Happy Birthday Dad! Also, happy belated father's day. I have absolutely no concept of time out here. There are no seasons, no weekends, no vacation. Just work work work, so I apologize for missing holidays and stuff.
I've been praying a lot for you all. You are all going through challenging times, and I want to give my support as best I can. I'm grateful you made it back ok Dad!
We had another good week out here in Valencia. There were some really good talks given in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and then I did splits with Elder Manglicmot. I'm really excited for next week because I'm doing splits with Elder Parkinson in Pilar. I'm going back to my roots, and I'm super excited to see all the members again from my first area.
Joceryl is being baptized this Saturday. That is very exciting.
It has been awesome this past couple weeks to write in my journal. I have passed my 1 year mark now, which means that every night I write in my journal, I can look back at that date 1 year previous and see how much has changed. It is fun to see how terrible I was at Cebuano and how my thought process worked back then. I have really gained a testimony of being a record keeping people and of keeping journals out here on my mission. Missionary work has become a true love of mine. This has become the most fulfilling time in my life. I wake up every morning excited to get out of the house and go to work, and I come back at night filled with happiness. It is amazing to think of how many people in the world, many our neighbors and friends, who don't have the true gospel in their life, and a lot of times, don't even know what they are missing. Thinking about missionary work, I recall the story of Aaron preaching unto King Lamoni's father. In their conversation, before any teaching takes place, the king inquires as to the whereabouts of Ammon, the brother of Aaron. Aaron could have said, "oh, he is in Middoni right now," or "he is staying with your son," but what he said was "Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way; he has gone to the land of Ishmael, to teach the people of Lamoni." This response is a testimony in and of itself. It is filled with the Spirit, and it prompted thought in the king and those around him. I don't think that this sentence was anything out of the ordinary to Aaron, and I don't think that he thought really hard to word it right. I believe that the Lord was such a part of his life, and who he was, that instead of stating a simple fact, in was in his nature to reference, and acknowledge God in his life and the life of his brother. His normal everyday conversation testified of Christ, and missionary work was simply second nature, it just flowed out of him to whomever he spoke with. I know that missionary life is different from "normal life," but does it really have to be? What if we became as Aaron, and our conversations naturally always flowed towards and around Christ? I have found that it really is not very difficult at all to sit down next to someone on a bus, and instead of saying, "I'm going to Pilar," to say" We are visiting a member of our church in Pilar to share a message about the restoration of the true church of Christ." If we are constantly thinking of Christ, like we promise to every Sunday in Sacrament meeting, He seems to flow naturally into conversations because He is always on our mind. I know this church is true, and our neighbors and loved ones around us every day don't know it yet! They NEED this truth, and we can help them find it by simply allowing Christ into our conversations.
I love you all more than you know. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, and amazing friends.
Stay healthy, and stay safe!
Love,
Elder Garver
No comments:
Post a Comment