mir·a·cle [mir-uh-kuhl] noun
1. an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
2. such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.
3. a wonder; marvel.
4. a wonderful or surpassing example of some quality: a miracle of modern acoustics.
It was really great to talk to you all yesterday. I enjoyed hearing your voices. As I said we had a really great week with a lot of miracles. There are a couple of specific miracles that I’d like to share with you.
Last Tuesday I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Carrasco. He's the one who is straight from Chile and can't speak very much English. He's such a cool Elder. He was going to play professional soccer, but he gave that up and came out on a mission. We had a ton of success on our exchange. Not to mention how much fun it was to be immersed in the Spanish language. Best. Thing. Ever.
Before we left the apartment we said a prayer and set a goal to have two new baptismal dates by the end of this exchange. We went out teaching with that goal in mind. We went to go teach an investigator named Reynaldo. He wasn't home, but his 20 year-old son was home. His name is Julian. It was super hot so he offered to give us water and help to fix Elder Carrasco's bike tire, which was flat.So we go into his apartment to cool off, and then we just started teaching him. We taught him the entire first lesson. And right after we finished the story of Joseph Smith and the first vision, the Spirit was so strong. It was hitting each one of us like a train. And I knew for a fact that he felt it, so I asked him to describe the feeling he had at that very moment.
It was my favorite description of the Holy Ghost I have ever heard in my entire life. He went on for like 10 minutes just describing what it was he was feeling.
He said, "It feels like there's something really warm right here in my chest. I like it. It's not too warm, so it doesn't hurt, but it's just warm enough where it feels nice. And it kinda makes me wanna laugh, but at the same time I wanna cry. But I kinda wanna sleep too. I started to feel it right when you walked into the room. What is it that I’m feeling?"
We testified to him that it was the Holy Ghost telling him that what we are teaching is true. And we were able to set a baptismal date with him for June 9th. And at the end of the lesson we asked him to pray, and he started to cry because he had never prayed in his whole life.
Then to make this all even better, we came back two days later, and he told us a story that he had. He said that he just bought a brand new iPod. And he was riding his bike home real late at night and he heard something shatter, but he didn't think of it. Then when he got home he realized he didn't have his iPod. And he remembered the shattering noise that he heard. He thought it was his iPod and his case that he heard.
So he said a prayer exactly how we taught him to. And he said he had a feeling that everything would be okay. So he woke up the next day and went to work. And when he came home from work, there it was, sitting on the table in the middle of his room. He said that it was definitely not there before. After that he said he went into his room and got on his knees and said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father.
It was amazing. It's amazing how much investigators can learn in one lesson, and how much it changes their lives. I love it.
Elder Carrasco and I then went out and set two more baptismal dates after that. It was like 8:20 and we were walking on the street past this house, and this guy on his porch yells for us to come over. And when we got to him he pulls out a "Watchtower" (Jehovah Witness version of the Ensign) and he asks if we have any more of them he can read.
It was funny because I told him that "that is from another religion, but we have a sacred book of scripture that lots of the world doesn't even know about. It contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. Do you wanna read that?"
And he was like, "Why of course I do. Where is it?" So I gave him one and we sat down on his porch and taught the first lesson. His name is G. He said he has been to jail and while he was in jail for a while he read the Bible a couple of times. He would say, "There are so many things in the Bible that a lot of churches aren't doing. Like who still has a prophet and 12 apostles like the original church?"
And we were just like, "Why we have that. We have the exact same foundation of the original church." We committed him to be baptized on June 9th as well. He said that he always wanted to be baptized and that he has gone to 5 or 6 churches to actually get baptized. But he said that every time he went to do it, God stopped him from getting baptized because they weren't the true church. He also said that he believes this is the church he was waiting for. He said that he knew that right as we were telling about Joseph Smith and the first vision.
I love being a missionary. I love being the person that can witness a spiritual change inside someone. I know that this gospel is true without a doubt. I know that this church was restored, not reformed. It is the exact same church that Jesus Christ himself personally established. The Holy Ghost is what will testify that to you. And it has borne witness to me that everything I am teaching to complete strangers is the truth.
I know that the greatest blessings of all come through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. I am seriously so lucky that I had a choice opportunity to grow up in this gospel and that I have been blessed to witness miracles my entire life. I just absolutely love my mission. It changes me.
And that's that.
Take care this week!
Love,
Elder Gygi
No comments:
Post a Comment