October 25, 2010

Hola! Como estai? (as they say in Chile!) Things are good here. Another week of work and another week of trying to follow the guidance of the Spirit!

As I thought about what scripture to share with yall this week and what to share, the Spirit prompted me to say something. So, it might me a little firm but its something I want to share.

We had a mini cambio this past week and I was with a missionary from Argentina. He taught me so much Spanish in the little time I was with him. We did contacts pretty much the whole day and didnt get in any doors but we kept positive and we tried. At night we had a family home evening with a couple who are returned missionaries. They invited their neigbors and we watched a movie of the miracles of Jesus Christ. It was a good night and we are always full of appreciation when the members are willing to help. A thing that had me a little confused is that they told us to not even talk about baptism with them. So, directed by the couple, we just talked about faith the whole time. Faith is where it all starts and is extremely important but many people think faith will get them to Heaven and thats all they need. I dont know any other way to put it except that it is extremely wrong to think that. Baptism is the way we show our faith. As it says in the Bible, ¨faith without works is dead.¨ Sometimes people think we as missionaries are too straight forward and too forceful to bring people to baptism. If we do not invite people to baptism, as the Spirit directs, then we are not doing our job as representatives of Jesus Christ. Ill give a scriptural reference of Jesus Christ himself teaching this.

I have been reading a lot of the doctrine of Christ. This consists of two major chapters in the Book of Mormon for me.. 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11. In 3 Nephi 11 Jesus Christ appears in the Americas and teaches his doctrine. When Jesus arrived and showed the scars and speaks of how he drank the bitter cup, the people are overcome. In 3 Nephi 11:17 they say ¨Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.¨ The word ¨hosanna¨ means ¨save us, now!¨ What the Savior does next is extremely important. He calls over Nephi, a prophet and says this to him in verse 21, ¨I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.¨ He then invites the people to be baptized. He says in verse 33 to the people, ¨And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.¨

They pleaded with Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, to save them. The first thing that he does is give the power to baptize and then invites all to be baptized in his name. This is the way we are saved- as we show our faith and repentance through baptism by someone who has the authority of Jesus Christ to do so.

By writing all of this, I just hope that nobody takes the covenent of baptism lightly. I confess that I was one of those who thought the missionaries were a little too ¨pushy¨ at times. That was wrong and incorrect. Missionaries invite to baptism, as guided by the Spirit, because they love their brothers and sisters. The Savior showed the importance of it, and we need to follow his example.

Now that Ive said all that, I just want to let yall know how much I love yall! I love yall as my brothers and sisters... because you are! Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we have the privelige and blessing to be apart of it. Ive been raised by parents who raised with love and with the Gospel principles. My Mom raised me to love everyone and to have Christ-like patience. She taught me the best by leading by example. My Dad raised me to serve others to show this love and to always remember my priesthood responsibility. He also lead by example. Im also so grateful for being raised in a home with loving Sisters and that I now have the blessing of having brothers to help council me and help guide me along the path. There are so many others that have helped me and have been an example to me and I wish I could mention all but I think its enough to say that so many people have helped me that don´t even realize how much they really have.

The Spirit prompted me to say these things and I feel like I dropped the hammer a bit but just know that I love yall so much! Because I love yall, I invite yall to study and ponder about the importance of baptism. If you are not baptized and reading this, I invite you to do the same and then ask your Father in Heaven if what I have said is true. I also invite you to act on that answer.

Everything else is going great and we are working hard! Its heating up a bit and Im loving it!

Love yall! Chao till next week!

Elder Gregory