Serving the Lord

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is doing good today. I've been very busy this past week with lots of walking...I miss my car haha.

Well, Tuesday morning we had a district meeting. Later that day, my companion and I learned that there was a drive-by shooting by the cartel about 3 streets away from our apartment. Thankfully and not coincidentally, we were at the Church at the district meeting when the shooting happened, about 25 minutes walking. We also got a new rule in the mission...that we are not allowed to return to our houses unless we find someone new to teach, such as a contact in the street, or someone who accepts a baptism challenge, or someone who wants to hear our message and puts an appointment. 

Wednesday, we had our first lesson with Josefina, she lives on the same street as the Fam. Lopez Madrid, and one night she wanted us to share a lesson with her since we're always walking down that street. So we began to share the Plan of Salvation because we learned in the first few minutes that her husband passed away about 2 years ago. About 2 minutes after we began the lesson, a whole bunch of the neighborhood kids joined in the lesson too to hear our message. We put separate appointments with them to come back and teach The Restoration.

Thursday, we had our weekly zone contacting activity. So here all the other missionaries in our zone, a total of 14, go to an area of a set of missionaries in the zone, and they help make contacts and then they give the references to the missionaries assigned to that area. This week was our week, so we had 14 missionaries contacting and sharing the gospel in our area. Elder Lugo and I received 25 new references, or 25 people who would like Elder Lugo and I to return and share more about our message. This was huge for us because lately we haven't had many investigators. We all worked in unity. One scripture I studied that morning before the activity was Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart....and he shall direct thy paths." I believe that the Lord guided me, my companion, and the other missionaries in our zone to those who are ready to have the gospel in their lives.

Friday, we watched "Meet the Mormons" in Spanish (duh) with the Fam Guerrero Gaxiola. Earlier that day I learned from two General conference talks, one from President Eyring and the other from Elder Holland, that missionary work is about "to whom much is given, much is required." As missionaries we are expected to experience a very very tiny part of what the Savior went through for the Atonement. In my mission I will better understand the importance of the Atonement in our lives. I can already testify that through the Atonement, everyone has a second chance to change their lives to be more happy and be better people.

Saturday, we contacted some of our references from our contacting activity. We walked about 12-15km that day, traveling from colonia to colonia.

Sunday, Church! Then we had an appointment with the Fam Lopez Madrid. We challenged them with baptism and the mom, Rosalba, and the oldest daughter, Itzel accepted. We did not put a date yet but we plan on putting a date this week.

Spiritual Message: Mosiah 16:8-9

Again with the Atonement! It's so important. But the aspect that I wanted to share is that death will not have victory because Christ broke the bands of death when He was resurrected. Christ is everything. He is the light and life of the world. Through Him, everything is possible. There is nothing here on this earth that is impossible. With Christ, everyone, no matter their works on earth, can overcome death and become perfect, resurrected beings. 

That's all I have for this week! Keep your eyes single to the glory of God!

Elder Finkner