Mom--Thank
you for sharing with me the story of Abinadi! It is so true that he laid down
his life for the gospel and for what he knew to be the truth. Thank you again for sharing this edifying
story.
Something I
would like to share what I learned as I studied this morning the importance of ‘Being
Spiritually Reborn’ or in other words, ‘A Mighty Change of Heart’. They both
have the same significance but why is it so important that we experience this
change? As it is described in Mosiah, we learn be spiritually changed and transformed through the Atonement of
Jesus Christ. Alma declared:
“Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 27:25–26)
“Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 27:25–26)
So, what
are the fruits of having a change of heart? Well, first we exercise faith in
Jesus Christ. Someone asked-- what is our purpose as missionaries? It is Faith,
but not just Faith in general, rather Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, which leads to have full reliance on the Atonement of Jesus Christ,
which in turns, is the GREATEST Doctrine we can teach as missionaries. Another
fruit of having a change of heart is, HUMILITY. When we are humble we are
teachable and when we are teachable we learn, and when we learn we APPLY and
ultimately when we apply we CHANGE. Great chapter.
Also, let me
share a very humbling but yet funny story. So, here it goes:
Remember from
last week's post of a lady we found while door knocking and she was amazingly nice? I hope you can remember. If not just read my last week's post! Well, we went to visit her as we had a follow-up appointment.
We visited and asked her how the reading of the Book of Mormon was going?
By the way,
I should mention that I personally like to teach with pictures because having pictures
explain our message in a clear and efficient manner. Well, while we were
teaching the restoration of the gospel out of the pamphlet (Jesus holding the
lamb), as I was flipping the pages in the pamphlet, I asked her what did she
see in the picture? She answered, "I see Love, Protection, Compassion,
Peace, etc." I said –“that is exactly right, Maite”. While still pointing
to the picture, I said this picture explains our message – “We share that Christ
loves us and holds each and every one of us in His arms. I continued pointing
to the lamb that Christ was holding and said, "…Y aquí usted es la
vieja...." Her eyes got so big and my companion kept smiling. Then, I
realized I mixed up the word for "old lady = vieja" rather than
saying "sheep = oveja" ... It was so funny! I quickly apologized but all
in all, we had had a good laugh. ‘Gotta love the mission life!’
I love y’all!
-Hermanita Arce