This is the Savior's work
(Home teaching is like missionary work to the members)
Happy Birthday to you both!
Christmas
is getting closer. It´s great to have an entire season dedicated to
celebrating Christ, although Christmas is a little different here.
They put much more emphasis on the three wise men than on Santa (you
write your letters to the three wise men and they bring you the
gifts). Christmas day itself is pretty much the same, but January
6 there´s another holiday just as big called Día de
los Tres Reyes Magos, which celebrates the day the wise men
visited Jesus. I haven´t seen it yet, though, so I´ll let you know
how it goes.
It´s
been a very busy week. We´ve been running from one thing to another
all day every day. But, it´s a lot better than having nothing to do.
The
highlight of the week was definitely Estrella´s baptism. We´ve been
meeting with her and Alejandro every day for the last two weeks.
We´ve all seen a big change in her as she has prepared herself for
baptism. She was very nervous about the whole thing (so was
Alejandro, since he was the one performing the baptism), but we kept
reassuring them that there was nothing that could go wrong.
Anyway,
she was baptized on Friday night. All the missionaries from
our ward and all the members that she has become friends with (a lot
of them) came to the baptism. It was a very nice service and all went
well. It was an amazing experience, expecially since we´ve been
working with her from 0 to get her to this point. As she came out of
the water the spirit was so strong that it brought tears to my eyes.
Another child of God returning to the fold. Quite a miracle,
considering that two months ago she didn´t want anything to do with
the church. She said that the thing that got her started was what she
felt at Alejandro´s baptism and at the session of General Conference
she attended with him.
Saturday night
there was a Stake Choir Concert. It was very good, although you must
understand that nobody in Spain can sing. Still, everyone
participated and it was a lot of fun.
Sunday night
we came to the church to watch the Christmas devotional. It was
great, and I was able to see it in both Spanish and English.
I´ve
been reading in D&C. One thing that I have been focusing on is
the Gifts of the Spirit listed in D&C 46. In Preach my Gospel it
says that as missionaries we should earnestly seek after and develop
these gifts. So, I´ve been trying to figure out how to better
develop and use them in the missionary work. I´m very grateful that
there are so many opportunities every day to preach and teach and
develop myself spiritually.
My
companion, Elder Buttcane, is a great example to me. He has the right
attitude about missionary work, and the experience to know how to do
it right. I think too often the focus of missionary work is on
contacting. That´s all everyone talks about and encourages,
contacting contacting contacting. But, they should be focusing more
on working through members. With Elder Buttcane, we have been working
very hard to strengthen the ward and the ward´s missionary work. In
my mind, teaching a member´s friend in the member´s home is better
than spending all day long talking to people on the street, and a lot
more successful as well. Right now we´re focusing on Home Teaching.
It doesn´t really get done in our ward, but really Home Teaching one
of the most important ward functions. It´s like missionary work to
the members. So, we´re hoping to help the members see the importance
of it and get going with it.
I
have one question: Is church there still from 1-4pm? I think
I´ll have time to do the skype call here around 8pm, which
is noon in Utah. I don´t want to make you miss sacrament
meeting, so maybe we can do it earlier. Just tell me your schedule.
Thank
you for your support. I´m very grateful for such a great family and
so many friends. The Church is true. This is the work of the Savior.
There´s nothing that can stop us if we´re on the Lord´s side. God
has a plan for each one of us, and His purpose is to bring us
happiness. That knowledge brings peace in life.
Until
next week,
Élder
Sorensen
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