Sunday, April 14, 2013

April 8, 2013

Hey fambam! 
What a wonderful weekend! I absolutely looooooved General Conference! It of course made me way trunky because I wanted to be with all of you eating Mum´s delicious morning breakfast of either crumb cake or cinnamon rolls! But I still enjoyed it, of course. I was so moved by so many of the talks. Among the many messages recieved, the themes repeated most often were Christ-centered families, chastity and morality, and member missionary work. Wahoo!  I even got to watch a bit of the world report--what happened in New York??! A couple people had told me a while ago that there had been a bad storm in the United States, but I had no idea a huge hurricane had caused so much damage in New York and New Jersey! Wow. Ah, my time is so short today because we took a fun trip to the beach in Lebu, but I have a couple quick experiences I wanted to share:

Last week our recent convert Bersabet was going to take a weekend trip to visit her aunt in Nacimiento and was thus going to miss church. I wanted to at least have her commit to read the Book of Mormon while she was gone. She had several excuses of why not to do it (she has a difficult time reading), but I soon felt impressed to make her a promise. I felt with surety that I could promise her in the name of Christ that if she read the Book of Mormon while she was gone, she wouldn´t have her normal back pains throughout her trip. Honestly, that promise has nothing to do with reading a book. But I knew that the Lord would hold up this promise if it would bless her life. When she returned the following Thursday, we asked her how it went and how she felt. She told us that one night she finally read and the entire next day she didn´t have even the slightest back pain. I felt so great knowing that the Lord had honored the promise of a humble young boy to a meek elderly woman. Both of our faith was strengthened in the Lord´s power to fulfill His promises.

A month ago our zone leaders were passing through Curanilahue to drop off a few items for us missionaries. They couldn´t get off the bus, but we weren´t able to meet them in time, so they left the items with a girl named Monica on the side of the road. We thanked her, and even tried to visit her later because she was so friendly, but we never found her again. A week ago as I was walking with Elder París, we talked to a sweet young girl and her grandfather who gave us their address. We finally passed by this week and she excitedly let us in to talk. As we chatted, I asked her if she had ever listened to missionaries before. She told us no, but that she had done a pair of missionaries a favor once. A lightbulb flashed as I realized that she was the same Monica! Neither of us recognized each other, but I knew it was no coincidence that God helped us find her again. We had a great discussion about baptism, and she´s excited to learn more. I´ll keep you updated!ç

The Lord lives and works miracles even nowadays. I know it! He answers prayers and wants to bless us. Even moreso, He WANTS to forgive us. He wants to help us. We just need to let Him. Love you!

Elder Long :)



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