Semana 78: At The End Of The Day The Only Thing That Matters Is Serving Him

Semana 78: At The End Of The Day The Only Thing That Matters Is Serving Him

Oiga familia!

Hey I hope getting Bug off to school went well. I'm sure by the time you get this you will already be up at CWU. Hopefully you can read it there on your phone or just wait to use the Mac. I attached a few pics in the one email where I responded to you and I attached a few pictures from today when we went out to Snow Canyon National Park (Don't quote me on it being a national park). It was a lot of fun to do something fun before having to get all our chores done today, like PACKING!

We received transfer calls last night and President had said there were going to be a lot of changes in the mission and he fulfilled his word. So Elder Eggen is going to Moab bilingual. I'm excited for him. His companion is a native Spanish speaker from Chile so he will have lots of opportunities to practice speaking even though the area is bilingual. President called me at about 8:50 pm and gave me the assignment to go to Beaver bilingual. I have the great responsibility to be the "Grandfather" of the district and share my wisdom. From what I hear our area has one stop light and it doesn't even have a Walmart. Umm... what else, well I guess that's it for transfers. We had interviews with President last week as well; he promised me I will be able to finish my mission in the 28th branch. That just about made my week so I'm hoping that he doesn't forget that in a few months.

The week overall was much better than last week. We taught some good lessons and got into a few houses. We were able to contact some less active members and one of them even came to church! That always makes me happy to see them tell us they want to come to church and then they demonstrate their faith by coming to church. We met this one man named Louis on Friday. We had knocked his door for two weeks and no one ever answered. We knew a Hispanic person lived there but no one ever answered. We had Angel out with us and he was giving us a ride so we could visit more people. We knocked Louis' door and right away with out hesitation he welcomed us in. It was such a strange thing for me when we have not had anyone do that is so long. We began talking and he told us he had talked to missionaries 18 years ago. He is always busy with work and works three jobs. I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and he said he had, ALL OF IT! He asked me to share a scripture and I decided to share Alma34:32-34. When I told him the scripture was in the book of Alma he asked if it was Alma the younger or Alma talking. I was shocked! He told us he loved the story of Coriantumr, Moroni and his father Mormon. I was in disbelief that he wasn't a member yet knew so much about the Book of Mormon. I asked him if he believed the Book of Mormon is the word of God and he said, "well out of the mouth of two or three witnesses comes the truth right?" and I just had to smile and agree. He is probably the most golden investigator I've ever found. Now The Halls will just have to help him understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. "For behold, this ^alife is the time for men to ^bprepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of ^cthis life is the day for men to perform their ^dlabors. And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many ^awitnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not ^bprocrastinate the day of your ^crepentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the ^dnight of ^edarkness wherein there can be no labor performed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful ^acrisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth ^bpossess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world." (Alma 34:32-34)

Thursday afternoon I had to do an interview for the sisters' investigator over at the visitor's center. We got a partial ride over there. It is about 4 or 5 miles from our house but we made it in pretty good time. I enjoyed getting to walk in downtown St. George again though. It reminded me of the good times in that area. We were out walking and we walked past the house of a couple that we baptized last August. Martin is now the Sunday school president and doing great things as is his wife. It just so happens they are going to be going to the temple next Monday to be sealed as a family with their two kids for time and all eternity. I will be able to go to the temple for that and I cannot wait! These people are just so special and to be able to see them be sealed, I'm just ecstatic for that day to come!

On Sunday night Elder Jeffery R. Holland spoke at Dixie State College. We had great seats and we were able to listen to his inspiring words. There is nothing quite like seeing an Apostle of the Lord in person. It just reconfirms to me that this is the true church of Jesus Christ every time I see an Apostle.

Well I think that is about everything. I have really met some great people in this area. Some have been members and others are future members that just needed us to plant a seed. I just love the Hispanic people more than anything. I feel like I've adopted the language and culture as my own and I never want to lose that. In 1 Corinthians 9:20-23 it says, "And unto the [Hispanics] I became as a [Hispanic], that I might gain the [Hispanics]; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as ^aweak, that I might gain the weak: I am made ^ball things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you."

The mission is full of change and sometimes there is change you don't want but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that we are serving Heavenly Father by bringing them unto Christ through sacred ordinances and covenants, which is baptism. I'm livin' the dream! Vaya con Dios!

Dios es amor,

Elder (hispano) Bennion ;)