Six Weeks In and So Much Progress!

 Hello everyone! Another terrific week we had here in Cuauhtemoc.

Today there were transfers and let's just say there were too many problems here, so 7 out of the 12 people left the zone, so we have a fresh new start over here in Cuauhtemoc.

 

We did an awesome missionary activity as a ward where the members split up with other members and went to go visit the inactives. This was the first time that this branch had done an activity like that, so it was really nice to see! The inactive member we visited with one of the members came to church the next day and the rest of his family are members so we are going to jump all over the opportunity to help him and his family learn about the restoration of the fullness of the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ!

 

On Sunday we had a miracle. The neighbors of this member family were invited to church by the members and they came to church and they really enjoyed it and said they would be back next Sunday! Their names are Hermano Juan and Hermana Lupi. We are going to go visit them later this week to get to know them better and teach them.

We should be returning back to green light this week which is really good news because we have found it difficult to help the people we teach progress unless we are with them in person and they see our faces and feel that what we are teaching is really important in their lives.

Hermana Blanca has been reading the Book of Mormon and said she likes it so she is progressing well and we are just trying to get her to come to church, just like everyone else we are teaching.

We have seen massive progress in our area, even in the last six weeks that we have been here. We literally got here and there was no one being taught, no inactives being taught, no work being done with the members, and no one coming to church. But now we have all of those so we are stoked to see how much more service and progress we can render here in the next six weeks!

 

I finished the Book of Mormon again, along with the institute manual and I have got to say that out of all the times I have read the Book of Mormon, it was by far the most enjoyable and impactful experience. I have also started to read the New Testament with the institute manual and have already absolutely loved it. Right now I am in Matthew 26 and as I read and imagined all the suffering and criticism the Savior went through in his last day before he died, it expanded my understanding of the love that he has for us. I came across the following quote in the manual that I would like to share.

 

Gerald N. Lund, who later became a member of the Seventy, wrote about the Savior’s voluntary choice not to use His power to defend Himself from the abuses He experienced:

 

“Imagine the Being whose power, whose light, whose glory holds the universe in order, the Being who speaks and solar systems, galaxies, and stars come into existence—standing before wicked men and being judged by them as being of no worth or value!

 

“When we think of what he could have done to these men who took him to judgment, we have a new and different sense of his condescension. When Judas led the soldiers and the high priests to the Garden of Gethsemane and betrayed him with a kiss, Jesus could have spoken a single word and leveled the entire city of Jerusalem. When the servant of the high priest stepped forward and slapped his face, Jesus could have lifted a finger and sent that man back to his original elements. When another man stepped forward and spit in his face, Jesus had only to blink and our entire solar system could have been annihilated. But he stood there, he endured, he suffered, he condescended” (“Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?” in Bruce A. Van Orden and Brent L. Top, eds., Doctrines of the Book of Mormon: The 1991 Sperry Symposium [1992], 86).

 

Jesus Christ’s response when Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant shows the compassion of the Son of God even toward those who wished to harm Him.

 

As Christmas season is approaching I invite all to read once again the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament in Matthew - John you might as well pull out the institute manual while you are at it:) I know that as we do so, it helps us remember the purpose of why we celebrate Christmas and it brings the real meaning of the Christmas Season to life. 

Have a fabulous week everybody!

 

Elder Talbot