Dear Family,
I am first very happy to hear you made it home safely. Thank you for
all your prayers and fasts. The gift of tongues is very special. It is
interesting because it is used completely on the Lord's merit. Hermana
Martinez is always telling me that when I testify everything comes out
perfectly. I feel the Lord gives me the gift of tongues only when
there is something he wants me to say. Then the word just roll off my
tongue. Otherwise, having me serve in a different language was the
greatest idea ever because it is hard for me to say too much and it
totally controls any "genes" I may have because I otherwise don't know
what's going on and don't have the vocabulary or ability to say
anything.
I think the most difficult part sometimes is that I feel like I have
been hacking at this language for almost 10 years. It's a little bit
discouraging. So I just try to not focus on it.
This week is was great. It has been cold and rainy, but the Lord was
very generous to us. We feel like the field here really is "white and
ready to harvest", and he has us harvesting here! We have
investigators, and some baptisms hopefully coming up soon....
Being a missionary really exposes you to recognizing that all the Lord
wants us to be are humble servants willing to do his will because we
love him and love our neighbor. One of our investigators who hopefully
is getting baptized soon will only be able to do so because of the
faithful visiting teacher of her less active granddaughter. Every week
her visiting teacher brings her to church. (Because our investigator
can't drive and they live super far away). She makes sure that her
needs are taken care of and has even brought some of our investigators
great grandchildren. I truly believe that faithful visiting teachers
can change the world because this one is changing our investigator's.
(Would still like to know if ANYONE has a connection with someone
serving in Baranquilla, Columbia)
Sister Martinez and I really like to listen "Yielding our heart's to
God" by Neil F. Marriot. Her favorite thing to quote is the Protestant
hymn:
Have Thine own way, Lord!
Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter;
I am the clay.
Mould me and make me
After Thy will,
While I am waiting,
Yielded and still.
(she always does it imitating her accent, which makes me laugh, so you
have to LISTEN to this talk, not just read it. and can I just add that
I feel like this last conference had so sort of a pottery theme
going?)
As we are humble in our trials, the Lord is able to help shape us into
the person he wants us to become; who is someone better than we could
ever imagine. It's crazy to think about who we might become when we
also consider who we once were. This morning I was studying more about
the premortal existence. The scriptures tell us that we were a part of
the "good" who were selected to be "rulers" or better yet, servants of
the Lord's kingdom in his purpose which is to "bring to pass the
eternal life and immortality of man" (Abraham 3:22-26 and Moses 1:39,
also see https://www.lds.org/topics/becoming-like-god?lang=eng)
It is incredibly humbling to think that the Lord has called me,
weaknesses and all, to be one of his servants. And that furthermore,
it means I must have done something right, even with my complete
imperfectness. I think it just goes to show that God doesn't just
focus on who we are, but on our potential and our path on who we are
becoming. This talk and really conference, talked a lot about
humility, in being humble to learn and change as we strive to follow
the Savior Jesus Christ. I really like this new Mormon message:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages-2015?lang=eng
Jesus Christ is the center of everything we do. (Well, He should be).
It is His atonement which gives us the grace to accomplish whatever it
is Heavenly Father wants us to do. "The greatest, most capable, most
accomplished man who ever walked this earth was also the most humble.
He performed some of His most impressive service in private moments,
with only a few observers, whom He asked to “tell no man” what He had
done. When someone called Him “good,” He quickly deflected the
compliment, insisting that only God is truly good. Clearly the praise
of the world meant nothing to Him; His single purpose was to serve His
Father and “do always those things that please him.” We would do well
to follow the example of our Master." (Uchtdorf, "On Being Genuine") as
we strive to follow Him, so that we might return to Him, we are
changed. We can take all the bad and turn it over to Him because He
paid the price for us so that we might have eternal life. Isn't that
marvelous?
I am so grateful to be a part of this work. I love it so much. I hope
everyone had a very Happy Halloween! And Happy Day of the dead! I
asked some members what they do with the food they leave on all he
gravesides, and they say that the people clean it up, but all he
Mexicans who believe in it will tell you that their ancestors eat it.
Which is why I had to ask the question in the first place.
Anyways, I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love,
Hermana Wallis
Sent from my iPad
