Semana 7 en Kerman

On April 28, 2014 Hermana VanWie shared this letter:

Querida Familia y amigos --

This week has been a great week!  I am loving working with Sister Miller! She is great! She has a lot of wonderful ideas and insights in making missionary work more effective and really working through the members--active and less active. This is going to be a great transfer! 

On Tuesday, after we received our new companions, we had Spanish class again. This time we taught about how to read with correct pronunciation. I can't wait to take these members out on team-ups and to have them be able to better participate in lessons!

Wednesday we received a referral from a member. We immediately contacted the referral and it turned out to be a less active, part member family. We had a good lesson (despite a quail like chicken bird running around and a one and half year old screaming). 

On Friday we had the opportunity to do a lot of service with a member that is moving. In the process, we got to know some of the other members that were there. There was soooo many things to pack. She had collections of everything. Somehow, we got the most important things packed.

Saturday we had the opportunity to do more service with Mormon Helping Hands as a stake. We also were able to finally find A! YAY!! Hna Z and I could never find her. We had a great lesson with her. She knows what the missionaries have been teaching is true and she wants to come to church and be baptized. Unfortunately, her husband will not let her. We are praying that his heart will soften and that he will allow her to come to church this Sunday.

Sunday we were able to find S and have a lesson with E and C. S is doing well. She has noticed the difference in her life since we have started teaching her. Hopefully she can come to church next Sunday. We had stopped by E and C Saturday night to invite them to church. C replied in his words, "Tal vez. Maybe. Ojala." We had faith they would come, but they did not. So, at our lesson we discovered what his doubts and worries were. I love inspired questions! By the end of the lesson we had learned what they need to progress and how we can better help them come closer to Christ.

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. As I studied the Atonement and reflected on this recent general conference I was able to further understand the enabling power of the Atonement. In Elder Bednar's  (One of the church leaders)talk he says, "Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities. Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and mistakenly believe we must carry our load all alone—through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to die for us. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to enliven us—not only to guide but also to strengthen and heal us."

The Atonement allows us to do good and become better. This is the glad news of the gospel: Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins and because of Him we need not carry our burdens alone. We can have the strength we need to continue on. To apply the Atonement in our lives we must do something. We must recognize that we need the Atonement and do all that we can do and leave the rest to the Lord. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us exactly how we can access this enabling power:

1. We must understand who God is and who we are to Him. We are His children. He loves us! and because He loves us, He created a plan for us to live with Him again.

2. We must understand that this life is a time to learn and grow and change. We must understand that because of Jesus Christ we can become more like our Heavenly Father.

3. We must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.

4. We must repent or in other words, Change. The Sacrament allows us to start over and to have the opportunity to continue to change.

5. We must endure to the end by following the example of Jesus Christ.

How grateful I am for the Atonement and for the opportunity that I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting this past week. It allowed me to learn more about the Atonement and to know that when we are "yoked with the Lord" we will have the strength we need to press on. I know that it is through the Atonement that we can be changed. It is only through the Atonement that people can become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen it in myself and in those I have been working with in Ceres and here in Kerman. 

Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador y Redentor. Estoy muy agradecida por la oportunidad que tengo para compartir este mensaje con los demas. Gracias por todo su amor y apoyo!  Que tengan una semana maravillosa! (I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.  I am very grateful for the opportunity I have to share this message with others.  Thank you for all your love and support.   I hope you have a marvelous week.)

Con amor,

Hermana VanWie