Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
Well... the library was closed on Monday due to the holiday, and so I was emailing off of a members phone, and needed to use the laptop to put the contacts on the sending list, so I saved the draft (I thought) and then logged onto the laptop and boop! no drafts! :( so I am emotionally drained from the disappointment of my weekly email being lost in the time space continuum. So I want you all to know that I am doing well, I got transferred to Caldwell with Elder Koch ("cook"), we are spanish Zone Leaders, and are super excited to be together. I almost still live in the ontario zone, I live in Notus, which is about 6 miles from Parma. We had a good last week in ontario and taught a lot of lessons. My spiritual thought comes from Mosiah 2 Mosiah 2:14-18 14 And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day. 15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day. 16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God. 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. 18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? If we think about all the people that have served us in our life from our parents, our friends, our leaders, and finally to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will soon recognize that we too need to reach out and serve those around us. It can be something small like a hug, or a smile, but i promise it will brighten the day of those you serve as well as your own day. I love all of you and know that God loves you. Elder Whitaker
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Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
We had a fantastic week this week! We were able to make some really good progress in the area. I feel like the area just keeps growing every week. This week we were able to set a specific date for Mariana Romero and Idid Gonzalez to get baptized! Mariana is on track to be baptized on October 1, and Idid for October 8. So here is what happened this week: On Monday we were originally supposed to have a lesson with Mariana at her sister's house, but when we passed by, noone was home. Turns out Mariana had to go somewhere about 5 hours away! haha so she was not close to home, but we were able to reschedule for wednesday. We visited with the Peterson family instead and read from the Book of Mormon. We had a good discussion about doing baptisms for our deceased family. We were also able to visit Nico Hernandez. He is a good guy with a big heart, but feels like he needs to be perfect before coming to church again. We talked about the Church being a hospital for the sick and not a showroom for the perfect. Hopefully the next time we see him we are able to do a better job at teaching that principle. On Tuesday, we had district meeting in the morning, and had our first lesson with Idid this week. We began to teach her about the restoration, and knew that we needed to come back and teach better about some of the basic principles and doctrines. She is so willing to learn and to listen, and we are super excited for her. We had our second lesson with her on Saturday, and we taught her about Jesus Christ and what he did while on the Earth. We taught about the gospel teachings that Christ had given us, and how through following exactly those teachings we would be happy. We talked about the covenant (2 way promise between us and God) of baptism, and invited her to be baptized on October 8. She told us yes and that she had been wondering recently what she needed to do with her life. I guess we were inspired! :D We also taught about the great apostasy to Jose Mosqueda using my pen as an object lesson. If you dont have all the parts to the pen, its not really going to work well as a pen, and its definitely not the same pen as when you bought it. and if you take out one of the small inner pieces, it looks like its complete, but when you try to use it it wont work. Its a pretty good object lesson for the apostasy of the church established by Jesus. Later we read in the Book of Mormon with Daniel Rodriguez. It was super funny, after we got done reading, he handed Elder Rodriguez a piece of paper that had a phone number and the name Flor at the top, and asked if he could help him dial the number. Well Daniel has this nice smartphone, and the poor guy cant figure it out. He hands it to Elder Rodriguez, and Elder Rodriguez put Flor in as a new contact, and hands it back, well Daniel says no I want you to dial it! haha he wanted to call Flor right then and there. Well he showed Daniel how to call a contact in the phone and so Daniel calls Flor, well it rings for a little bit and then she picks up and man I didnt think he could blush the much or smile that big! We had helped Daniel to call his girlfriend! haha it was pretty funny :) We also were able to talk with Maraya Campos, we started to read 1 Nephi 7, but ended up talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is good. Unfortunately she didnt come to church... but we will probably be visiting her tonight. Wednesday, we talked with Yocelin's landlord, Paco, I dont know if he is really looking for answers at this point in his life, but we were able to answer some basic questions about what we believe. I was able to interview a young woman in New Plymouth who was getting baptized on Saturday, and I just love doing interviews. The people are always just so humble and have such a sweet testimony. Well after the Interview we went and talked to Juan Martinez. ow this is the guy that in 6 months of working here, I have only seen 3 times. And its not for a lack of trying! haha but he works SO much, he works basically 2 shifts in one day. He works from like 4-11 on both halves of the day. So it is pretty difficult for him, but he has felt God strengthen him so far. Then we finally got to have our lesson with Mariana! We asked how here Book of Mormon reading was, she said she really liked it, and felt good when she read it. She also really like church when she went in Nyssa. So we invited her to be baptized, and she said that she really feels like it, but just wants to learn more first. We also talked with Roberto on Wednesday, and listened to him for a good while. It is kindof frustrating as a missionary to see someone that you know can be ad would be helped by the Gospel if they could just get over some superficial misconceptions they have. And being "offended" is one of the silliest reasons to me to stop drinking of the Living Water. But we love Roberto and will keep trying to help him to come back to church and take the Sacrament. Thursday, we planned for the week and then headed to Payette. We were having a complete strikeout in Payette until we finally got to talk with Maria. she is a potential investigator, and we just really fumbled through that lesson. My Spanish was failing me and I was on my own haha We did figure out some important things about Maria though. She used to go to church and read from the Bible all the time, but apparently her husband put an end to that... we left her with the restoration pamphlet to read if she got a chance, and hopefully when we visit her again she will have read it. We had dinner with a recent convert family in Ontario, the Meza family. They are just so wonderful! Elder Rodriguez and I were both super hungry, and when I walked in my heart just sank, it was a dish with TONS of bell peppers. I thought I was going to die. haha I am so so grateful that this sweet family invited us into their home to feed us, but I wasnt so excited about bell peppers.. but I was strong! I ate them anyway! And this is how hungry I was, I asked for a second serving! We talked a lot after dinner about teaching because Hermana Meza as a new member and the new Relief Society president is feeling a bit self conscious about her teaching skills. They are both just absolutely wonderful people and great teachers. Later that night we talked with someone new, Isaias. He had some really good questions, and the message of the restoration is like exactly what he needs! So we will be going back this week to teach him about the restoration. On Friday, we were on exchanges with the zone leaders, I wa with Elder Roberts in our area, and Elder Rodriguez went with Elder Anderson. Elder Roberts and I had an interesting day, we went to Weiser, and taught 2 lessons there, one to a young man by the name of Daniel. We were trying to contact his dad, but didnt find him there. And then we also talked with Maria Guadalupe. We taught her about baptism and invited her to be baptized if she kept feeling the Spirit. She said yeah but she has already been baptized. We will talk with her about that next time we go over. :) We had the most interesting dinner experience ever haha we were supposed to be fed by the Relief Society. At the Relief Society activity. Well we couldnt really go inside to where they were having the activity unless there is another guy there. and thank goodness President Montgomery showed up! We had some good food, but it was just kindof wierd to be at a Relief Society activity all by ourselves. But later in the evening we met with Armando and his wife Anabel. We read 1 Nephi 1 with them and committed them to read chapter 2. They are just such nice people, and We will be going by them tonight to read again and talk some more. Also we will be eating seviche with them, yumm! On Saturday, we taught the second lesson with Idid, had a lunch with the zone leaders at Hermana Rosa Vargas' house. she made us red posole, which is really good, and we invited her to come to the Spanish Branch. She is a medical interpreter, and knows English really well, but likes the gospel better in Spanish. We also taught Nancy more about the Bible, where it comes from and why it is important. It was a really good lesson and we feel like she is an incredible young woman. We also met with Leticia. Leticia was having a rough day, but the Gospel as usual, helped her to feel more relaxed. And Sunday, We had church like normal, and tried to find someone to teach before dinner at 5, but noone was able to. We had dinner with the Sanchez family, and I love them to death, but we were there for 3 hours haha they live way out in the boonies, and when we got to their house at 5, they werent even there. haha well they showed up a couple minutes after we did, and then they started to cook. haha the food was SOOO delicious; we had carne asada with rice, beans, and pico de gallo. so we left for New Plymouth at 8, and were able to talk with a man, Russ Raichart. The poor guy has really been through some stuff in the last couple years. I know the restored Gospel would help him so much, but he would have to let go of some preconcieved notions about the Mormons. Very good guy though. As a spiritual thought this week I would just like to share a thought I had from reading in the Bible. in Luke 16:12 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Christ himself declares the need for continuous revelation. It is true that Christ taught many of the doctrines and principles of the kingdom of His Father, and it is true that the Bible only contains a portion of His words, and it is true that The Bible is the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly, but it is also true that just as the disciples of old needed guidance and continued direction from the Lord, we also need counsel and guidance. The Lord declared that he would yet say many things, but at a future time. I have a testimony that the inspired pattern of revealing His secret to His servants the prophets continues today. I know that President Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God. I love you all so much and appreciate your love and support. Elder Whitaker ps please pardon the typos in my email, I dont have time to proof read! Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
We were able to teach a lot this week, and were able to learn all the while! Unfortunately on Monday, we had to tell a family that we visited that we wouldn't be coming back to teach anymore. Or to try to teach anymore. haha We wont be stopping by Jesus Garcia for teaching appointments any more. Over the past few weeks we had been meeting with Jesus, and attempting to establish with him the organization of Christ's original church, and to help him to understand that the exact organization set up by the Savior Himself had been changed and lost. That was our goal and effort, but every time we went over, he wasn't listening so much as trying to teach us. We tried to read from the Bible and talk and I even brought a small white board to draw on, but every time he started to tell us about el chinito that tested a piece of bread from the eucharystus that had fallen on the floor, and how el chinito found out that it was a literal piece of flesh, not bread anymore. That it was a piece of a heart, and that it was still beating! Or he would tell us about how his grandmother saw a priest in mexico who was riding his motorcycle towards a small town and when there was some danger on the road he just disappeared, and then they found him later in that small town preaching, and thats how we know that priests can be in two places at once. Anyway, he wasn't ready to listen to the message we share, and so we had to tell him that we wouldn't be stopping by to teach anymore. It was sad, because I was so excited for him to learn, and understand his Savior a little better. On Tuesday we were able to teach Maria Cisneros, Jorge Moncada, Monica Morales, and Carlos Pelayo. With Maria, we watched The Restoration video, and talked about it afterwards. She really liked it, and when we asked her how she felt, and if she could believe that really happened, she said "oh yeah, I believe everything that has to do with God. and every church that talks about God is a good church, because there is only one God." That pretty much describes a lot of reactions we get when we share the Book of Mormon, or the message of the restoration. There is some truth and goodness in that perspective, everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is on the right track. But we don't seem to be teaching clearly enough the importance of the restoration, and the implications of a restoration. But maybe we can try to teach that more clearly when we are there next. Carlos Pelayo is awesome! When we visited with him, he asked us why there was a need for a restoration. I went the long way and talked a lot, probably too much, but all in all Elder Rodriguez summed it up great for me. He said "The church organization that Jesus Christ set up was changed and lost, and we needed to go back to what He set up, so God restored His truths." We set up a return appointment for Friday, and asked if we could bring a member. Carlos said that was okay, so we contacted Hermano Mesa, and he said he could come. When we went back for the lesson, Hermano Mesa and Carlos were just like old friends. they talked and talked and Hno. Mesa had passed through some similar circumstances as Carlos. We taught a little bit about how the Gospel was restored, but mostly it was a good time for Hno. Mesa to reassure Carlos and to befriend him. We also had a miracle with Carlos. We had had the meeting on Tuesday, and then again on Friday, on the Friday meeting Carlos was explaining to us how he wanted to stop drinking, and how for the last 2 years he had not gone a day without drinking. And then he told us, but I haven't touched one single drop of alcohol in the last three days, not since Tuesday! Wow, what an amazing thing! He really has a great desire to do what is right, and to change for his family. We are so excited to keep teaching him. On Wednesday, we were able to visit with and teach a couple new faces from Wieser, Daniel Hernandez, and Maraya Campos. When we went to Daniel Hernandez, he was inside eating, and said he would come out when he was done, so we played some catch with his twin granddaughters. they are 12, and one is a tomboy. haha they are really funny, but while we were playing catch the ball went into a little flower garden with a couple rose bushes. Well I went after it pretty fast, and I grabbed the ball, and then felt a sharp sting right in between my eyes, what felt like underneath my glasses. Well I guess I had scared a bee or something because I got got. It had been forever since I was stung! Well that bee sting caused me problems for like 3 days! haha it hurt and was swollen on day one, and I guess the venom or whatever was messing with the rest of my face, because then my teeth started to hurt for a bit. Well day 2 it was still sore, but it was itchy so I was scratching it even though it was sore, and day 3 the area around the corner of my left eye was SUPER itchy and swollen a little bit. haha anyway I guess the moral of the story is never rush headlong into a flower garden. haha With Maraya (she is 11ish), we read from the Book of Mormon, and then found out that she had gotten onto her mom about not taking them to church last week. haha We think Maraya is awesome, she is just a sweet young lady. Like whenever she gets some money, she spends it all buying food or other things for the rest of her family. Thursday, we taught Nancy, and a few others. Nancy is 17 and asked us for a Bible when we tracted into her a while ago. We gave her the Bible last week, and talked a little bit about how to read the Bible and how the Bible was organized. We showed her the Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary in the back, and when we went by on Thursday, she had been trying to read up on the topic of "peace". She didn't know exactly how to follow the references, so we showed her how and read a couple of the references with her. We are going to try by again and teach her more about who wrote the scriptures and why. We are excited for that. On Friday we had the AWESOME lesson with Carlos Pelayo and Hermano Mesa. On Saturday, we taught Daniel Rodriguez, Elifonso Escobedo, Hector Moncada, and Mario Hernandez. We have been reading through the book of Mormon with Daniel Rodriguez, and he had a couple questions for us not related to the Book of Mormon reading. He is an interesting older gentleman, but we love him. haha So something pretty funny about our lesson with Elifonso. We had invited him to baptism last time we saw him, and so we wanted to teach more about baptism. We taught him the it was important using John 3:5, that we had to prepare for it using Matthew 3, and explained to him the principles from Romans 6 about the symbolism of baptism; being buried in the water: the death of the old sinful man; rising up out of the water into new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Well After we taught him that, he started talking about his garden and gave us a ton of peppers and tomatoes. Well I got the hint that he didnt want to talk about it a lot, but i wanted to see what he had learned. So I asked, "So what do you understand about the importance of baptism?" and he responds (I'm not lying) "Well...just that you have to make a really spicy salsa, and eat the spicy salsa. That will clean your soul! and then you have to drink a big thing of water." haha oh well I guess you win some and you lose some. We will see if we can do a better job next time we go over. Saturday we also ran into a Baptist Pastor... :| we were just asking if he knew any of his neighbors that spoke spanish, and they didn't really know anyone that was home, and the pastor just started asking questions and making patronizing comments. haha he started our conversation like this: Him: "How old are you?" E. Rodriguez: 18 Him: "Well thats not very old at all, and how old are you?" Me: 20 Him: "Oh thats not much older is it? so they have you two out here all alone do they?" Me: haha yeah i guess you could say that. Well from that point I knew he was trying to start something and it just got more and more clear especially when I could see it coming and I said, "I'm sorry, we don't want to start anything. You are doing a great job, and were doing a great job, and were all just trying to help people come to Jesus." Well then he assures us that he is just trying to make sure that we are teaching the "right" Jesus. Well I tried telling him again that we were not trying to start anything and that it would be better if we just went, but he didn't let us go. Well about 15 minutes and an Alma confounding Korihor experience (almost) later we were able to leave. It was interesting haha but I feel like I tried to avoid the conflict, and that the Spirit defended the Gospel of Jesus Christ through me well enough. On Sunday, we went to the ward councils of the New Plymouth Elders, trying to gain some of their trust, and trying to help them in the work as best we can. I feel like it was pretty productive and that they have some pretty good leads to work on. We then went to our branch council, taught gospel principles, went to priesthood and sacrament meetings, and then got out to teaching after a short lunch. We didn't really find anyone to teach before dinner. We had dinner with a family whose front door was painted blue like the TARDIS, from Doctor Who. They were also sufficiently educated in every other area of science fiction and all that could be related to science fiction. (I'm trying to say they were geeked out haha it was awesome) They were super funny to listen to, and were just super nice to us. The dad is a physical therapist assistant, and can sing and play guitar super well! apparently he was in an acapella group called "Payette Forward" haha it was cheesy enough for me. As a spiritual thought this week I want to share a little bit of what I have learned about patience. Alma 34:40-41 40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them; 41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions. Now everyone who knows me knows that my patience has a lot of growing to do! haha well I have been learning a lot about patience in my studies recently, there is a thought I would love to share but it takes a long time to sufficiently explain it, and a little bit of background knowledge. Maybe another time. But from this section of verses, we read of a people who were in a really hard time, and rejected and despised, only on account of their poverty. AKA they were made fun of, and were never the popular kids because they didnt have the latest smart phone, they bought their clothes from Wal-mart, they couldnt afford going to the beach every vacation from school, they were just too pressed for money. Now whose heart doesnt go out to the people that are in a situation like that? What would you do? Well Amulek shares a bit of timeless wisdom. He exhorts these afflicted people to have patience. That they do not revile, or hate and despise those who have reviled and despised them. because if they did so they would "become sinners like unto them;" Wow! when we lose our patience, and when we lash out at those who have hurt us, we become "sinners like unto them". When we have patience, we can pass through a hard time, and we may not be happy with it. but we need to remain calm and humble. and how can we do that? Amulek gives us the key in verse 41. "with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." We must keep our head up and our eyes forward. This life is but a small moment. Blink and you might miss it. Remember who you are, and what comes in the future. The day of rest from all our afflictions and cares and pains is so worth just letting the argument go. of just forgiving and forgetting. Forgiving and forgetting the wrongdoings of others, and of yourself. Know that God loves you and waits for you to return to his presence. I love y'all! Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!!
Wow what a week! There was a lot to do and a lot to be done. We had District Leader Council, Zone Conference, double dinners, and many appointments! We had a pretty good teaching week, and I have really felt my faith grow. I will start with Zone Conference. Zone Conferences normally include more than one zone, but this particular time, it was just the Ontario zone. so it was like another zone meeting with President Sorensen, and the Assistants to the President. It was a stellar meeting. We started at 10, and continued till about 4:15 we had an hour for lunch and the rest was filled with the Spirit. It was a wonderful meeting, and I learned a lot. We learned of obedience from Sister Sorensen, about personal revelation from President Sorensen, the Doctrine of Christ and the principle of love from the zone leaders, and the baptismal invitation from the assistants to the president. With Sister Sorensen we looked at the story of Nephi and the dangers of murmuring (complaining). We talked about how murmuring causes us to doubt in our hearts and then leads others to doubt in their hearts. We should really avoid murmuring at all costs. Its miserable for everyone involved. That is a lesson I could really use. I learned from Sister Sorensen and then later President Sorensen of a horrific boating accident President Sorensen had a while ago. Essentially its a miracle he is even alive. He was wakeboarding, and when he hit the jump he got turned sideways, thought he let go of the rope, but with the slack in the rope the handle slid up to his shoulder. When the slack was pulled tight, the rope turned him around, and then filleted him from the top of his bicep to his wrist. like cut his entire bicep and everything off down to the bone. He lost half of his blood, and only has a little small string of bicep muscle to be able to move his arm. Not too long after that accident, Elder Hales, I believe it was, came and stayed with the Sorensens while he was in the area, and having already heard about the accident, Elder Hales turned to President Sorensen and said "Dont do that anymore." President knew what he was talking about but asked with a puzzled look "do what anymore?" To which Elder Hales replied "Watersports." after explaining that boating and water sports was one of their main family activities, Elder Hales said "You can drive the boat." President Sorensen has not been wake boarding or anything since. He is an example to us all of being obedient to the counsel of the Lord through His chosen servants. Could we give up something we love for someone we love even more? The Assistants' training also impacted me a lot. We talked about the invitation to be baptized, and I had the opportunity to express my dilemma of knowing and wanting to invite those we meet and teach to be baptized in the first or second visit, but the fear of them becoming uninterested or offended or something. Well they helped my faith to grow, I have, since Friday, invited 2 people to baptism and both said that they would be baptized. One was someone we had been teaching, but had not invited him, so we met with him after zone conference and I invited him right there. The second was a young man who Elder Pettijohn and I tracted in to on exchanges, and he also accepted the invitation to be baptized. I have learned in these short days a little bit of how stupid I was for not inviting someone to follow the example of Christ and enter the gate to eternal life. My faith has grown, and I now know that we should not be fearful to accomplish the Lord's will. He will be on our side! Anyway, those are two things that really got driven deep into my heart from zone conference. On Monday We visited with Jesus Garcia, and we talked about the apostasy of the early Christian church that Paul refers to in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and on Wednesday we started to talk about the organization of Christ's church. The way that he set it up. We are going back to Jesus again tonight to talk more with him, and hopefully establish pretty clearly what the original Church of Jesus Christ looked like. On Tuesday we had another wonderful opportunity to be on splits with Elder Johnston, seeing as Delta cancelled his flight. and everyone else's haha But we took advantage of the situation and visited with Hermana Adriana Moncada, who is normally alone at home. We were finally able to enter and talk with her because there were 3 of us. (its a rule that we can only enter a house if there is a third male over the age of 18) We had a great talk about baptism. She and her "husband" aren't actually married, and so they need to get married before she can be baptized, but she is already going to church every week and leads the music at church and is really involved. They haven't gotten married yet because of his citizenship papers, but those should be done before the end of the year. Anyway she told us that she already has a testimony and that there is absolutely nothing holding her back from being baptized except getting married. Later that evening, we met with an investigator in New Plymouth named Carlos Pelayo. We had an amazing lesson with him and taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We left him with the pamphlet to read, and when Elder Rodriguez went back on Saturday, Carlos had read and underlined and written his questions out! Elder Rodriguez invited him to baptism to which Carlos said yes, if he keeps feeling the Spirit. We are excited! On Wednesday we were back in Weiser, we had our second lesson with Jesus Garcia, and tracted into Karen. Karen was an interesting find, haha she was really open and ready to listen. She had some unique concerns that I hadnt really run into before, but we started teaching her Ammon-style or Paul-style. from the beginning, like of the world. We asked about her belief in God, we explained who he is and that he created all things, and why he created them. see Acts 17:23-28 for a summary of that lesson haha or Alma 18:24-40 is pretty good as well. We are excited to go back and teach Karen, and also her brother Tony. They are both perfectly bilingual and it is pretty nice to be able to speak in English or in Spanish and be understood. Thursday, we were super busy all day long, we had weekly planning, stake correlation, service, and appointments that were just back to back. It was so nice! We cut a lawn for an older widowed lady, which took about 2 hours even though the lawn is very small, because it hadn't been cut in at least a month, and I had to charge the battery for the electric weed eater. But it was much needed and much appreciated, we were happy to do it. Later in the evening we were able to meet with Leticia in Payette. We talked with her about receiving strength from church attendance and scripture study. We asked her to read the scriptures this week, and we will ask how it is going when we see her next. On Saturday I was on exchanges with Elder Pettijohn. Elder Pettijohn is from Anchorge Alaska, and has been out for about 7 months. I was in his zone in Nampa when he first came out, and now we are in the same district. He is a great elder with a lot of charity and humility. We had a great day, which got started off with probably the best tracting experience Ive ever had! The first house we went to there was a woman working outside, we offered to help and she declined politely but talked with us for a good while. She offered us juice and water, and was just so kind. I attribute it to southern hospitality seeing as she was from Louisiana. We went on to the next house, which was Bobby's house. We talked to him about band and tennis a little (his interests) and then talked about Christ and following his example to be baptized. He accepted the baptismal invitation and said we could come back next Saturday. It was so cool, and it was just so nice to see Elder Pettijohn's area grow a little bit more. The rest of the day, wasnt quite so eventful, but we were able to talk with a few more families. I love exchanging with Elders that want to learn and work hard. And on Sunday we talked with Hermano Aguilar. We read 1 Nephi 5 and 6, and it was a pretty good lesson. Mariana and Kevin have just been super super busy selling the juices at the local fairs and rodeos. Which is really good for them, but we would like to meet with them! haha hopefully one day here soon. As a spiritual thought this week i would like to share from Mosiah 4:11-12 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true. I would like to call special attention to the phrase in verse 11. "which causeth exceedingly great joy". Who wants exceedingly great joy? Who thinks they know what causes exceedingly great joy? I personally answered yes to both of those questions! haha but I thought exceedingly great joy came from wake boarding, or catching frogs, or building a functional robot. I came up with some pretty good things that I though caused exceedingly great joy. But God taught us through King Benjamin, that those things might bring us great joy, but exceedingly great joy comes from receiving "a remission of your sins". I testify that is true. We are meant to be happy in this life, and the things that keep us from having joy are called sins. God knows what each of those things are, and set up barriers to protect us called commandments. When we cross those barriers out of the safety, it is called sinning. And it takes away our joy. It brings us sorrow. You know what I am talking about, you have felt it before, we all have. And what you want is to go back and change what you did. Come on how many of us have said that "If I could do it all over again..."? Well we cant go back, but we can go forward. We find ourselves in that state of "remember[ing], and always retain[ing] in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily,". That is the first step of repentance, and when we repent we want to find that remission of our sins. We solidify our repentace by being baptized. we show that we are killing off the old man, and being raised as a new creature in Christ. (Romans 6) And as we are raised out of the water, that exceedingly great joy begins to descend upon us. I have felt that and I have seen it work for others. If you find yourself wondering and wandering, think of the promises we are given in verse 12. It is so worth the work. I love all of you and hope you are well. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!!
What a great week this week! We taught lessons, we found someone new to teach, we had zone meeting, and survived national root beer float day. So, on Saturday, apparently it was national root beer float day. And because of this well known traditional holiday, all of the A&W's were giving out free root beer floats from 2-closing time. So of course the only available option for me was to go to every A&W in the area. :) So we did, but only when it was on the way to our next appointment. On Saturday, we also had another missionary with us for about half the day. He is going to enter the MTC tomorrow, but has been set apart as a missionary for over a week now. He lived in Vancouver Canada, but his family is moving back to Detroit Michigan, and so they stopped at grandma's house for a visit. Well he is going to St George Spanish speaking, and so he wanted to come out with us for a while on Saturday. We picked him up at 11, and tried to get the floats from that A&W, but it was too early. so we had to wait until we were dropping him back off at home. So that was round one of floats. then later in the evening we were in Payette, and were teaching up there, and when we left to go back to Fruitland we got round two of the floats. then we were in Fruitland until the end of the night so we were driving back home, and the A&W in Ontario (on the way home) was getting a remodel, but not the drive-thru! So we picked up some more floats there. Elder Rodriguez didnt want his, so he tapped out at round two, and I had four all in all! haha but it was a BAD idea! My insides hated me all day Sunday.. haha but it tasted good :) So Ill come back to Elder Johnston, our extra companion for the day, later but for now we will go back to the beginning of the week. On Monday, really the only notable thing to mention is the amount of 3-point shots I made playing basketball! I killed it. We played like two 3v3 games, we played to 11 the first time and 21 the second (cause we had already scored 11). and not to brag or anything, haha but I totally scored like 18ish points and it was mostly off of 3's. Anyway that probably wont happen again this week. What usually happens is that I cant make a single shot for like four or five weeks in a row, and then I get a week like this where Im on fire. But it is all fun anyway. On Tuesday, we did not have a district meeting, which was kinda nice! Because we had Zone meeting on Friday, there weren't any district meetings. Elder Rodriguez and I had a good day teaching though. We had really good talks with 5 people that day, only 3 of them were we really able to teach and pray with them. We were able to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with Brother Peterson, and find Maria Escobedo again! We hadn't been able to find her at home like at all in the last month or so. We thought she was super interested the first time we talked with her, but never found her at home for a long time. we had started to think she was hiding, but we had a really good talk this time as well. We taught her about receiving answers to prayers and how Joseph Smith received an answer to his prayer to know which church to join. We taught how much God loves us. We really felt like she wants to know what she can do to find happiness and peace, and we promised her that she could find happiness and peace through applying the message we share. She could feel the truth of it, and we cant wait until we can find her again at home! (the return appointment we set fell through...) On Wednesday, we went to Weiser and had some fun experiences there! We didnt find Nacho at home at 1:30 when he said to come back, and we knew he leaves at 3 for work, so we went and found something else to do in the meantime. We drove out to one side of Weiser and we saw a door that had one of the Catholic papers on the door, usually a good sign for us of Spanish speakers, so we turned around parked and had a great lesson with Jesus Garcia! He was fixing a transmission in his garage, but he stopped to talk with us for a little bit, and he has an incredible story! Years ago he used to drink every evening after work. he would just turn on the music sit down and drink his cares away. Then he started to go to church and read the Bible, and he said that it has been a little over six years that he discovered the word of God, and that it has been about six years since he has touched a drop of alcohol. It was a great chat we had with him about the power of the scriptures, and we are excited to teach him again. Well when we got done with that we headed back to Nacho to see if we could catch him. It was 2:50 so we were positive he was home, but he pulled up as we were knocking the door. haha we were right and wrong at the same time. He still had to leave for work right away but we were way too excited to teach him to just let the opportunity go. so we taught him the first lesson. in 10 minutes! haha it was good, and we will go back over it this week with him, and hopefully we will have more time to teach him more clearly. But that was fun. Not so fun however was almost getting bit by a big dog. (chihuahuas dont scare me in the least bit but this was a big puppy) There was house with a fence and a gate, but no one actually uses fences or gates to keep their dogs inside of the yard. No one except this family apparently. Well i just opened the gate and waltzed in there, just like I had done hundreds of times before. Unfortunately there was no barking until after I had taken a few steps inside the gate. so here comes a chihuahua and a mutt of some sort barrelling around the corner and the big dog was not happy at all! haha so I rushed back outside the gate and pulled it close behind me. Well the owner made it outside about that time, and on the bright side she did speak Spanish! so she talked with us for a bit, but poor Elder Rodriguez he is scared of dogs. He thought he was going to die. haha well we thought it would be a good idea to whistle before opening gates from now on. haha On Friday, we taught some good lessons, and had a really good dinner! We taught a woman named Irela, and we taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we will be talking with her about God and who He is next time. We started to teach about Him the first lesson, but it needs more time and attention. She is very humble and willing to listen, its great. We taught Hno Aguilar (we haven't taught Hna Aguilar or Mariana her sister or Kevin because they have been busy at the rodeos selling fruit drinks) in the evening and we watched a mormon message with him "The will of God". He liked it and we had a really good talk about when something happens to us it is for a reason. But for dinner, we ate with the Hernandez family, everyone is baptized except the dad. He was still working at 6 when we went for dinner, and so we had to stay outside. There are only girls in the family except for Lupe, the little boy that cried on Elder Smithson. haha So we tried calling people we know to come to dinner with us so we could go inside, but we didn't have any luck. so we started to eat outside. it was some DELICIOUS tacos. Elder Rodriguez ended up eating like 11 of those things and I ate like 8 or 9 plus an elote (corn on the cob). They were so good. about halfway through the meal, Hno Smith called us and said he could make it to dinner, so we migrated inside when he got there, and shared a thought with them about looking to Christ and living. So the rest of Elder Johnston's story. Before we went to go pick him up we had an appointment at 10. We went to the appointment and he was building a fence in his back yard so I dug a hole for one of the posts. We had some small talk and then set a return appointment. Then left for Elder Johnston. We ended up having a GREAT day with him, we taught 3 lessons before 4:00 and did a little bit of service, and had lunch together. We read from the Book of Mromon with Daniel Rodriguez, and Maraya Campos Hernandez. Later we had a good discussion about the restoration and personal revelation with a new investigator: Omar. Elder Johnston took some Spanish in school so he understood most of what was happening, and could read pretty well. We were able to nerd out together because he did VEX robotics as well and is a nerd at heart like me. haha so it was fun. It was a good experience for him I think and will help him not be so scared to teach his first lesson in the MTC I hope. haha For a spiritual thought this week I want to share a little from one of the trainings I gave this week. The Scripture is found in the Book of Mormon in Jacob 5:74 74 And thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had be come again the natural fruit; and they became like unto one body; and the fruits were equal; and the Lord of the vineyard had preserved unto himself the natural fruit,which was most precious unto him from the beginning. Jacob 5 is a story about a man who owned a vineyard that he cared about very much. it tells of the Lord of the vineyard's efforts to save it from turning into wild trees that do not produce good fruit. This story is like a parable, we can see so much symbolism in the story. The vineyard is like the world and all the creatures of God. He cares about us so much, and He wants to save us. I want to focus specifically on this "natural fruit, which was most precious unto [God] from the beginning". Does it mean that some of us are more precious to God, and we have been since the beginning? No. God loves all of us equally and perfectly and infinitely. We are all His children and he is no respecter of persons. This natural fruit I think could be better applied to our figurative "fruits". Our actions and words and thoughts. The Lord has always valued the virtue of the righteous and has always asked us to be producers of righteous, natural, fruits. That is why He has given us commandments. So that we can know what fruits he wants us to produce, how to live, what to stay away from. You can think of the reasons. When we understand the precious nature of our fruits to God, then we can better understand the first part of this verse. "they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away." Two things become apparent, it is a labor! it takes work, if its not easy, good! its not meant to be, it is supposed to mean something to you, to become a part of your legacy, ingrained in your heart. and that doesnt come easy. but here is part two, its not done until its done. The Lord doesnt give up on us. ever. He loves us and that fruit is so precious to him that he is willing to call his friends and hire laborers and work with his own strength to save that vineyard. To save you. You are engraved upon His palms. He cannot, and will not ever forget you. He will send your mom, your bishop, the missionaries, and I suppose legions of angels until he has exhausted every possible source of help and used every last drop of energy in the universe to save you. So help Him out a bit, and turn to Him. Let Him and His servants prune you and nurture you and give you room to grow. He loves you. Read John 17 sometime and let His love flood your heart. It will happen I promise. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
Well another week has come and gone! I had some really cool experiences this week, probably blessings for continuing to work even when its way hot. We were able to follow up with some of the families from last week, and find some new ones this week. unfortunately we dont always get to talk with all the people that we would like to every week. Well to start off, we had transfers this last week. I didnt get moved to a new area or get a new companion or anything, there are just a lot of missionaries that went home that I really got to know well. It is just a weird feeling to see missionaries that you know and care about to go home. to start the next phase of their life! Also from what I've been told I am the last remaining missionary from District 9B in the Mexico CCM. Weird. but I get to #represent. I didnt get trunky about going home, like I didnt really get sad and wish that I was going home instead, I just got to thinking about everything that happened in these last 18 months and it just made me sad to think that one day I will have to leave the mission field here in Idaho. I began to think about all the changes that have taken place, all the things Ive learned, and all the people that I have grown to love. It has absolutely been the best 18 months so far of my life. and I still have 6 months left!! :D also there are now 2 Spanish speaking Whitaker missionaries in Idaho!! We have got both sides of the state covered! One of the new Sisters that came in and is serving in the branch with us knows Hermana Whitaker! It was like the first thing she said to me haha I dont know why but it is just so awesome to get any sort of connection back to family :) So that was pretty much transfers was just reflections on my mission so far, and a connection to Hermana Whitaker! On Tuesday i gave a District Meeting Training with like less that 24 hours notice so it was a little rough, but it was on the topic of "New Beginnings, Clean Slates, and Intelligent Living". Essentially I tried to express to the district the thought that President Sorensen expressed to all the missionaries when we first met him, and that he again expressed in our interviews with him that he doesn't know us too well, and that provides us an opportunity to really start fresh on who we want to be as a missionary. I tried to convey the same sentiment that we can all be something more and greater than we currently are. Then I tried to connect those thoughts of new beginnings and clean slates to the concept of "intelligent living". No here was a real good question for all of us to ponder. What is the smartest, most intelligent, way to live? You can get two people to argue their whole life over what type of investing strategy is better, what career would be best to pursue, etc. We as people have very different interests and dreams. So the most intelligent living is really hard to discover by debates between mortal men who have faults and weaknesses. So here is my proposal, It is true intelligence to follow exactly the counsel of Him who knows all things perfectly and who has no faults. In a simple way, it is smart to follow someone who is smarter. And it would be the best decision we could make to follow the smartest Being ever. So when we consider the topic of new beginnings and clean slates we really need to set our goals as what God wants for us. He knows perfectly who we are and what we need. and the counsel that applies to all of His children He gives to us by way of what we call commandments. Then even beyond that there is counsel that He can give us through the Holy Ghost, and it might be tailored specifically to us. Anyway, we all have the chance to start again every day, to have a clean slate, and it would be truly intelligent of us to try to live in the way that the smartest Being has told us to live. Sometimes Heavenly Father chastens us, gives us a little course correction, but it is only because He loves us. That was more or less the topic of District Meeting. I really enjoyed it. :) On Tuesday Night, we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) to celebrate the birthdays of President Montgomery and also Brother Smith. Elder Rodriguez and I gave the spiritual thought/lesson of the Noche de Hogar, and we talked about the temple. We tried to express the importance of temple attendance and why their deceased ancestors would be so excited to have their work done vicariously through the temple. I feel like it went well and also that it is a message that the branch needed to hear. On Wednesday we did a lot of service! We started with a move at 9 and helped with that until lunch, and then after lunch we went to Payette to help a family weed in front of their house. It turned into a really unexpected teaching opportunity as the step dad started to just ask us questions about who we are and what we do. We were able to teach him a little bit about what happens to those who never have the chance to learn the Gospel. He said he would go to church today. We are not sure if he was able to make it or not, he would go to an English congregation. So we will find out this week! On Thursday we got a referral from the Elders in Weiser which spurred us into a trip to Weiser. We dont really go that much due to the sheer amount of miles, but it is a really nice community with a lot of potential. We contacted the referral, whose name was Nacho. :) We taught Nacho that families can be together forever and that his family relationships dont have to end at "death do you part". He seemed pretty interested, and we have our return appointment for Wednesday afternoon. We are excited to see how it goes and to visit some of the other families that we met while tracting in Weiser. Sunday we had a lesson with Jocelyn, who just recently moved back up here from Nayarit, Mexico. She has a a smoking addiction, and has told us that she wants to stop, we told her that she can stop smoking and that we would like to help her, we are going to meet with Jocelyn on Tuesday to set some goals with her. Since she lives in Ontario, and she is really the only one interested in talking with us, Im really not sure how much longer we will keep visiting her. We will probably introduce her to the Sisters soon. As a spiritual thought this week I would like to share from Hebrews 11:13-16 Speaking of the faithful acts of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sara 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. If we familiarize ourselves with the stories of each of the Old Testament heroes listed before these passages, we can see that in each of the cases a command was given that appeared foolish to men. And again in each case we know of the miracles and blessings that accompanied the faithful acts of these heroes. So why in the world would someone follow a command that to all earthly examination appeared to be foolish? Because they had a spiritual mind. They knew who they were. They knew that Heaven is their home, and that Father in Heaven is who they must listen to. Paul describes it as recognizing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. and later that they sought out a "better country, that is, an heavenly". And because they were truly seeking out a heavenly country God was not ashamed to be their God. He blessed them greatly for their obedience and desire to return to His presence. I also feel that God is not ashamed to be called my God when I seek after heavenly things. But I do feel like to some degree He would be ashamed to be called our God if we were to seek the things of this world. If we were to only seek out riches, or worldly power and influence. If we dont confess to be pilgrims and strangers in this land then God would indeed to be ashamed to be called our God. He would be disappointed that the land we chose to call home was not the land from whence we came, and where he has a city prepared for us. I know that God loves each of us so much. He has a place prepared for each of us in the mansions of His Father if we will just accept it, and seek after it. I love all of you and hope that you can feel that. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!! This week has been an amazing week! We were able to teach so many people! We taught some new people and are excited to see what happens this next transfer. Speaking of next transfer, Elder Rodriguez and I will be staying together in our area. I finally get to finish training! And I really am excited to stick around here. I love the branch and the area and all the people I know here. And it will complete 6 months here in this area :) This last Monday we went thrift shopping with another companionship from the district, but we weren't just looking for ties. We were looking for something in specific, something that would help us find more service opportunities, something to help us bond with the area and the people. We were looking for these: Haha Elder Pettijohn and Elder Rodriguez have been DYING to get these and we were finally able to go look. I wasn't exactly a huge fan, mainly cause I felt like someone was just trying to be a hipster. :P but I said if I could find a pair for under 10$ I would buy some too. Well it was 20$, but I did it anyway haha and they have been pretty useful! We have gotten some extra service opportunities as a result. We would offer service and normally they see the shirt and tie and go "oh no, you'll get dirty! we are fine." but now Im able to say no I have overalls! and then this week they let us do service!, and all we have to do is carry the overalls and a pair of shoes in the car and we have service clothes everywhere! All I have to do is slip off my shoes, put the overalls on and then put on my service shoes and im good to go! haha Its been fun, and the front pockets hold all my missionary stuff like my plaque and planner and pens. So I dont even have to carry my magnet plaque.
We were able to teach quite a few lessons this week but a couple of those really stick out in my mind. We had a miracle happen to us when all of our plans (including 2 set return appointments) had fallen through. The plans were supposed to last us until 5 and it was not even 4. Well we called the Sisters to see what less active members in their area we could visit, and they sent us a referral instead from the Sister they were currently visiting. "the big green house on 3rd" was pretty much all we got. We were supposed to be looking for someone's brother i think. Well we find a big green house (not even sure if this is right) and we knocked. a little girl answers the door and tells us in Spanish that her mom is coming. SO at least there were Spanish speakers in the house. Well her mom gets to the door, and probably one of my most awkward conversations ever happens. We realized quickly we were in trouble when we realized we had no clue who sent us there, who we were looking for, if this was even the right house, and that this young mother was not someones brother. Well it turned out alright haha we laughed about it, and then asked her a little about herself. We found out she used to live in Mexico and went to the LDS church while she was down there. We invited her to church and she committed to come! It was a really good visit. Well that was the very first door we knock on in Ontario and it just so happens that they used to go to church and want to go back to church. We were both pretty amazed by the sequence of events that led us to Yoselin, and pretty jealous of the bounteous harvest in the Sister's area ;) haha jk we are loving our area. :) Another Really good visit that we had this week was with Kevin. and his family!! We have been waiting for this moment for forever!! We were able to teach Kevin and his mom Mariana as well as his sister in the Aguilar family's home. So we had fellowship (Mariana and Hna Aguilar are sisters) and we were able to watch some Mormon Messages as teaching aides for our lesson! We are really excited to see what happens and are praying that Mariana and Kevin and his sister (Maria i think) will keep having desires to learn and desire to be baptized! They are such wonderful people and I know how much they will love coming to church and meeting the branch. Mariana, after we had taught about the Book of Mormon, held the book in her hands and just told us "I want to read this, I feel like there is something in here that God wants me to learn". We are super duper excited for her. It is just amazing to me to see the miracles that come when we work together and work hard. There is a family that has been taught for ages in the branch. The Moncada Family. The husband is a member, and the wife is not. Well I say husband and wife, but they arent married, which is the only reason that she isnt baptized. She is WAY more active in the church. She conducts all the hymns in sacrament meeting and is there every week! its incredible. But she isnt baptized, and cant be baptized until they get married or she or he moves out. Sister Moncada is also perfectly ready and willing to get married, but Brother Moncada has been saying to wait for a while because he had citizenship papers submitted, and if he got married, they would be nullified. Well, a couple weeks ago, their lawyer told them in no unclear terms that they were okay to get married at any point, because basically his previous papers werent going to go through, but that he should resubmit them through his daughter who will be 21 next month. So there is pretty much nothing stopping him, and he still said to wait a little longer. When we found out that there is nothing stopping them from getting married we just got so excited!! Sister Moncada has been waiting for this for years! We had a really good discussion about the importance of marriage and about celestial marriage. Brother Moncada had some good questions, and we will be going back by them on Wednesday to hopefully persuade him to keep the commandments and get married. We had a few other really good lessons this week, we read 1 Nephi 1&2 with Brother Peterson, we read 1 Nephi 2 with Luiz Escobedo, and we taught los tres borrachos amigos in New Plymouth haha That was a first for Elder Rodriguez, but I always think its funny how open and honest the people are when they are drunk. haha for example, on eof these guys has already downed 2 cervezitas and is telling us that he used to study with the Elders, but now he just doesnt have time, and he just cant do anything besides get together with his buddies and drink because work is hard and he has to do something to unwind. Then he proceeds to express to us his desire to stop drinking, that its an evil habit (we supported that haha) and then he asks for permission to start on his 3 cervezita. He wants to stop but he doesnt want to stop but he does. Its sad for me to see people like that. Then there was his friend haha we were explaining why we need the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible, using the visual aide of if you have an object and you nail it to the wall with one nail, it can spin around. But if you put a second nail in, it wont spin. Well he liked it, he starts talking about "clavos" (nails) and things that spin and he ended up telling us his theory as to why the Earth spins on an axis. haha it was so funny. As a spiritual thought this week I would like to share from Deuteronomy 7 Deuteronomy 7:6-11 6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateh him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgements, which I shall command thee this day, to do them. I love this passage! The Lord's love takes on a new characteristic for me when I read this passage. I just think verse 7 is so enlightening. The Lord did not love Israel and does not love us because we are better than other people. He loves us because He does. He just loves us because He can, and because He wants to. A lot of times I beat myself up because I cant sing as well as someone else, or Im not as good at Spanish, or I cant dunk the ball, or I cant do a million other things. And so I wonder why in the world would the Lord love me, I cant do any of those things that other people can do, or I cant do them as well as others can do them. I bet you have felt that way before. I think we all have. But you know what? I learned that the Lord doesn't love us any more, or any less because we can or cant sing, or dance, or score a goal, or any other thing we wish we could do better at. The Lord just loves us because He does. Accept that fact. He loves you perfectly, at all times in your life no matter where you are or what you have done. Now the next point, some people have take this perfect love to mean complete and absolute tolerance and permission to do whatever you want. That is a false and demeaning doctrine. We have the agency to choose, and that agency wont be taken from us, but I testify that not every choice brings us the same amount of happiness. Only by obedience to the principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can we find the fullness of true everlasting joy. Other styles of living may be comparably better or worse, but there is only one path that leads to eternal joy. Thats not because some mean man decided that everyone had to be just like him, its merely a fact. Its comparable to taking a test. There are multiple choices to each question, and you are welcome to choose whichever one you would like, but only one choice is correct, and at the end of the test, no matter how much you may have believed in your choices or liked them better than the other choices there is only one series of choices that will lead to a perfect score. This example would be more comparable to life though if you were to imagine being able to take the test however many times you would like during the school year. If you answered a question wrong once, no problem, ask for a retake, and try again. But there is still right and wrong, thats what Moses shared with us in verses 9, 10, and 11. God keeps His covenants and His mercy unto those who love Him and keep his commandments, and does not send promised blessings upon those who do not keep His commandments. He cannot lie, He cannot give to those who do not obey that which He promised to those who obey. Moses describes it as repaying them to their face, and not being slack to them. So Moses does what any intelligent individual would do and exhorts the people to love the Lord, and obey His commandments! it is the only intelligent way to live! The choice is ours: love and obey, or hate and disobey. But remember if you have made the incorrect choice before in your life, you are not doomed to continue making that choice. ask for forgiveness, ask for a retake, and try again. Do better! It is my testimony that we can try again and do better. It is also my testimony that there is truly only one intelligent way to live life, and that is to obey completely and unwaveringly the suggestions and commandments of Him who knows all things. I love all of you and invite you to find a way this week to draw closer to God, to make a change to receive more happiness. I know that God wants you to do the same as well. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
Wow! This week really just flew by, we had a great week filled with positive teaching and visiting. It was also a great week because all week we had meals with the Spanish Branch, so I had delicious food all week long!! I dont know what it is, but truly if I didn't have a mirror I would be perfectly fine being convinced that I was a Mexican. I love the food, I love the language, I love the culture, and I love the people. I just wish I was perfectly fluent so that I could say everything that I would like to. Also so that I could understand everything that was being told to me! On that note, I translated in church again. It was the different type of translation than what I was used to in nyssa. In Nyssa I was pretty comfortable sitting in the back and translating from Spanish to English. I wasn't perfect, but I was pretty comfortable. But this way I was translating from English to Spanish in front of the entire congregation!! haha it is so nerve racking to be up in front of that group and to be flipping through the scriptures trying to find the scripture they are reading and to remember what they are saying at the same time. But I really feel the support of the Spirit as I am up there, there just seems to enter in a range of vocabulary and a knowledge of grammar that is not my own and just fills my mouth! Also it is much nicer that the speaker says a sentence and then pauses to let me translate. I dont get lost as easy. :) haha translating is a good practice for me as well. And speaking of all the yummy Hispanic food that I got to eat this week, I got to eat some of my own creations! I learned how to make Pupusas, and Curtido which is like the salad sour kraut that goes on top. haha its similar to the Korean kimchi but it tastes so good on the pupusas!! and a classic Walmart chip aisle salsa that isn't spicy works for the salsa on top! It is SOOO delicious and relatively simple to make! I cant wait to get home and show yall how to make it and to make some for you to try. We will be making a bunch together as a zone for a P-day activity. We will see how it turns out! This week by way of visits, we talked with the Peterson family, Luiz and Elifonso Escobedo, the Aguilar family and Kevin's mom, Mariana, and more. All the ones I listed were wonderful visits and I feel like they received help that they were looking for and needed. The Peterson Family has begun to read the Book of Mormon together, and I know that will help Beatrice to feel the Spirit strongly again in her heart. We have really been trying to help Luiz and his dad Elifonso to progress this week. We had given him a Book of Mormon before and this week we asked how his reading was going, and Luiz just smiled and said "I LOVE that book!". It was really cool to hear that he had been reading and that he was enjoying it. Especially because when we introduced the Book of Mormon to him, he said he hated reading because it is so boring. Well we tried to help him pray and to continue being excited about the Book of Mormon. We are looking forward to our next visit. With Elifonso, we have just been trying to help him to pray. He is just always so nice, he always gives us something from his garden, most recently peaches. And he just needs to focus in on prayer and decide to do it. The Aguilar family has been doing great! We stopped by just to check up on them, and to set up an appointment. Well we were surprised to see Hermana Aguilar holding a baby considering she wasn't pregnant before and there were no other mothers nearby! haha Well her sister, Mariana, Kevin's mom, had dropped him off while she went to run some errands. We were excited to hear this because Mariana had been wanting to talk with us at the Aguilar family's home for a couple weeks now. We asked if she would be coming back soon, and Hermana Aguilar figured she should be back any minute. We followed up with them about their Book of Mormon reading and also their prayers together as a couple. They were doing pretty good reading the Book of Mormon (3 chapters by themselves!), and alright at remembering to pray together as a couple. But we let them know how much it would bless them to continue to pray together, and they seemed sincere when they committed to pray together more often. Well right about as we finished following up with the Familia Aguilar, Mariana came back to get her son. We talked with her, and set up a time this week where we could come visit her at the Aguilar home. So please pray for us that everything will go well!! Earlier last week we had stopped by Mariana's home in Payette to talk with Kevin. He was home and had a lot of family over, but he invited us to play soccer! Well you know I cant resist a soccer game, so we played for a few minutes with them before we had to go to dinner. Might I just humbly add that 3 of the 3 goals on my team were scored by yours truly. ;) haha it was a lot of fun. So, the dinner appointment that we had that day with Kevin was with the Kunzler family in Payette. They are an awesome family that are really trying hard to do missionary work and to help us out. Sister Kunzler knew someone from daycare that speaks Spanish and she had been trying for a few weeks to set up a time where we could meet her. Well she got it set up for both of us to come to dinner, and we knew that Debbie was going to be there, but apparently Debbie didn't know we were going to be there. haha it was pretty funny when we showed up for dinner and Sister Kunzler introduced us. Debbie just looked like death had come upon her and said "I didn't know THEY were going to be here". Sister Kunzler realized that she had been too excited that Debbie was actually coming over that she forget to let her know we would also be there. Well Debbie decided to stay for the dinner anyway, and we had a wonderful time visiting and talking. We will see if Debbie would like to talk more. Also in Payette this week, we received a referral from Hermana Castillo to go see a woman she knew named Esmeralda. She described to us where she lived and her background and a few other things. We passed by the apartments she described to us the next day, and as we parked the car we could see some drama happening in the parking lot of the apartments. A woman was yelling at this guy who, through our combined intellect, we determined was her boyfriend. She was not happy AT ALL with him, and was painting a pretty rainbow with all the colorful language flying around. I think that was a first for Elder Rodriguez haha so we knocked on some houses around the apartment complex waiting for the situation to calm down so we could find Esmeralda. After a couple doors we couldn't hear much screaming so we walked over to start contacting people. We had no sooner passed into the line of sight of the boyfriend and another young man, and they both told us that we needed to talk with the frustrated lady. We didnt exactly jump for that opportunity considering she would still let out the occasional curse at the two guys. So we talked with the guys first. Well the boyfriend wasn't too interested, but the young man, Jorge was interested in talking with us. He spoke really good English, ending every sentence with "man". Imagine Shaggy from Scooby Doo. haha but we found out he had lived in Mexico for 3 years and lived right next to a LDS church building, so the missionaries talked with him a bit down there. He told us a time we could come back and talk more with him, and we could just see how much he needed the peace in his life. Elder Rodriguez knows someone at home that is pretty similar to Jorge, in personality and home situation, and so he is excited to help Jorge out. This week at church, Elder Rodriguez and I taught the gospel principles class on eternal families. After branch council in the morning we started to set up the room for the class. We were pretty distracted and didnt really notice who was coming in or not, and then we get this big "HERMANOS!" Roberto Oblea had come to church!! He is a Brother that has not come to church for over a year, and had never come to church without his favorite sister missionary. When she left, he stopped going. We were pretty worried about him ever coming back, but we got surprised this Sunday. :) there were probably 3 other families that I had never seen before at church today and we did a good job of filling the chapel. :) there is still space for many more to come worship with us, but it was probably the most occupied I had seen it. It was just a really good day. As a spiritual thought this week I would like to share from the epistle of James chapter 2. James 2:17-19 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. I just love the clarity with which this relationship is taught here in James. Faith without works is dead, and works without faith are vain. The hypothetical conversation carried on by James really drove this principle home to me: show me your belief without works; let me show you me belief BY my works. When we say we believe, or even think to ourselves we believe, but never act, we are lying to ourselves. As we act on a belief we have without even stating it, in time others will be able to see and know exactly what that belief is by watching what we do. In the end it is not important for others to be able to deduce our beliefs by our actions, and God ultimately knows the true thoughts of our hearts. Thats where verse 19 comes in. The devils also believe that God exists, they have a knowledge that God exists. And here comes another lesson, when acting upon our belief, we must make correct choices. The devils knew who God was and about the plan of redemption, but chose to rebel against it, and were cast to the earth for that. Application to us: if we say we believe that Christ is our Savior, and dont change our actions and hearts by his grace, we are not saved. We must follow His counsel and become who He has asked us to be: Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Well thats going to take some work to be as loving as He is, as intelligent as He is, as patient as He is. and we are going to make mistakes, which is why baptism is a necessary action in our path to obeying this commandment. There is so much to be learned regarding this relationship and why it is so important for us to believe and act, talk with the missionaries if you would like to know more! But I want you to know that I know that God loves us, and wants us to be perfect even as He is perfect. He wants us to believe we can be perfect even as He is perfect, and we get closer to that as we try, repent, and try again. Its a beautiful process of changing our nature from a fallen carnal natural man, to a spiritually minded disciple of Christ. I love all of you and hope that you feel God's love. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
This week has been wonderful! And it has absolutely flown by! Our Independance day was rather uneventful, although we were able to hear and see some fireworks a ways away. All the good stuff is illegal over here, so the mortars that were being exploded, were all really big ones that the commercial firework shows provide. So there were some of those mortars that really made our walls rattle! I had lots of good memories of past 4th of July parties flashing through my mind! Dad, remember the PVC stands we made in trying to create our own finale! haha PVC shrapnel was EVERYWHERE. Anyway, it was good, and we were able to rest at home for another 3 hours that night. We had to be at home by 6. But over the next few days I was really sore because I played hard in B-Ball this week, and did pretty well! some weeks ive just got it, and most weeks I really just don't. haha On Tuesday, we had the 3 week follow up meeting with all the other trainers in the mission, the assistants to the president, and President and Sister Sorenson. It is a great meeting, and I've really enjoyed benefited from it every time that I have gone, once as a new missionary and twice as a trainer now. As a new missionary it was good to see familiar faces again and to feel like I could receive the encouragement that I needed. As a trainer it was good to see that I am not the only one who feels lost and pressured, and also to receive the encouragement that I need. :) haha Every time the main training from the assistants to the president has been "the commitment pattern". Essentially "how do you help people get from just hearing nice things to doing what they need to in order to experience greater happiness and peace". I really appreciated and felt committed to the principles taught this go around. I felt and feel like it is finally making sense to me the importance of verbally inviting someone to act. We have had some incredible experiences with seeing God soften people's hearts as we invite them to act. They sometimes resist at first or drag their feet, but as we talk with them and explain what they can benefit from doing those things, God has really touched their hearts and helped them have the desire. One of those experiences was Luiz. We had met Luiz before, and he had been friendly toward us, but there hadnt really been any interest from him. Well we had gone back to visit his cousins who live next door. We knocked but noone answered. Well Luiz came over to tell us that noone was home, so we talked with him a little bit. Well I was holding a Book of Mormon, and I asked him if he had read it before or if even heard of it. He said no and that he doesnt like reading "its boring". Well we started to teach him about the Book of Mormon using the pictures in the front pages. First a picture of Jesus: Do you know who this is? this whole book is about him. Next a picture of Joseph Smith: This book is not about him, he translated it by God's power so we could read it. Next a picture of Lehi and his family upon finding the Liahona (its like a compass): well we explained how it was a compass of sorts for Lehi to get to the promised land and that the Book of Mormon could be a spiritual compass for him to help him get closer to God. and last we talked about the next picture of Nephi and his family on the boat. We explained some of the stories to Luiz, and I could just see it in his eyes at this point, "oh, this is interesting!" and so we committed Luiz to read the first chapter. We told him of the blessings he would receive from God for reaching out to Him by reading, and we shared the experiences that we have had through reading the Book of Mormon. It was a neat experience. The other day, Elder Rodriguez and Elder Goodsell went to visit them, and found out from Luiz's dad, that they had read about half the chapter together!! So, I wasnt able to be there because of the exchanges that happened this last week. I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Anien on Wednesday, and Elder Bushell on Saturday. Both were wonderful exchanges. I learned a lot from both of them, and I feel like I was able to help them a little in return. Elder Bushell finishes his mission this month, and Elder Anien goes home with me. I know both of them pretty well and they are both good friends. While on exchanges with Elder Anien, we were able to set up a few appointments and find a new family to start teaching and working with. I just really feel so happy to see the work in this area grow. I love being able to find a family that would like to find more peace and happiness and then help them and see them progress. I know that our message of Christ can help everyone if they would listen with an open heart. Ive seen it help so many, including myself. On exchanges with Elder Bushell we had a pretty good day. We were able to teach a couple lessons, and also get some more administrative things done. Due to Elder Rodriguez and I being in Nampa on Tuesday, normal Distrisct Meeting day, we had District meeting on Saturday. Then after that we had another meeting called District Leader Council. Its a time for the Zone Leaders to follow up on some things with the district leaders, to see how our districts are doing, and provide some helpful feedback. It usually takes about an hour. Well we talked a lot about how each of our district members are doing, and received some good ideas of how to improve our relationship with them. We had dinner with the Stake President, President Barlow, who works in the medical field. Elder Bushell mentioned that he considered going into the medical field, and we had a long discussion about the benefits of getting an MD as opposed to just doing 4 years of school and being a PA or something. President Barlow did a pretty good job of convincing Elder Bushell to go for the MD. President Barlow, as I found out in the conversation, had gotten his degree in Emergency Medicine. Well then we had a little bit of a conversation about how one of the drawbacks was working on holidays, and I shared about the times we would celebrate holidays a day early or a day or two late. We agreed that the lake was a lot nicer to be on when there werent a bazillion boats on it (a couple days after the holiday). It was just a time for me to think of my dad, and to enjoy feeling a little closer to home. At church, I was able to translate into english for the first time since being in Nyssa. It had been a while and I was a little rusty, but it was pretty good. I like being able to translate. It helps me to pay attention, to improve my spanish, and to help someone else out. I know how it is to sit through a meeting and not get anything out of it! Well today I agreed to go overall shopping with Elder Rodriguez. He has been dying to buy some boots, overalls and a hat that fits the look ever since he saw the first stalk of corn and field of wheat. He has pointed out EVERY person that is wearing overalls haha because when he first wanted to get some I told him noone wears them. so I kindof deserve it. but I also told him if in the thrift shops i find a pair of overalls for less than 10$ I would buy a pair. So we will see what happens today, send you pictures next week if we find some. As a spiritual thought this week I would like to share from my Deuteronomy reading. Its been a while since I have been able to get into the Old Testament, but Deuteronomy 6 is a great chapter. Also you know when Christ is asked what is the greatest commandment? Well Mark 12:29-30 is a close match for Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 4 Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Moses expresses the unity of the Godhead, and then exhorts and commands that we be unified to them as best as we can. I would like to share the next two verses as well. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. There are a few things that I really love about these two verses. First, verse 6 talks about getting the Gospel of Jesus Christ inside of us, it "shall be in thine heart". This is something that President Cannon talked about a lot with us missionaries: to be truly personally internally converted to God. This is a necessary step in becoming a true disciple of Christ. We need to root out the evil natural man from our heart and replace it with the hope of God's light. (see "The Hope of God's Light" on mormonchannel.org or youtube) Next in verse 7 we are given the importance of the gospel in our families! We shalt (notice the commandment language) teach them diligently unto our children. Families are so important. I know that; I have a great testimony of God's desire for us to be bonded together as strong, happy, Christ-centered families. Please do not neglect to share with your family the gospel message. And finally, I love the exhortation to be "examples of the believers" as Paul describes it. We cannot profess to be a disciple of Christ and follow Him for only an hour or two a week. We must talk and live what we teach at home, running errands outside of home, when we feel like the day is done, and when we feel like it has just begun. We will be blessed. I promise! I have felt it and seen it in my life. I love all of you so much and hope you are well. Elder Whitaker Hola Familia Y Amigos!!
Happy Independance Day! All I can think about right now is Will Smith punching an alien in the face saying "Welcome to Earth". For those of you not fortunate enough to have seen Independance Day (like my companion:"isnt that the one where they blow up the alien ship with Windows Vista?") haha its is a good movie, and if you are not a missionary I invite you to watch it. haha anyway This week has been a very interesting and challenging week. It ended a lot better than it started. I just keep gaining more and more appreciation for my parents and for Elder Halverson who trained me. Now, I love Elder Rodriguez and wouldnt pick another companion, but I dont know how my parents or Elder Halverson, as my life and mission trainers respectively, did not kill me! haha I am such an obstinate person and holy cow my faults are many. That is really the frustrating part about it all. Some days it just feels like everything I do should have gone better. So I was feeling pretty inadequate and frustrated with myself, and just generally frustrated, and I also had a District meeting to prepare. I had no clue what to prepare it on (there wasnt an assigned topic), so I started to review all of my study topics, and I felt like study and consecration would really benefit the district. So I started to prepare. I had a great audio clip from Elder Holland, a talk from Elder Maxwell (Thanks Bishop Mount!), and a short video clip about the rich young ruler who asked Christ what to do to get to heaven. Well I had my District meeting all planned out and it was alright. Two Elders werent going to be able to make it because one was sick. Well Elder Rodriguez and I left the house to get to Fruitland, and when we got to the church and set everything down, I realized I had left my folder at home. The folder that had my training and my notes. I was so frustrated with myself, how could I be so dumb? well we couldnt just run back home to grab it we lived 10 mins away and it would have been easier to just cancel District meeting and try again another day. So we just jumped into everything. I must say, the Lord is merciful. and He loves me. I didnt have any plans, or much hope at this point. But I think that if I had not forgotten my folder, and had given my training, it would not have gone as well. It would have been coming from just an almost overly frustrated Elder Whitaker. But the Lord saw fit to have me get pushed from the zone of frustrated pride closer to submissive humility. The training went marvelously well considering the circumstances, and it did so because the Spirit was present. And I personally believe the Spirit was present because my feelings and the feelings of at least one other elder were very tender at that moment. What a difficult learning experience for me, and I'm sure I'll have to go through it again, but Im so grateful that the Lord helped me through that frustration and low point in His infinite mercy and love. I have had a pretty good week since then, but I dont think I would have without this experience. So just make the best out of frustrating times! This week we were able to have some really good experiences with some of the members of our branch. With 3 different families we have started to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning. It is going to be so good to see these families in the next little bit as we continue to read with them. Reading the scriptures and praying just makes the biggest difference in the peace you feel every day. And that is one of the reasons we have asked them to read with us. With the Peterson Family we were able to tell them how much we care about them, and we would like them to study with us. With the Hernandez family we asked how she felt whenever she came to church, she then told us how good she felt at church and she knew she needed to be there. She also told us that her family is still good at saying family prayers, but has fallen behind on their scripture study. Then with the Aguilar family, they shared that they appreciate us coming by, and that they struggle to find the time to read the Book of Mormon and Bible, or to pray together. We invited them to make a conscious effort to pray together as a couple, and to start reading through the Book of Mormon with us. All three of these families just make my day whenever we visit them, and I know that they will feel the joy of the gospel as they read with us. So much of what we hear from people is that they dont feel perfect. Well with this week's experience I can really tell them that I don't feel perfect either. No one is perfect. We all mess up and can't seem to get everything done that we would like to. But one thing I have learned is that most of us would feel way more accomplished not if we wake up extra early to get those extra things done, or to cross more things off of our list, but if we start by crossing the right things off of those lists. If saying a prayer, and then reading from the scriptures were the first things we crossed off of the list, I promise that whatever else does or doesnt get done, when we get the eternally important things done first we feel more peace. I dont completely understand exactly how it works, but it does. It seems like every house that we visit has a chihuahua. Some chihuahuas are chill and quiet, but i think ive only met two of them. ever. The rest are the classic Chihuahua. Well Manchas (Spots), the Hernandez family's dog is bipolar or something. He would bark a little bit some of the other times we would visit but then be good and friendly. Not this last visit. Manchas wanted to kill a missionary. haha its okay were both still here. Chihuahuas always act like they will rip you to shreds until you start going towards them, then they either tuck tail and bolt to a safer barking distance, or slowly back up still baring teeth. so they never actually rip anyone to shreds. UNLESS, as Ive found, you stick something smaller in their face. Something like the tip of your shoe, or the end of a leaf blower :) then they get ferocious! haha its just really funny for me to watch every time. So anyway back to the story, Manchas wanted a piece of me. And, oh yeah, Elder Rodriguez is scared of dogs. Well I was messin with manchas and he just kept backing up until he cornered himself by the door. Well he wouldn't even bite anything until it was already like touching his mouth. haha I just thought it was so funny that he was all mean and bad but wouldn't even bite anything. Well anyway, we now have a new mission president, President Sorenson. We met him on Friday, and I am excited to have him here. I will miss President Cannon a lot. He has helped me and supported me so much, but I know that I will also develop a great relationship with President Sorenson. We have some really similar interests from what little I know about him. He likes boating, and outdoors, and is a mechanical engineer that designed buildings. He was in charge of engineering the structure of the Phoenix Arizona temple, if I understood correctly. I am excited to get to know him better and to learn what he has to teach me. Meridian, Star, and Eagle are also part of the mission now! It has been a crazy week with lots of different changes and new experiences. Today Elder Rodriguez and I are going to take some pictures amid the fields and cows, It should be fun :) As a spiritual thought this week I would like to share a thought from Acts 7. Now one of my best friends is named Stephen, shoutout to you buddy, and one of my uncles as well, shoutout to you too Steve! but this is a different Stephen, this is the guy that got stoned because he called the Jewish leaders out. Now that isnt what I want to share, its what Stephen preaches and why. Stephen, as we know from the end of Acts 6 was accused of blasphemy against the law and the temple. I had to do some pretty good thinking to make the connection but Stephen perfectly rejects the false charges as meaningless and brings light to what the real problem was. So for the accusation of blasphemy against the law, Stephen begins reciting well known revered Jewish history, He starts with Abraham 2 ... The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Stephen speaks of the Abrahamic covenant, which was accompanied by the ordinance of circumcision, and then follows it up with the history that shows the fulfillment of the word of God through His prophets. Every bit of what God explained to Abraham came to pass, much of it through the prophet Moses. (By the way if you are looking for the readers digest version of the first 5 books of the old testament Acts 7 is the place to look) All of this was done by Stephen from what I understand to set up the history behind Moses, to affirm that he was the great prophet that the Jews so greatly admired. They respected Moses, they claimed that surely they would listen to all his words, down to the very last letter (and then some). Well in verse 37 Stephen brings down the hammer. 37 ¶This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. Stephen points out that Moses prophesied of Christ, and commanded to hear, to obey, that great Prophet. If they were so stuck on having strict obedience to every word of the prophets, he showed that they missed this prophecy of Moses. He taught them and us, that hearing Christ and following Him is not to disobey or to contradict the law of Moses that was fulfilled through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. The Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Incredible, absolutely incredible how Stephen handled that. (there also many other things to be learned here, please share with me if you find any interesting points!) Then to refute the charges of blasphemy against the temple, Stephen continues to explain that there was a temple from the time of Moses, a tabernacle or tent, to the House that Solomon built. Stephen shares the importance of the temple, he knows its value, the temple is a necassary part of worship. from a travelling tabernacle to the splendid House of Glory made of stone and precious materials, Stephen knew its importance. But the rulers seemed to have forgotten that: 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Hath not my hand made all these things? The temple is necessary, beloved, and sacred. But the physical creation is not near as important as the work that is done therein to bring God's children closer to Him. The rulers had forgotten if not reversed the two in order. Stephen thus defends himself against false charges while taking the time to teach by the Spirit the eternal truths of God. We must defend ourselves against the same snare of Satan that the Sadducees and Pharisees fell into. We must pay attention to the things of true importance and cast aside those that do not assist us in our path back to God. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only organization recognized by God as having authority to act in His name to save His children. I know that each and every one of you as God's children is loved by Him. He wants to to return to His side, and that is the reason why He gave us the Gospel. I know that only through this priesthood authority can we experience a fullness of joy. Please follow the counsel found in James 1:5-6 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. I know you can receive answers to your prayers. I love you, and God loves you no matter what. Elder Whitaker |
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