Tuesday, March 25, 2014

What Have You Done With My Name?

     Saludos! I can´t believe we are at the end of another transfer here. Wow. We will hear of the changes this afternoon, and it´s more likely that I´ll have a transfer than that I´ll stay. I have 4 transfers here, or 6 months. I am ready for whatever adventure the Lord has in store for me in these next few months of my mission. I have learned so much here in Las Brisas and am excited for more!

    This week the Lord has taught me a few things I´ve been lacking lately. But first, bulletin news:
  • Nilo received a calling as secretary of the elders quorum. He was just beaming yesterday he was so happy! It´s great to see the excitement he has to serve
  • Rodrigo, who was baptized in November, passed the sacrament yesterday in church. It was cool to receive the sacrament from someone that I taught and realize that he is a worthy priesthood holder
  • We were walking down the street on Tuesday when a man stepped out in front of us and asked, Elders? He said his name was Julio and that he had just moved here. He had been hearing the lessons from Elders in another province, but wanted to take up the lessons again. Yesterday Julio came to church all on his own and we have an appt. to teach him tonight! More proof that the Lord prepares his children!                                                   
I learned a few good lessons this week that have been with me these past few days.
  1. First of all, I was reading in Our Heritage, one of the books in the missionary library about the history of the church. I love reading about Joseph Smith and the early saints, and a little about all the modern day prophets. An experience from the life of George Albert Smith really stood out to me: ¨During a difficult time in his life, George had a dream in which he saw his grandfather, George A. Smith, coming toward him. George hurried forward, but as his grandfather drew near, he stopped and said, I would like to know what you have done with my name. A panorama of his life passed before George´s mind, and he humbly replied, I have never done anything with your name of which you need be ashamed.¨ I thought a lot about this story and it made me think, after my misson, or at the end of my life, when the Savior comes to me and says, I would like to know what you´ve done with my name, will I be able to say the same thing as President Smith? This week I´ve been trying harder to be more obedient, more faithful, so that I can say I was always a worthy representative of the Lord´s name.
  2. The second thing I´ve learned this week is that spiritual knowledge doesn´t come from how many positions we´ve held in the church or how many years we have as a member. We receive our testimonio from the spirit, and it´s the only way to have a strong testimonio. We visited a less active member last night that had held various positions in the church including a full time missionary and first counselor in the bishopric, but he had let wordly knowledge and materials get in the way of his testimony. I love the scripture in Matthew where Christ says to Peter about his testimony, ¨Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but my Father which art in heaven.¨ We should study the scriptures, not so that we can ¨know more,¨ but so that the spirit can confirm to us that what we are reading is true.
  3. I´ve also learned a lot about gratitude this week. How blessed are we to have born in the gospel, to have such a strong family and to live where we live! I hope you count your blessings each day for what the Lord has given us.                                            
I am excited to find out what the Lord has in store for me this next transfer. If I stay here one more transfer I will make the most of my time and strive to learn what the Lord wants me to learn. I love you guys so much!!! Thanks for everything you do for me. Have a great week! Chaufa!

Love, Hermana Anderson

PS The thing that I used to send pictures just fell apart in my hands, so... sorry there won´t be pictures this week! ha

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