Friday, May 28, 2010

Como estan, mi familia?! Entonces, this week I started translating the Book of Mormon from Spanish. It really helps understanding Spanish and there are tons of words that I'm learning that I'm incorperating into lessons. Speaking of lessons, yesterday we had our TRC appointment and we are in the middle of a mini "teach week." I think I've already explained a little bit about teach week but usually its the last week before we leave. We schedule a lot of appointments with other missionaries and teachers and... teach! Siempre en Espanol! Pero, we are teaching a few lessons a day this week as a warm-up to teach week so it really helps.

We hosted again this week and we just found out we will be hosting again next week. There were almost four hundred missionaries (thats the most its been all year) that came in! So, the gym is a lot fuller and the paths have a lot more Elders and Sisters on them but its awesome. Its awesome meeting people both from and headed to all parts of the world.

Elder Christofferson from the Qourum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to us last Tuesday! He spoke of the importance of preaching repentance and that they (and we) must believe in Christ before we repent. He gave us a whole lot of scriptures on missionary work and cracked a few jokes which made me realize- the Apostles actually have an amazing sense of humor! They just can't be up in general conference telling all these jokes. So, I've loved how all the Apostles we've had speak while I've been here (L. Tom Perry, Jeffrey R. Holland, and D. Todd Christofferson) all mix in some laughter with the Spirit. We watched a recording in class of a talk of when Elder Bednar came and spoke a few weeks before I got here. He spoke about not worrying if its the Spirit directing you or not- just act! He said that Elder Hales is thought of as extremely serious from his General Conference talks but Elder Hales has a joke about how somebody had a small Book of Mormon in their shirt pocket that saved their life! He gave some background that on many ocassions people will start reading the Book of Mormon with the intent of reading it all through but many will stop when they get to the Isiah chapters in 2nd Nephi. This is partly because Isiah is sometimes difficult to understand. They might read to this point, stop, put it back on the shelf, then later pick up the Book of Mormon and start from the beginning again. So, back to the joke. When the man was shot, the Book of Mormon saved his life and stopped the bullet. The man pulled out the Book of Mormon, looked, and the bullet had been stopped at the Isiah chapters! Anyway, that might have been off topic to share but it was really funny I thought. The main thing I got from Elder Christofferson's talk this week though was that God will answer in His own way.

I'm so blessed to have the oppurtunity to study the scriptures so much each day. I'll close with some scriptures that really touched me. Yesterday I read a few chapters in Moses about Enoch. In verse 31 of Chapter 6 Enoch asks God why he is called to be a prophet because of his many weaknesses, such as his slow speech. I admire the humbleness of Enoch and through this, the Lord was able to, as it says in verse 47, bless Enoch to speak in such a way that "the people trembled and could not stand in his presence." In chapter seven Enoch speaks with the Lord concerning the wicked people of the Earth. The Lord was saddened because of the choices the people had made and Enoch asks in verse 29, "How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?" The Lord answers that his brethren "are the workmanship of mine own hands." Also, that they were commanded to love one another and they should choose their Father above all but, "they are without affection, and they hate their own blood." When Enoch understands, he also weeps and cries unto the Lord to spare his brethren that there may be no more floods unto the seed of Noah.

The Lord is saddened when we disobey, but has much joy when we follow His words through the mouths of His prophets. Its wonderful to know that we can cause Him to rejoice if we just love Him with all our heart. If we love the Lord and Our Heavenly Father with all our hearts, we will want to do whats right. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to show my love and I'd ask y'all to remember how much the Lord and Our Heavenly Father loves you!

Much Amor!

Elder Gregory