So this week, in sacrament, I literally had to pray for the Lord to increase my faith. Ill explain why later. We have been growing and changing so many things both as a companionship and personally. This week we have been trying to help everyone understand the importance of sanctifying the dia de reposo. (I looked this up - haha - it's Day of rest/Sabbath) It's a big problem here in Mexico and our investigators haven't really understood the importance of going to church and giving your time to the Lord.
Sorry I didn't write a lot about the visit of Elder Bednar but I think that I summed it up alright. It was mostly about receiving your own answers through the Holy Ghost and the power we all have to receive our own testimonies. We have been using that a lot with people. I feel like we have a lot of the answers to life's purpose in our church and sometimes it's tempting as missionaries and members to just give the answers. How often do we invite and allow people to receive an answer for themselves about their questions. It's not that we don't want to help and provide answers it's that we let people learn for themselves.
So the sad thing this week and the reason why I had to pray for strength in sacrament. We have had a lot of success and have found some great people and couples to teach and share our message with. I have huge hopes for them all. The only thing is that they don't come to church! This week we had changed our approach to change our results and made sure that they all had rides and that they were all sure about the time and everything. So we were sitting in sacrament and the minutes ticked by and all 9 our investigators didn't show up. I opened my scripture and I let the Lord guide my thoughts and I went to Ether 12- what a great chapter.
I want to talk about verses 4,6,12 of ether 12 because they helped me more than I can express. They are verses that we read millions of times probably as members and sometimes we can feel bored of the same scripture. At least that's how I sometimes feel. I want some cool unique verse every time I have a problem but that's not the way the Lord works. When I read these verses I changed. First verse 4 I needed an anchor in this moment I was losing hope really fast, but like it says in this verse Faith is the anchor. If we truly love our investigators we will have Faith and Hope just like the Savior has for us. One question in our meeting with Elder Bednar was if God has Faith. Elder Bednar shared a story about his life and how he knows his kids because he's raised them and when they ask for advice he knows just about perfectly what they will do. That's like Heavenly Father, He knows what we are going to do because He's raised us, but the choice is ours and He probably has to have faith in us. So I learned that I have to stop and wait on the Lord and have this faith. I'm going to talk about verses 6 and 12 together because I believe that they have a connection that's really strong. We can't see miracles or have testimonies until after our faith. Now let me be clear I'm not saying when we stop having faith we will have these things I'm saying that when we have done all that we can, acting on our faith, that is when we see the miracles and have a real testimony.
That's my really long spiritual thought. I love you all and I hope you all are exercising your faith and if you are struggling, ask humbly for a little more faith and the Lord will bless you.
Love
Elder Packham
I would like to share some more thoughts on Ether Chapter 12. The topic of Faith is one of great importance to me. I feel as though Faith is the foundation of testimony so it is vital. Today in church we were talking about prayer. The Sunday school teacher asked if and how faith and prayer are related. My opinion is that they entwined in an important way. I think of when Mic died and how many prayers I offered and having faith that they would be answered. It was during this time that my faith and testimony grew in leaps and bounds. Moroni, in Ether 12, says that there is no witness until after the trial of our faith.
Ether’s testimony of the power of faith must have touched the spirit of Moroni, for he interrupts his account of Ether’s teachings to insert his own thoughts: “And now, I, Moroni . . . show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because you see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6). Like Paul in his letter to the Hebrews, Moroni recounts the power of faith made manifest in the lives of individuals (vv. 7–19). He then returns to a theme he discussed earlier: God is a God of miracles (Mormon 9:10–11) and if miracles cease among the children of men it is “because that they dwindle in unbelief” (v. 20). Moroni emphasizes that miracles are wrought after faith; faith in the Son of God is always a requisite (Ether 12:17).
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