Monday, October 17, 2016

First, we are obedient!!

                                                                                                           October 17, 2016
Hola Family!

Great to hear from everyone today! We weren´t able to visit several of our investigators this week so I am sorry I can´t give you all updates, but I learned so much this week and it has been a great week!


Yesterday we had Stake conference in La Pampa, and a seventy Elder Godoy came to speak to us.

He had a powerful talk and there were so many good things we learned. One thing that I loved that he said is, "the indicator of the depth of our conversion is how we treat others."

This is so true! It is so important how we love others and show that love in each thing we do because that is the second commandment we received from the Lord. Our love for Him will be shown in the way we treat others!
Another thing he talked about was the importance of our covenants. He talked about how our covenants should firmly anchor all of our actions. When we start to make exceptions and rationalizations, we are wandering from our covenants.
 
As missionaries our ultimate goal is to help people make and keep covenants. It is ultimately obedience to these covenants that will bring them true
happiness in this life and salvation
in the life to come.

Last night we had an interesting experiencing. We weren't able to find many new people to teach this week and we wanted to find a family last night. It was nearing the end of the night and we found a family who agreed to let us talk to them for a few minutes. They brought chairs out and there was a male inside the house, but only the women wanted to listen. We are not allowed to teach lessons without another male older than 18 present, but we were really desperate and we had been trying to convince them to listen to us for several minutes. When we realized we would not have a male to accompany us, my companion said, "Its your call." I thought about it and decided that we would not teach this family. 
 
As I made this decision, the thought came to my head "First, we are obedient" Whatever comes as a result of following the commandments and mission rules may come. We missed out on an opportunity to teach, but obedience always comes first.
 
A big challenge here is self sufficiency. People are so poor here that it is difficult for them to pay tithing and not work on Sundays. Part of the area  goal for self sufficiency is tithing and keeping the Sabbath day holy. I realized that these are not the end or the goal, but rather the means by which people will be come self sufficient.
 
First, we are obedient, and then the Lord will be with us and pour out his blessings upon us. It is such a privilege to be taking part in the gathering of Israel in these last days!
 
I love you all and hope you have a great week! I pray for each of you daily and hope you know how much I love you!
 
Elder Harris


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