvation. Again, we all shouted "NOOO". Then, she said "To be fair, let's just erase all of it". The room was silent. She looked at us and asked us how we felt. Personally, I felt empty, lost, and sad. I felt like I was missing out on so much. It was a horrible feeling. She said,   "This is how the people who do not know of the restored gospel feel. There are many who feel the way that you do now". Many times as members we take for granted the blessings that we have. We don't take two steps back and realize everything that we know and everything that we have received in because of the restoration of the gospel. That because of the knowledge that we have and the ordinances that we have done, we can take part in the blessings that are promised to us. We have resources to help us through the darkest days. We can feel the love of God in our lives everyday. Elder Godoy showed us a picture of a young boy with long hair and his sister. He later told us that this picture was of him when learned about the church.  He said that it could have been easy for the missionaries to have judged him and not have faith that he could change or accept the gospel, but they didn't. He wasn't looking to change his religion or his life at the time, but he went to a church activity. He said that he remembered most was how happy the people were even though they had nothing. He said that he had his first lesson with the missionaries. They taught him the Apostasy. He thought it was interesting being Catholic all of his life. He had always thought he was in the correct church and had never heard about the Apostasy. Then, they taught about the Restoration. After he heard the first vision, he was in shock. He ran home and wanted to tell everyone. He said that he didn't understand why everyone wasn't talking about the restored gospel. That the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. He was baptized shortly after. He opened our eyes to the importance of the work. The influnence that we can have for generations. He closed the meeting reading D&C 31. He reminded us that even if we do not see the fruits of our labours immediately, that they will come. That the work that we do is not wasted, but that every person we talk to we are planting a seed. That we should never become discouraged, but continue with perfect faith because God is aware of our efforts and will bless us. A God of Miracles Friday morning I read a talk President Thomas S. Monson wrote called "Decisions Determine Destiny". He told a story of when he was a mission president in Canada. His wife had received a call from a mother who said that her and her family wanted to learn more about the gospel.  She wrote down their information and gave it to the missionaries working in that area. Weeks passed by and Sister Monson followed up with the missionaries. "Have you visited the reference that I gave you?" The missionaries said, "No, Sister Monson. We have been a little busy, but we will do it soon". Another few weeks passed by and again Sister Monson followed up, but got the same response. After a few more weeks she told the missionaries, "If you don't visit the family, then my husband and I will". The missionaries said "I think we have some time to go tonight, Sister Monson".  This entire family was baptized shortly after.  The children served missions, were married in the temple, the dad served as a mission president and I think later in the 70. So, many blessings happended after this simple decision. Our decisions impact our lives and so many others that we don't even realize. After we got back from taking one of the Sisters to the bus terminal, we went to the offices. We saw a paper sitting on the desk with the name JESSICA BATALLAS. Under had an address and there was a circle with arrows pointing to it saying URGENT. We looked a the address and it was in our sector. We had to do a double look. Our sector? Seriously? We contacted her, but she didn't answer at first. Then, we tried again in the afternoon. She answered. We visited her that day. I love her to death! She is 23 years old. She loves to paint and cook. She lived in Utah for 3 months with her aunt. She saw the Salt Lake temple there and came to know a little bit more about the church. She has a light that shines. When we leave chapters for her to read in the Book of Mormon, we come back for the next visit and she has marked up the chapter and written her questions. We asked her if she wanted 2 chapters to read Saturdayand Sunday when she came to church she said she finished the chapters and wanted more to read. I know that Heavenly Father helped her to find us and I am so excited to help her to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! Please keep her in your prayers. The Search for Truth We had a taxi driver this week who wanted to argue with everything that we said. When we testified. He said, "How can you know? We are too young. We have no life experience." We also had another taxi driver who was amazed that we could feel God's presence in our lives daily. I love being a missionary with all of my heart. No matter how many people reject us. How many people say this or that. I know that there are people out there searching for the truth. That we might need to have a few or many slammed doors in our face or a few harsh words before we find them. As missionaries 98% of our missions we will feel rejection, disappointment, and our faith will be tested. Then, there 2% of those miracles and those moments when we see those who accept the gospel. But it is the 2% that will makes it ALL worth it. Those who we find that will accept the gospel. The miracles that we see. The changes that we see in people. It is 2% that makes serving a mission the best decision that we ever made!!! There is no doubt in my mind that this is the church of Jesus Christ. That we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of each and everyone of us. That we can change and become like our Savior Jesus Christ through the Atonement. That Jesus taught us to ACT. That as we show our faith through our actions, we will see our lives change and become powerful instruments in His hands. We will be worthy to feel the Spirit in our lives each and every day!! I love you all! I hope that this week each of you will think of one thing that you can do to show your love for our Savior Jesus Christ and accomplish it! Have a wonderful week!! Love always, Sister Pemberton

- B.