This week’s staff meeting
spiritual thought was given by Elder Lourenço – D&C 58:31-33.
31 Who am I, saith
the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
32 I command and men obey not; I revoke and
they receive not the blessing.
33 Then they say in their hearts: This is not
the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for
their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.
Heavenly Father keeps all of His promises, it is we who forget.
Elder Tidwell and I finished copying the missionary recommendations for
3 more Mozambican missionaries so the original could be sent to South Africa
and then to the United States so they can obtain their mission calls.
President Kretly gave us another “job” - organize the mission keys. At
first there was one main box of keys.
Then we remembered some which were in the kitchen drawer for the
housekeeper. Then the housekeeper, when
she heard we were interested in keys, brought us another little container full
of keys! This may take us a number of
months to sort through all of the keys and determine what they go to and which
ones the mission no longer needs.
On Wednesday I made a big crock pot full of taco soup for dinner. We
invited the elders to stop by after their evening of contacts to have a
bowl. Not often do we have taco soup and
sour cream and grated cheese and taco chips!
It was the first time Elder Douglas and Elder Lourenço had taco soup
and they really liked it!
On Saturday we went to the chapel to check on a few things. On the way, I talked with the shoemaker man who
has his “shop” on the sidewalk down from the chapel. I asked him if he could use parts of old
shoes to repair other ones. Yes, that
would be very helpful, he said. The
miracle of this is that I talked to him all by myself (Richard was on an errand
and was to come to the chapel in a little while) and he understood! So, after I straightened the donated clothes in
the Distribution Center, I packed up a bag of shoes I thought mostly likely he
could use and brought them to him. He
was very appreciative.
I also called my friend Laura, Maputo 1, and arranged to meet her at
Maputo 1 chapel the following week. I
had many additional church materials I wanted her to have for her and her
family. These incidents have taught me
that I just need to go ahead and do and say the things I am prompted to do and
say and not let my lack of language confidence stop me. Laura understood me, on the phone, and it was
very reassuring to hear her voice. I had
texted her a number of times, but when
she didn’t respond, I worried.
While at the chapel, we found out from the Maputo 1 missionaries that
there was a double wedding planned for noon.
Then, the two couples were baptized.
It has been a while since we have attended a baptism, so we were especially
grateful. There is nothing that compares
with the feelings of the Spirit such events bring.
One of the husbands, in his testimony following his baptism, said that
he would have never believed that something like this would happen In his
life. The missionaries happened to stop
him on the street and invited him to learn more about the Church. He didn’t know what to call the woman he was
living with, but now, since being married, he said, “Now I can say I have a ‘wife’
at home!”
Before the beginning of our fast for the first Sunday of each month,
Richard and I talk together about who we should include in our prayers. Both of us were impressed to do a “Thank You”
fast. We are thankful to a loving Father
in Heaven who has blessed us with many opportunities to share our testimonies
of the gospel with others, the safety and security of our families (especially
grateful for Peter’s safe return from Ghana), Vanessa’s grandmother being able
to come home from the hospital, missionaries who are anxious to follow-up with
the families they have baptized to teach and fellowship them, promptings of the
Spirit which lead us to do good, improved language abilities, young people who
want to learn a hymn in English, …
Example is truly an important way we teach and learn the gospel. Sister Feliziana, who with her husband Fernando is nearing
their one-year mark in the Church, was asked to give the closing prayer in
Sunday School. Her little son, Yuri, followed
her up to the front and reverently folded his arms, too, and listened as his
mother prayed! I have a mental picture
of them – it was very sweet to see!
This week’s weather highlights - a foggy morning, but beautiful sunsets.
No comments:
Post a Comment