Happy birthday Melissa! Happy mother’s day Mom (again)!
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| Video call, on Mother's Day, from a kind member's house in Valdivia |
This week we had
another division with Los Encinos. I was with Elder Smith again. We were
looking through a Liahona and saw a pre baptismal service picture in Africa. There
was a group of about 20 people all dressed in white. Standing with them were
just 2 elders. JUST TWO. Haha. Elder Smith said "Wow, they probably had a
line." Then thinking a little more, "They had a line." Then
raising his voice, "They had a line!" That made me laugh pretty hard. I know we can
still baptize here, and that we are called to specific missions for specific
reasons. But it was still funny.
I’m so sick of chess.
We play it a lot, and Elder Hobbs massacres me EVERY TIME. I’m on a 8 game
losing streak.
We made 2 foot long
completos with Elder Smith and Elder Salazar.
We made brownies for
the whole zone.
At that once (dinner)
we had last night, I ate raw meat. It was a slice of bread, with raw ground
beef spread over it, a little bit of lemon juice, diced red onion, and a mayonnaise
cilantro sauce. It was alright. That night, I had diarrhea. That’s the weirdest
thing I’ve eaten in Chile. They told us it was a German food.
Yesterday, we gave
talks in church. Elder Hobbs spoke on doing missionary work as members. I spoke
on how we can bear the burden of our responsibilities as we remember the Lord
(1 Nephi 21:14-16), don’t fear (Doctrine and Covenants 6:32-37), and turn to
the Lord in prayer (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63). I just told personal
experiences from my mission to explain the point. The Spirit was poured
out, and it seemed to strike well with the members. They all talked about it in
the following classes. After the sacrament meeting had ended, an hermana in the
ward came up to me and shook my hand. She told me, "Thank you Elder West
for your message. It is what I needed." Then, joy poured through me. I was
so happy. Bliss. Those are the moments you live for on the mission. I had blessed
someone’s life and had been an answer to someone’s prayers. A miracle.
As I knelt by my
bedside to end the day in prayer, I was thinking again about my back. I had the
faith to be healed. I know God can heal me. I want to be healed, and it would
be for a good purpose, too. But then the Spirit brought to my mind the thought,
"But Jacob, do you have the faith to NOT be healed?" Or in other
words, "Do you have the faith to follow God’s will and plan for you,
if that includes a recovery that isn’t immediate?" A teaching moment for
me.
Saturday, I was
studying the stories of the people of Limhi and the people of Alma (Mosiah chapters
21-24). They were both in slavery. But one group was righteous and the other
group was wicked. They both drew closer to God, and God freed them both. I was
thinking about the people of Alma. They had done nothing wrong to deserve
slavery. They were building up a city to God. They were growing and
progressing. But then they were put under the bondage of slavery, and given a
death sentence if they were caught praying. Why would God let that happen to a
righteous people? Then the Spirit helped me see the application of this story
to my own life. The people of Alma probably felt that they weren’t progressing
because they were in slavery (house rest). But they really were a whole lot (in
learning how to deal with stress and growing spiritually). That helped me a
lot.
A few days earlier, I
was pretty bummed out and feeling useless because I wasn’t able to work. I felt
responsible for being in the house. I felt guilty for it. Because if I had just
dealt better with things, I wouldn’t have ended up having this back pain. I
talked with Elder Hobbs, and he was guided by the Spirit in what he told me: God’s
perfect plan for me will be carried out. Whatever happens, it happens for a
reason. God’s plan will be carried out. The only thing that I can do is be
righteous. If I’m being righteous and everything is bad, crazy, etc., then that
is perfectly how it should be. Am I being obedient? Yes. Then there is nothing
else I can do. Just wait on the Lord. I only need to worry if I’m sinning. Being
in the house is part of God’s plan for me. I’m worthy, so it is all working out
right. With weaknesses, we try. If you aren’t trying, that is wrong and we
should feel bad. We should feel bad if we sit there and do nothing. But if we
are trying then we shouldn’t feel bad.
That all helped me a
ton!
He was also telling me
about something he read in the book Our Heritage.
It was about George Albert Smith. He was bed-ridden and terribly sick. He had
been fighting an illness for years. He felt frustrated. Then one night, he had
a dream and his grandpa asked him if he had done anything that would dishonor
his name. George looked over his life and realizing that he hadn’t done
anything to merit shame for his grandpa’s name he proudly told him that he had
not. After the dream, he felt very happy. He hadn’t done anything wrong so he
shouldn’t feel bad. Then a few weeks later, he beat the illness. It feel good. I
hadn’t done anything wrong, so I shouldn’t feel bad about being in the house.
God is guiding and
teaching me. He is so merciful (Doctrine and Covenants 112:10).
Elder West
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| This is one of the millions of slugs that infest our house. It is in the sink. |
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| This store is appropriately named. |
