Week 61 - New Changes

Hey Guys!

SOOO, we had changes this week, and Elder Santos got changed to Zacapa. Elder Elkins got sent to Morales, and I'm the only one of the 3 of us who's staying in Puerto Barrios, AND I'm gonna be training another kid named Elder Reyes, from Nicaragua.

Wish me luck... I feel a lot more pressure for my job than I did before. And honestly, I'm gonna miss my companions. They were very fun.

Changes hit the zone pretty hard. There aren't enough hermanas in the mission to support the number of areas, so we lost a hermana area in Puerto Barrios. There are now just 10 missionaries in all of the Izabal department. The church is very small here- maybe a sum total of about 150 active members over a space of 400 kilometers. There are miracles to be seen here. It will require all our energy and all our patience, because the people here are also rather hard-hearted.

I loved the Conference! I hoped you all loved it too! What really touched me this time were the talks by Dean M. Davies and David A. Bednar.

Elder Davies talked about the difference between being a churchgoer and worshipping. There is a big difference between praying and saying a prayer. And I know that from personal experience. I honestly haven't been praying with all the energy of my heart lately, and that won't help us to obtain the miracles we need. I've thought about the many things I have to orient my mind towards God, and I'm going to try a new way of preparing myself to pray. I'll tell you how it goes later.

Elder Bednar spoke about something that really called my attention. Believing in Christ and believing Christ, as similar as the phrases may seem, are VERY different.

Do you believe that the promises Christ has made apply to you personally? Do you TRUST in his everlasting grace and his care? Do you believe that "as he was lifted up, even so shall ye be lifted up to stand before the Father at the last day"? Do you believe in MIRACLES? If you do not, you do not know the Savior yet. But there is still time. He calls all of us to Him, and has "not commanded that any man should not partake of his salvation, and his everlasting redemption". Desire the joy that comes from our Savior and his love, and ye surely shall find it. This is true, and I have seen it happen to others, and I know that what little I have felt is the start of the process.

-- 

Elder Jeffrey Reed