Week 17?

 Recently we have been visiting with less active members trying to figure out the reason for not coming to church. The ones who talk to us give us excuses of work, family, health, or some other answer of that sort. In the beginning of my mission I would have accepted their excuses and have left them with a thought about reading their scriptures and praying every night but these past couple of weeks I have realized the true impact that activity in the church has in the lives of the children of God. 

It all started when I read the talk by Elder Bednar "And Nothing Shall Offend Them" and continued as I studied the talks delivered in the past Priesthood sessions of General Conferences. Elder Bednar shared his experience in visiting with "less active" members when he served as a stake president. What really impacted me was the bold way in which he spoke to them. He would begin with the question: "Will you please help us understand why you are not actively participating int he blessings and programs of the church?"

As he visited with more and more members he came to realize, as we have, that most of the reasons stem down to pride, more commonly in the form of taking offense.

This past week we visited several of such members and it is heart breaking (and honestly really frustrating) to go from house to house and hear the same thing. "Everyone was so cold and no one greeted me", "the teacher called me out and offended me", "I don't agree with what so and so said". These are just some of the responses we have received, before I did not really know how to answer back, how to help them. I wanted to solve the problem so that they would feel comfortable at church but what I have come to realize is that that is not my job. My job is to invite them to come to Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. The way I fulfill my job is by reminding them of the covenants they made at baptism and the blessings they received. Elder Bednar, after listening to their story, would say something to the effect of "Let me make sure I understand what has happened to you. Because someone at church offended you, you have not been blessed by the ordinance of the sacrament. You have withdrawn yourself from the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because someone at church offended you, you have cut yourself off from priesthood ordinances and the holy temple. You have discontinued your opportunity to sere others and to learn and grow. And you are leaving barriers that will impede the spiritual progress of your children, your children's children, and the generations that will follow."

His response is much bolder than I could ever be brave enough to muster but it woke me up to the seriousness of the issue of inactivity. I fear that I never paid church attendance much thought. It was something that we just did but now I realize how essential it really is. Our eternal salvation depends on it! There is nothing on the earth, no excuse that will be accepted when we come before God and try to explain why we chose to separate ourselves from Him.

I leave you with a scripture from Jacob 2.

 14 And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you.

 15 O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with oneglance of his eye he can smite you to the dust!

 16 O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls

lots of love,

Hermana Quintana

Week 14

This week has been crazy and surreal and I still can't quite believe that it is happening. Last Tuesday I drove Sister Lindsay to transfer meeting and picked up my new companion SISTER BAIR! It is so great to have her down in Greenfield. I feel kind of bad for her because we are so secluded and isolated from civilization but I am also selfish so I'm still really happy. I have learned a lot from her already, she is a very hard working person and is helping me to get more focused. We are always doing something and I fall into bed completely exhausted. It's not like i didn't work before but now I feel guilty even walking slow down the street, like I need to be doing something productive every second but somehow we manage to have fun... it's weird.

 

Last Saturday we spent an hour contacting on the main road in Greenfield because we were short on contacts. Sister Bair invited everyone and their grandmother to come to church which was super funny because she had never even seen the church so she couldn't give directions but she invited them anyway. The great thing was that someone actually showed up on Saturday. I think it was just because he thought Sister Bair was cute but we got his address so the Elders will try to teach him. Also, Antonio came to church! Remember that one time Sister Lindsay and I had fasted for new investigators and there was a young kid standing in the middle of the road so we went to find his parents and found Antonio? well the Elders have been working with him. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed and received the answer that it is true. He knows he has to be baptized and is working on meeting the requirements. I am so excited for him and so thankful for the miracles we get to witness as missionaries!

 

The stake started some new classes on being member missionaries. Josh and Sarah teach them and they are really great! The first lesson talks about sharing the gospel with nonmembers, the second focuses on recent converts, the third is about reaching out to less actives, and the fourth is about helping other members to get to the temple. The lessons are really well planned out and teach the members about how easy it is to share the gospel and about how we don't have to go out of our way to do it.

 

The Spiritual thought this week comes from an experience we had contacting last Friday. There was a random guy we tried to contact who said he didn't believe in God because he had been let down. He told us of how he had run into boy missionaries before and of how they had been pestering his niece and of how he told them that Christ wasn't a prophet. He went on for a few minutes and I just thought about how sad his life was. How, by his actions, he had cut himself off from God and refused to be helped. I was thinking of him and of many of our less active members when I read a quote by President Talmage in Jesus The Christ, "Acceptance of Jesus as the Christ implies obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel; for to profess the one and refuse the other is but to convict ourselves of inconsistency, insincerity, and hypocrisy." So many people say they believe in Christ but of those people few give time to listen to his message and fewer still are those who are willing to make the necessary changes to come closer to Him. I invite you all to reassess your life and figure out if there is anything in it that is keeping you from being completely obedient. It may be the movies you are watching, the music you listen to or even the person you become when hanging out with certain friends. Once you have identified what that thing is, change it! It may be hard, it may be uncomfortable or embarrassing but there is no comparison for the joy and blessings we receive when our lives are in accordance to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Peace and blessin's

 

Hermana Quintana

Week 13

Last Saturday I had the priviledge to watch Lupi dress in white and enter the waters of baptism. It was the most powerful, and spiritual experience of my life. There really are no words to describe how incredible it feels to see someone you've come to love making sacred covenants and see her radiate with happiness.

The baptism was really good; we had really great support from the ward. We filled the chairs in the relief society room, brought some over from the YW room and even then there were some people standing around. Hermana Lugo shared her testimony and Sis. Lindsay and I sang. While Lupi was getting dressed we played the last scene from Testaments and everybody started crying when Helam was healed.

After the baptism everyone headed over to Sis. Burgos' house for a party including the bishop and the stake president but we had to stay and clean up. We discovered that the Elder who baptised an 8 year old girl after Lupi forgot to unplug the font and everyone had already left except for our ward mission leader and his wife. We tried pulling it with a hockey stick but it didn't work. Finally our ward mission leader's wife got in and pulled it. It was really funny and we were super grateful that we didn't have to get wet.

Tuesday was transfer meeting so I dropped off Sister Lindsay and got a new companion.... SISTER BAIR!!!!!!!!! We really have the BEST Mission President EVER! Everyone freaked out because they know we were such good friends before the mission and there were even some jealous eyes because all the sisters wanted to come to Greenfield but haha for them!

I am super blessed to be here. I feel like I have grown a lot these last few months and I know that Heavenly Father has many more opportunities for me to grow in the future.

For my spiritual thought:There is a chapter in Preach My Gospel dedicated to the Book of Mormon and I had the opportunity to study it this week. I've read it before a couple of times but I decided to really study it and I am so grateful I did because it really helped me to be able to understand the role it plays in the conversion of those I teach. Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was the Keystone of our religion and I feel like I finally understand why. Reading the Book of Mormon will help an investigator learn about the nature of Jesus Christ, it will help him/her develop good spiritual habits. By  praying about the Book of Mormon an investigator will receive a witness of its truthfulness. There is another quote by President Benson "The only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation." I know this is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I invite all to read, to study, and then to pray with real intent. It does not matter if it is the first time or the 45th, you will always receive a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true.

I love you all,

Hermana Quintana