24 November 2014
Annnnd who knew that High School Musical could be applied to so many
things in life, not the least of which being the Hastening of the Work.
Yesterday and Saturday was our Stake Conference and it was awesome!
The entire focus was, you guessed it, The hastening of the Work and how we as
missionaries and everyone as members have to work together to be really do this
in the Lord's way. A member of the 70, Elder Soaries (?sp) came and
shared so many experiences of people coming to know the church but through
MEMBERS that orginally invited their friends to meet with the missionaries in
their homes. It was sooo cool and the Spirit was so very strong. He showed some
videos from the church about memberse and missionaries working together. I
cried every time because seeing those missonaries in the videos reminded me
that I AM a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!
It's STILL surreal for me, and somethings that is so cool. Is is a once in a
life time opportunity that is worth every hard and seemingly impossible part,
just knowing that I am a missionary makes everything worth it:)
Anyway, Elder Soares made a promise/ challenge for all of the
members: That every family needs to pray together and then decide on at least
one friend/ family member/co-worker etc.every 6 months to invite into their
home ( to have a "movie night" and watch a church film and then have
desert etc. BUT to invite the missionaries to be there too, to meet the friends
and mark another appointment. He said that he knew that those who will do this
will have a wonderful experience and then will want to do it again and again!
This made me think of D&C 18:16- I know that this is true! I want to extend
this invitation to all of you too! I KNOW that this will be a bit harder in
Utah, but it is possible, especially in 6 months! The means of finding people
to invite may be unexpected situations but I KNOW that Heavenly Father is
preparing people for all of us to help, even in Utah.
After the session yesterday morning the spirit was so strong and
there was a big batismal service for the whole stake, so there was 6 baptisms!
It ws so cool. The coolest one for me, was the first baptism that was
from our ward. There's a kid in our ward who was baptized just about 1 year ago
and who is SO strong in the church now, preparing to leave on a mission
in 2 weeks, a member of the Y.M presidency in our ward, always helping with
recent converts etc. everyone in his family is baptized now except his dad. His
dad has been really tough for lots of missionaries and his family for a long
time, never accepting the Gospel. Yesterday, he found our Bishop and told him
that he wanted to be baptized!! The bishop, the elders, and the other sisters
were running around the whole meeting and no one else new. The dad wanted it to
be a surprise and so to sum it all up. His entered the baptismal font when
his son was waiting now knowing who he was going to baptize. . . . it was
one of the coolest things, a really beautiful thing to watch:)
Well, I love you family, and am so GRATEFUL for you guys and
that I am a missionary! Happy Thanksgiving! ( So weird)
Loooooooooooove,
Sister Ventura
No comments:
Post a Comment