1 Nefi 22:8
This morning I was reading about Nephi´s prophecy about the Last Days. In verse 10 he talks some strong language. I´m not sure if this is the exact translation - "I would that you should know that EVERY FAMILY will not be able to be blessed…" unless they come to the knowledge of a Savior. He goes on to talk about how missionaries need to share this testimony to bring scattered Israel back home. I loved it. Verse 10 put a ton of weight on my shoulders as I thought about my responsibility aqui in Jundiai. I continued to think more about this prophecy and trying to apply it to me. I reread verse eight and felt like Superman. Haha with the Lord on my side, I´ll just put them on my back. I loved the way he describes it. I maybe took it a little too far this morning as I was sharing it with my companion but I picture a battle scene with wounded people, and then missionaries dressed in a shirt and tie, carrying people draped over their shoulders and arms to the Savior. Man! One of these pdays I will send home a picture of someone coming to the baptismal font. Keep praying for this area with me!
So this week was awesome. I learned one of the most profound lessons as my companion was teaching me how to teach the word of wisdom (with the vocabulary) to the people here in Brasil - its a little bit different than the states. He began to tell me how he usually sets goals with people who have problems with cigarettes or alcohol - something every missionary does, something I did to while serving in Georgia. The Spirit then hit me... Oh man it hit me hard.
The thought was on teaching commandments to people in general and then how the Savior would teach it. Why is it when we teach someone tithing, its so easy to say regardless of your circumstances, pay 10 percent and the Lord will bless you? Or if someone has a problem with the Law of Chastity, we tell them they need to stop right now. But why is it different with the word of wisdom? If someone is breaking the law of chastity every day, do we set a goal with them that its okay to still break the Lords commandment, just to only break it three times this week instead of seven? And then the next week to limit it down to only two times? Obviously no.
Then why did I set goals with people to only smoke 10 cigarettes on this day, and only drink two cups of beer on this day? In reality, I'm telling them they can still break a commandment. That's a problem. A REALLY big problem. That kind of seems hardcore but its the truth. Think about it. I'm supposed to be standing in the place of the Savior during these lessons, but I'm not doing right if I wouldn't teach and help these people the way He would. Plus, I'm teaching them false doctrine that they can continue to break the word of wisdom because its an addiction. It's false, and you won't have the Spirit with you. I talked to my companion this week about it and how the Savior would teach it. He would take away the temptations and then work a miracle in their lives through His faith.
Well, because this is the Lord´s work, we took away all temptations from two investigators this week with cigarettes and they stopped smoking in one day. Man it took a lot of prayers but through their faith and ours, The Lord helped two of His sheep break life long habits in the life of these two 60 year old men.
Elder David F Evans visited our mission this week and talked about marriage for about three hours. Haha I'll write more about it next week.
This is His work and His doctrine. We cant change it because its not ours to change.
I love the Lord!
Elder Welch
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