Here is the link to the talk that Tanner was referring to in his letter:
Tanner's letter from September 22, 2014:
This past week was great, and definitely had the theme of salvation. What started this theme off was I got the opportunity, nay, the blessing, to give a talk this past Sunday on the work of salvation. Luckily, there is a talk in a very recent Liahona, (as in this month), that is about this very subject. So I did what any new missionary that has to give a talk in a foreign language would do, and pretty much copied the talk from the apostle which was in Spanish:)
But don't worry, I still did a fair amount of studying, thinking, and learning on my own from this. I talked about the 5 parts of the work of salvation: missionary work, convert retention, the activation of less actives, temple and family history work, and teaching the good old Evangelio (gospel). I showed how each of these things were done in the Book of Mormon, and how we can do them here and now. The talk went well, I think.
The entire time I was terrified I was going to subconsciously break into English, so I stuck to just reading my talk word for word, but it still went well! I invite everyone to go and read this talk that I based mine off of in the September Liahona. It is called "The Work of Salvation", before and now (translation) and is by Elder L. Whitney Clayton. Read it, think about it, and then find a way to progress the work of salvation!
This past week I was actually able to do all 5 things, instead of the usual 4, becasue I took a vacation to Lima!
On Thursday, I took probably my one and only vacation of my mission, to Lima to get my ID card. This vacation had everything one might be looking for in a mid mission retreat: late night traveling, a hotel, hot shower, Pizza Hut for lunch, and to cap it off a trip to the temple!
On Wednesday night all of the members of my district from the CCM, except the ones who are in the Arequipa mission, and probably 7 other missionaries who have been in the field for longer than us, flew down to Lima. This night was an erie reminder of the first day of traveling because again we were all dead tired, and being driven through Lima late a night not knowing where we were going. But we arrived at our hotel and got to bed at a modest 1:00.
The room we stayed in was flat out awesome, it fits my family standards perfectly! A little background, almost every trip that my family takes, my dad finds at least one hotel where we all sleep in the same crazy room with 5 or 6 beds. Well dad, I found the hotel room if we go to Lima! This room we stayed in was a massive room (by Peruvian hotel standards) and had 7 beds in it! All 6 of the Elders that made the trip all stayed in that room together, which was really fun.
Another highlight of the trip was the shower, it actually had pressure and was hot!! I almost died... But anyways, in the morning we all went back to the center of Lima and stood around in what reminded me of a DMV to receive our ID cards.
Once we got them, we got to eat lunch at a Pizza Hut! This pizza was some of the greatest food I have ever had in my life, probably becasue I have only been having rice and chicken 80% of the time.
After the lunch of kings, we got to go to the temple. I had a great experience there for a few reasons. One, I could understand almost every word in the session! This was a huge confidence booster in my ability to learn spanish and the fact that I have the gift of tounges because last time I went there in the CCM, I could only pick out words. The other reason was because of the testimony about the work of salvation that goes on in the temple.
During the session, I tried hard to keep thinking of the person that I was going through for. I was constantly thinking about what I was doing for him and what the significance was. This actually turned out to be one of my greater ideas, which is actually a marvelous idea when you look at the fact that the norm of my ideas are always great! (chiste)
But anyways, by keeping him in my mind and thinking about what I was doing, I had an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, joy, and happiness from the spirit at the end. I knew that I had just helped this person that I dont know, live in the celestial kingdom with his family, and that he was grateful for me. Its hard to explain but the feeling of knowing that I helped him obtain eternal salvation was amazing, and frankly addicting!
Unfortuantley I won't be able to go back until who know when, which is why I ask everyone to go to the temple and try hard to keep the person you are going for in your thoughts and see what happens!
That night we flew back to Chiclayo, and didnt get back to our room untill 10:30. We had a companionship with us who also made the trip, and since their area was much farther than ours and they couldn't get out there, we got to have a sleep over! That night we went to one of the only restaurants in Tuman and bought a nice big chicken and a TON of french fries, and took it back to our tiny room, and had a nice take out dinner at 11:30. This was a wonderful make shift dinner and an end to a crazy 24 hours. After that night the other companionship left in the morning for their area.
Some other things this week, my companion got called as out district leader. I have no idea what changes, if anything, but it is exciting and I'm happy for him! I also got to talk a ton with all the members of my old district in Lima, and it was great to catch up and see the different places and experiences everyone was having!
Also the famliy that I told you about last week still haven't started their papers to be married, so the process is going to take a bit more time than we were hoping. We also might have a baptism this week, but only depending on how much you pray for an 18 year old girl named Jari Cumbia.
Anyways that is my past week! Sorry for the jumbled thoughts, and if things dont make sense. I hope everyone is doing well and will have a great next week! Good luck in school, work, or tennis (mom) and remember to find a way to progress the work of salvation!
Love Elder Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment