Happy birthday to all you Julyeans! And the Juneans that I missed =P
Well, another change come and gone. Elder Alexander left to his second area. He is in Hernandarias 3 - which is about 30 minutes away from my first area haha so that´s kinda cool. I´m still district leader. And this change I´m training a new missionary!!! Ahhh I´m so excited!! His name is Elder Carlos Martinez - he´s from Colombia! Neat huh? There were 5 new missionaries that came this change, so 5 of us called to train them. Elder Martinez is the only one that´s not American lol, score! Elder Sellers, one of the Elders from my MTC district, is training as well! Our MTC group is rockin, I tell ya. I´m district leader and training, Elder Sellers is training, Elder Steren is the finance guy in the office, and this change Elder Smith moved up to be the Fichero in the office! We rock.
Elder Martinez is great. Kind of quiet, but that´s just because he´s new. He´s already opened up more today than he did yesterday. Unfortunately, he´s having some homesick issues already. We´re actually in Asuncion right now because he had an interview with President Callan. But he´ll be alright. Never been away from home before, a new country and new customs, adjusting to missionary life, it´s just overwhelming is all. If there´s anybody who knows that, it´s me. It´s cool the way God works. We didn´t officially find out changes until Tuesday, but 3 and a half weeks ago I already knew I was going to train. I don´t know how, I just knew. The Spirit told me, so I was ready for it. I couldn´t figure out why the Spirit would tell me so early - I would find out at the end of changes anyway. But I prepared myself for it. And now I know why. I am his trainer because he is going to go through some of the same things I went through when I had a rough time, so I know how to help him get through it. The Lord always - always - takes care of His children.
Well, another change come and gone. Elder Alexander left to his second area. He is in Hernandarias 3 - which is about 30 minutes away from my first area haha so that´s kinda cool. I´m still district leader. And this change I´m training a new missionary!!! Ahhh I´m so excited!! His name is Elder Carlos Martinez - he´s from Colombia! Neat huh? There were 5 new missionaries that came this change, so 5 of us called to train them. Elder Martinez is the only one that´s not American lol, score! Elder Sellers, one of the Elders from my MTC district, is training as well! Our MTC group is rockin, I tell ya. I´m district leader and training, Elder Sellers is training, Elder Steren is the finance guy in the office, and this change Elder Smith moved up to be the Fichero in the office! We rock.
Elder Martinez is great. Kind of quiet, but that´s just because he´s new. He´s already opened up more today than he did yesterday. Unfortunately, he´s having some homesick issues already. We´re actually in Asuncion right now because he had an interview with President Callan. But he´ll be alright. Never been away from home before, a new country and new customs, adjusting to missionary life, it´s just overwhelming is all. If there´s anybody who knows that, it´s me. It´s cool the way God works. We didn´t officially find out changes until Tuesday, but 3 and a half weeks ago I already knew I was going to train. I don´t know how, I just knew. The Spirit told me, so I was ready for it. I couldn´t figure out why the Spirit would tell me so early - I would find out at the end of changes anyway. But I prepared myself for it. And now I know why. I am his trainer because he is going to go through some of the same things I went through when I had a rough time, so I know how to help him get through it. The Lord always - always - takes care of His children.
Ok, so to continue with the Articles of Faith. I don´t have time to finish up on Article of Faith 2, but maybe I´ll come back to it at the end. But AoF 3 (and I´m translating from Spanish, so it may not be word for word exactly, but anyway...)
"We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel."
I love this Article of Faith. It talks about the 2 things that very few people understand - faith and works. First of all, we MAY be saved. That implies also that we are currently not and that our salvation is conditional upon certain requirements. Faith is the first part - "...through the Atonement of Christ". Jesus Christ suffered for our sins so that we could be made clean - clean enough to enter into the presence of God. However, this sacrifice of Christ does not save us, it allows us to be saved - if we so choose to act. Works are also required of us - "...by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." We are required to do our part, it is not free. Faith alone will not save us - but neither will works alone. We could do all the works and good things we can, but even then we would fall short. That´s where Jesus Christ comes in. For example. Say there is a young boy trapped in a whirlpool. How he got there is unimportant. He does not have the strength to swim out, and nobody can jump in after him because they too will drown. A quick-thinking friend grabs a long pole on the shore and extends it to him, and pulls him to safety. Some say that the boy on the shore was the hero. And it´s true - he was. But if the drowning boy had not grabbed a hold of the offered help, it would have served him nothing. Simply watching the boy on the shore and saying "I believe I can be saved!" would not have saved him. Neither would it be possible to swim out alone without the help of another. The two - faith AND works - are required for salvation. Jesus Christ makes the way possible, we just have to follow it.
Until next week! Love and miss you guys.
-Elder Moore
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