Well this week Satan went after every single one of our investigators and I guess we didn't prepare them well enough for it. On Tuesday we went by to visit one of our investigators only to be told that he was forced by his dad to steal from a store, he got caught, and will now be in juvenile detention until he turns 18.... 3 years man..... we also went by to see our investigator I. this week and he was higher than a kite.... are you kidding me? We tried to visit him again throughout the week but every time we went by he couldn't see us and didn't come to church this week. Hmo A. has told us he CANNOT quit smoking no matter how much he or we try, haha so right now God's putting us through a Little bit of a refiners fire. We literally have no one in our área right now that is progressing. We talked with some of the other Elders this week and they told us the same, Durango is rejecting the góspel on all sides. We had interviews with president this week and he told us that we just have to be patient, that we have to just love the people, apply the atonement in our own lives, and let people use their own agency, so we are trying.
The celebration of the virgin Mary started this week as well. Aparently there is a huge celebration in all Mexico on Dec. 12th
to worship The Virgin. Its bigger than Christmas... There is a story
here that Mary appeared to an Mexican Indian named Juan Diego and he
gained her favor. So now they all dress up as indians and have drum
rolls and indian dances in the streets at night. I'm not gonna lie it's
spooky to see and hear these people beating the crap out of
drums and dancing and yelling with murals and pictures of the Virgin
Mary all around. I really do feel like I'm in a city that has rejected
the góspel completely. Jesús Christ is a name that is only remembered
really as the Son of the Virgin. They all believe that Christ
died for them but they put all their faith and devotion in Mary.
On
a high note a family here in Durango baught me a freaking sweet
birthday cake
and Fam. C and S. from Gomez Palacio went to the temple for the first time.
Missionary work is not easy. It is the most demanding, the most
compelling, the most exhausting, and yet, with it all, the most happy
and most joyful work in all the world. - Ezra Taft Benson
Love the happiness radiating from that face!!
and Fam. C and S. from Gomez Palacio went to the temple for the first time.
Gonna keep trying hard here in old Durango...
"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"
It's a weird thought to think about the Atonement of Christ. About who He was and what He really did. There are people here that have been termed by themselves, by their family, by their neighbors, and by the world at large as "worthless", as drunks and losers, as people that cannot change, that the circumstances of birth have made it so they can't move forward or look up, they were born losers, drunks, as the worthless natural man, and they will die that way. The price of the worthless is unimaginably high. What did Christ have to go through to help these people out of the hole they were born into and dug themselves deeper? I look at my own life and what was my price, the price of my weaknesses, of my shortcomings, my sins, my failures, the holes I dug myself into?
I have seen the Atonement help pull people out of these holes, to help man reach something better than he is. I have also seen when people reject that Atonement, that their own personal price to pay of obedience is far to great, when they just don't realize how much of a price has already been paid on their behalf. The Atonement has been there for me in every stage of my life. Christ was there for me in moments of need, He reached out to me when I needed Him most and deserved Him least. I have been carried every step of trial by Someone that is a lot stronger than me. I was a child when I left for Mexico, I didn't know anything, about myself, about God, about Christ, about the real power that is found in the Atonement. He took that child and every day He gives me the opportunity to one day become a God.
That was the point though, Christ stepped down into the depths of Hell so He could carry His bothers and sisters out of it and welcome them into the mansions of Our Father. I know the Atonement is real, I seen its power to save, to heal, to turn the worthless into Sons of God, but more importantly I have felt and am experiencing such things in every step I take in a place that refuses to receive such power to save.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
The yolk is compliance to the Gospel, and the price of discipleship I can promise is a truly lighter load than the self prescribed, selfish, and to be honest, worthless life that we would live for ourselves
It's a weird thought to think about the Atonement of Christ. About who He was and what He really did. There are people here that have been termed by themselves, by their family, by their neighbors, and by the world at large as "worthless", as drunks and losers, as people that cannot change, that the circumstances of birth have made it so they can't move forward or look up, they were born losers, drunks, as the worthless natural man, and they will die that way. The price of the worthless is unimaginably high. What did Christ have to go through to help these people out of the hole they were born into and dug themselves deeper? I look at my own life and what was my price, the price of my weaknesses, of my shortcomings, my sins, my failures, the holes I dug myself into?
I have seen the Atonement help pull people out of these holes, to help man reach something better than he is. I have also seen when people reject that Atonement, that their own personal price to pay of obedience is far to great, when they just don't realize how much of a price has already been paid on their behalf. The Atonement has been there for me in every stage of my life. Christ was there for me in moments of need, He reached out to me when I needed Him most and deserved Him least. I have been carried every step of trial by Someone that is a lot stronger than me. I was a child when I left for Mexico, I didn't know anything, about myself, about God, about Christ, about the real power that is found in the Atonement. He took that child and every day He gives me the opportunity to one day become a God.
That was the point though, Christ stepped down into the depths of Hell so He could carry His bothers and sisters out of it and welcome them into the mansions of Our Father. I know the Atonement is real, I seen its power to save, to heal, to turn the worthless into Sons of God, but more importantly I have felt and am experiencing such things in every step I take in a place that refuses to receive such power to save.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
The yolk is compliance to the Gospel, and the price of discipleship I can promise is a truly lighter load than the self prescribed, selfish, and to be honest, worthless life that we would live for ourselves
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