Monday, November 30, 2015

Celebrating Thanksgiving with a Ham Sandwich

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving break! Just remember that we don't have to only be grateful on Thanksgiving, we can be grateful for all of our many blessings throughout the year!

Well, I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving really, but I did sing "Count your many Blessings" with my companion before the day was over. I'm doing well, adjusting to the culture, food, and language well. Sometimes when I write in my journal at night my languages start mixing haha.

Tuesday, we got a fresh shipment of missionaries from the MTC. Not gonna lie, but I feel old and experienced in the mission now hahaha. It was weird seeing new missionaries in our district. I'm not the youngest or inexperienced missionary anymore! Haha

Wednesday, Elder Lugo and I both had a cold. We had a slow start to our day and didn't leave the house until almost 12pm. BUT, we had a solid day with lessons. We taught 7 lessons, a "high score" for me. Our new goal in the district is to have 45 lessons per week per companionship. Recently we haven't been able to teach as many lessons so we're having more success now.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, was crazy. We were still sick but we still went out to work. First, we tried visiting a reference but she wasn't home and her 22yr old daughter answered the door. We asked if we could share something with her so we taught the Restoration and challenged her with baptism. And she accepted! Unfortunately, she doesn't live in our area, so we gave her information to the missionaries in her area. Then we went street contacting and found a lady who knew the elders when she was a child. She doesn't live in our area either but we gave her information to the sister missionaries in her area. Then we had a lesson with the Fam Guerrero Gaxiola. We had invited President Velez, our mission president to accompany us to a lesson so he came with us. The lesson was intense, spiritually. We taught baptism because the mom (Banesa), and Diego and Alejandra don't have baptism dates. They've had some doubts and concerns about the Church and baptism but with the mission president and some solid testimonies from my companion, President Velez and me, we were able to put a baptism date for Dec. 12 and they accepted. They were nervous but we helped explain and reassure a lot of things. Afterwards, Elder Lugo and I went to visit the Fam Lopez Madrid. We taught about the Sabbath Day and the mom, Rosalba, was really receptive. The last few weeks she hasn't been to church even though we invite her and offer rides so we were hopeful that she would go to church. She told us that her neighbors have told her that she's changing, that she's a better person recently. Rosalba told us that she associated this with us and our lessons so we were really happy that our efforts were helping someone be better. Just minutes later, her son, Bryan, walks in, feeling really sick and in pain. We offered a blessing and he accepted. We explained to Rosalba and Bryan what blessings are and that we have the authority to bless people through their faith. We gave the blessing, then immediately afterwards, he exclaimed, "Mom, Mom! It worked! I feel better now!"

Friday, we had our weekly planning session, then lunch. We were only able to teach 1 lesson that day. We had almost zero success. We walked and walked and walked in the rain and visited so many people but no one was home. It was a little discouraging.

Saturday, we had some lessons and taught the Fam Lopez Madrid about the Book of Mormon. We bore our testimonies, we had the Spirit with us, and we challenged them to read the Book for themselves and to pray about it's truthfulness and divinity. I know that it's super important to develop a testimony for ourselves about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon because it's the keystone or foundation of our religion. If the Book of Mormon is false or has any errors, then everything else is wrong. But I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is true and that through the principles and doctrine taught in the Book, that we can get closer to God and we can become better people through a greater appreciation of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Sunday, we had church, listened to a few good talks about faith and repentance. Then we had lunch and visited a reference that we received. Her sister is a member of the Church, and most of her family lives in the United States. She's known the missionaries before, a long time ago, like 10-13 years ago. Then she met the missionaries about a year ago. And now, this is the third time the missionaries have been in contact with her. She feels like her life is good enough without the Church but that's why I'm here, to share and invite others that there is more to this life, that it's possible to have eternal happiness and that we can be with our families for eternity.

Spiritual Thought: Mosiah 4:2-3

I don't have my English scriptures with me at the moment but here it is in Spanish: 

2  Y se habían visto a sí mismos en su propio estado carnal, aún menos que el polvo de la tierra. Y todos a una voz clamaron, diciendo: ¡Oh, ten misericordia, y aplica la sangre expiatoria de Cristo para que recibamos el perdón de nuestros pecados, y sean purificados nuestros corazones; porque creemos en Jesucristo, el Hijo de Dios, que creó el cielo y la tierra y todas las cosas; el cual bajará entre los hijos de los hombres!

 3  Y aconteció que después de que hubieron hablado estas palabras, el Espíritu del Señor descendió sobre ellos, y fueron llenos de gozo, habiendo recibido la remisión de sus pecados, y teniendo paz de conciencia a causa de la gran fe que tenían en Jesucristo que había de venir, según las palabras que el rey Benjamín les había hablado.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be brought to repentance which leads to baptism which leads to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and then enduring to the end. If we could all have more faith in our Savior and Redeemer, we can become better people and receive eternal life in the life to come.

I think that's all for this week! With Christmas rapidly approaching, don't forget the true meaning of Christmas. A Savior was born so that we can have a second chance for the mistakes we make.

Love you all!
Elder Finkner

2 comments:

  1. Aways love the testimonies he bears each week. You can already see so much growth in our elder!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aways love the testimonies he bears each week. You can already see so much growth in our elder!

    ReplyDelete