the joys of a missionary are his converts

 

Recently I have enjoyed visiting the wards that I served in while I was a missionary. That is one of the perks for having served a mission in my own backyard . I am blessed to see and visit my converts on a constant basis. I was in the Pharr ward this last Sunday to see one of the sisters I baptized in Pharr give a talk. She did an amazing job! Her talk was all about missionary work and how we as members have to participate in it. She did great quoting scripture and even using Preach My Gospel for part of her talk. Her daughter as well recently came home from serving a mission as well and gave a great talk on missionary-member service.

 

I was able to see a family that I taught and baptized there as well. It is a family composed of a father and mother and their four sons. The father and 2 of the sons are worthy priesthood holders active in the Church. I felt beyond blessed to see them there and see as well what the Lord had done for them.

 

Later on that day I drove over to my  stake center for General Priesthood meeting. I got there a few minutes late (Mormon standard time). It was a great meeting that was held. It really put things into perspective to me. I really need to do my part in hastening the work here in South Texas. I am praying more fervently that I may recognize missionary opportunities that are placed before me.

 

At the end of the meeting as I was about to walk out I was approached by one of my converts from Brownsville. What a blessing it was to see him there. He is now a worthy Melchizedek priesthood holder in his ward. I was so happy to see him and catch up with him about the things he has been. The Lord has really blessed him for his efforts.

 

My patriarchal blessing tells me that because of my efforts more missionaries will go out to the world and preach the gospel. I can see how that can become true. As my converts and their families grow and stay strong in the gospel I know missionaries will come from them and they in turn will go out into the world and bless the lives of countless others.

 

I too think of my own life and how I was blessed by the missionary service of faithful elders from this great Church. It has been a long and tough journey for me but it has been almost four  years since I joined the Church and it has blessed me tremendously. I am grateful for missionary service and the blessing it was in my life! 

Mormon CPR--Church, pray and read!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I checked the traffic for my blog and it is pretty constant which is a good thing because it keeps me motivated to keep writing.

The beginning of my week was a bit stressful but Heavenly Father pulled through for me and I saw his hand in all of the things I went through this week.

A few days ago the elders came to my house to check up on how I was doing with what as missionaries we called CPR which stands for Church, pray and read. I was pretty suprised they asked me how I was doing with those basics of the gospel. After all, I am an active member of the Church with a calling and I wondered as to why they asked me. As I sat there thinking I realized that I may have outwardly been performing the aforementioned CPR but it was not having an inner effect on me. I realized I had to do it more earnestly. The visit by the elders was much needed and genuine. I love them for their service and Spirit led inspiration to visit me. What I learned that day would later serve me later in the week.

A few days later the elders called me to visit an investigator. We showed up and the investigator wasn't home. I told the elders that if they didn't need my help I was  going to go visit a less active member on my own. I left and went to visit the member.

The member and I are pretty good friends, in fact he was one of my original fellowshippers when I was investigating the Church. We had a very honest and open conversation about why he had become less active. Thanks to having served a mission ( in the best place in the world-Texas McAllen Mission) I realized that his doubts are really smokescreens  to cover what he hasn't been doing. He hasn't read his scriptures in months and not even pronounced a single prayer in in that time. No wonder his desire to be active in the Church is gone! As I left I realized that the  desire to be active can leave any member of the Church as they neglect  the commandments mainly covered by CPR.

I am not stating that I am a better person nor member of the Church merely because I keep the commandments but I know where I stand and hold to be
true because I choose to do so. As well, by doing so my faith and resolve are strengthened.

What a blessing to have Spirit led revelation and full time missionaries who follow its guidance. May we all strive never to lose our first love that is  Christ and His Church!

Thanks for reading!

Aurelio