35 Ahora bien, ¿no tenemos razón para regocijarnos? Sí, os digo que desde el principio del mundo no ha habido hombres que tuviesen tan grande razón para regocijarse como nosotros la tenemos; sí, y mi gozo se desborda, hasta el grado de gloriarme en mi Dios; porque él tiene todopoder, toda sabiduría y todo entendimiento; él comprendetodas las cosas, y es un Ser misericordioso, aun hasta la salvación, para con aquellos que quieran arrepentirse y creer en su nombre.
36 Ahora bien, si esto es jactancia, así me jactaré; porque esto es mi vida y mi luz, mi gozo y mi salvación, y mi redención de la angustia eterna. Sí, bendito sea el nombre de mi Dios que ha tenido presente a este pueblo, el cual es una rama del árbol de Israel, y se ha perdido de su tronco en una tierra extraña; sí, digo yo, bendito sea el nombre de mi Dios que ha velado por nosotros, peregrinos en una tierra extraña.
37 Ahora bien, hermanos míos, vemos que Dios se acuerda de todo pueblo, sea cual fuere la tierra en que se hallaren; sí, él tiene contado a su pueblo, y sus entrañas de misericordia cubren toda la tierra. Éste es mi gozo y mi gran agradecimiento; sí, y daré gracias a mi Dios para siempre. Amén.
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Alma 26
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.
31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.
35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.
36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.
37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of everypeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.
This week has been a pretty rough one. Let me tell you. Each day we had trouble keeping our teaching appointments with our investigators. I have no idea why! It's been weird. We have however, gotten some awesome lessons nevertheless. We have a few new investigators from references and they are AWESOME!!! They have really shot forward into the gospel and they've been reading, praying, and coming to church! Another kid that we taught yesterday, has been coming to church for the past 3 weeks and this week he kept asking us ¨when are you gonna come to my house and teach me?¨ When we finally had time and we were in the area, we went over to his house. One of the first things he said to us was, ¨Yo quiero ser Mormón¨ ¨I want to be Mormon.¨ He had already told his parents this and they are totally on board! His mother came out and said, ¨Oh you're the missionaries! He has been talking about your church nonstop for a week.¨ I told him that he is Bacano, (or awesome) and we are gonna get him what he needs. The gospel of course! I'm so excited to teach him because he basically sought us out, and that doesn't happen very often!
So our investigators mom lives in the US and she THOUGHT she had a problem with our church. Come to find out, she thought we were the FLDS church, and yeah! That would be a problem! They are a whole bunch of messed up! So tonight we are going over to their house to hopefully call their mother and explain to her that we are just the regular, awesome Mormons, not the Devil Church (LOL). With all luck, we will be able to baptize them this Saturday!!
This week was hard yes, but it just brought me to my knees to pray to my Father, to humble me. We do have challenges, but God always provides. I prayed every day that some way we would have success. It was hard, but in the end, our fruits? ¨they are many.¨ In this I am like Alma and The Sons of Mosiah. I boast in my God. This is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. This Thanksgiving I am away from my home in a strange land, but I know God is watching over me. I know that God watches over all his children. And I know that I have been sent here to teach this people in their own tongue.
Alma 29
8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.
At this time of the year you know I'd much rather be eating turkey and watching football and being with family but I'm over here in the middle of the ocean! What a great time in my life! haha. I really do love this opporotunity I have to serve my Lord and Redeemer. This definitely is the best 2 years! I love it here so so much. I am so blessed to be here. You know, the last few days my time at Rapport have popped into my head. And that was so amazing and I am so glad I did that. It has really helped on my mission! I don't even think about not talking to people and I know that it might seem hard but in reality it isn't. Also the ¨Story of the Pigs¨ comes to mind. Why bother complaining when in just a short time I'll be in my bed sleeping, or in just 2 years I'll be back at home. I might as well just work my hardest and do what I can now so I feel good about it and have 0 regrets.
