Valentine's and More

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a Crazy Week!! We found 6 new investigators and all of them are pretty solid. We witnessed the arrest of a fugitive of over a year at a member's home. We were witness to the blessed union of Nelida and Jose in marriage. The day after, Valentine's day, I had the privilege at the request of Neli to baptize her right after Jose was baptized by his son Marc who is a convert of just over a year. We found out that Michele who had moved to Oregon and was going to be baptized there, is back!! We invited Victor and his 9 year old son (Investigators) to church. They came and witnessed Neli and Jose receive the Holy Ghost, and I got to give a 15 minute talk on the Plan of Salvation which we had already planned on teaching them this week. After sacrament meeting Victor turned to Elder Hardy and asked, "What's the soonest I can be baptized?" We told him we'd start filling the font right then... Ok just kidding about that part. But he would have done it I'm sure! Anyway the point here is that among all of these things, there are even greater Miracles still. This is only a small part of the world and a very few amount of people, but these are some of the most beautiful things we like to hear about in life. Progress and Joy. Love and Acceptance. Justice and Mercy. The Lord lives :)

The biggest thing that I can say about this week is that we can all have a witness of where we are and what we are doing is what God wants for us. That, obviously, can only come if we are trying to follow the promptings of the spirit. Listen to the promptings and you will truly feel the hand of the Lord working in your life. The Plan of Salvation is not just to have as an idea of why we are here. It is THE purpose for us being here. How do we gain that knowledge though. How do we gain a witness that we are doing what we were sent here to do? Just like gaining a witness that the Book of Mormon is true, we can gain a witness that our actions are true to the eternal purpose of our life. That is why it is son important to be close to the spirit in all things. That's why as humans and imperfect beings, we have to be reminded daily of that purpose and the things we need to strive to be doing to reach our potential of being with God again. Small things that have a profound impact in our lives, praying, studying the word of God, learning to Love unconditionally. That doesn't mean just the people we interact with, but every person we come in contact with. You could be the person that makes the difference of eternal consequence in someone else's life. I don't have much time today unfortunately, but Know that I know God lives. He Loves us, and he wants what is best for each of us.

 

Love,

Elder McGarry