April 29, 2016 "putteth off the natural man"

Tortillas: 8

Well, the rainy season has started or is getting ready! We had rain about every day this week, which was that for about 2 or 3 hours it rains like crazy then the rest of the day is normal. I am not sure if the rainy season is starting but someone mentioned to us that right now is a time when the Mayans would observe the rain for a certain period to see what it would be like for the rest of the year. As for service with the Lord, not even the rain can stop us! That lead to being very wet, but it was great. 

Mejor Milagro:

One day this week we had an appointment planned which seemed very set, but to our suprise they were not able to accept us. So, we went to our plan de respaldo, but as we arrived we felt to go see another family first. When we were about to leave, Elder Silva suggested that we take the long way to be able to contact a family he saw in the street. As we went to contact that family, we were suprised to find an investigator walking in the street that we have been looking for for some time, and we were able to set and appointment. We contacted the family, and went with the other one that we wanted to see, but they were not home. As we arrive to the Plan de Respaldo, the moment we knocked there door, they arrived home from some errands, and let us right in. The man is a less active member and his wife is not a member. We began to talk about the Book of Mormon, and the man said he felt impressed to share about how when he was traveling home from work that day, he had seen in his mind and image of his wife dressed in all white, and coming to his mind was the date that we had invited her to be baptised. He expressed that he felt this was a sign from God that they needed to make changes. He commited to begin to read the Book of Mormon every day, and the commited to be more focussed on doing the things that they know what needs to be done. Really, it was great to see how in the time of about 30 mins, the Lord had given us so many tender mercies, as we followed his guide, and to see how he prepared his children for the gospel.

Testimony time:

This week my companion and I put the goal to work on eliminating completely slang from our vocabulary. It is harder than it sounds, considering much of the spanish that I have learned by speaking with the people is considered slang! As I pondered on this quest, I studied a bit to learn more about repentance. I came across this scripture in Mosiah 3:19:

 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.--

What stood out to me are 3 verbs that are used that are essential to repentance. 

1. Yield 

2. Putteth off 

3. Becometh.

 

These three actions are key in putting off the natural man and becoming perfected in Christ. Many times in this life, there is a lie believed by many that we are who we are and we cannot change. Some say "I am just an angery person"  or many variations of the same phrase, but frankly, that is a lie. The center of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can change! What ever thing we want to change, we can use the process taught in this scirpture. First, we must yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and recognize that those "natural man tendences" are not what God wants from us. We must yield to his will, coming before the Lord breaking our Heart, which is a symbol of our desires and wants, to do what he wants. Then, continuing with yielding ourselves to these enticings, we must put off these tendences. It is not something easy. My companion and I have decided that each time we would use a slang, we would give a small punch in the arm, and just today I dont even remember how many punches we have seen! But, I have faith and with more time, I will be able to become. This is the best part of the process, that only through participating with the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become a saint, the person God wants us to become and who we invision of ourselves. We can adopt these attributes that are mentioned, the Christlike attributes. This is a process that we all must use for our entire lives, and we must never become discouraged with ourselves. As we learn in Moroni 10:32, even after all we have done"then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ." I testify of this glorious gospel, and the amazing love that our Heavenly Father and Saviour have for us. I love them with all of my heart, and my greatest desire is to do what they want and be an instrument in there hands. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.