Accepted of the Lord
May 26, 2014
Hello everyone!
Well, we’re still working hard here in Paraiso! We had a kind of tough week with church attendance; a lot of the people we have been working with committed to go to church, but in the end, only one came. Hermana Lopez and I are praying to understand better what more we need to do to help these people come to church. We are also praying for our ward. This ward, and Central, the ward I was in before here in Tarija, have pretty low attendance and the area has said that if we can’t pull attendance up to at least 200, and do so pretty soon, they will combine the two wards. Well, talk about motivation. All the members of the ward council, and us (the six missionaries in the ward) are really motivated to work a lot harder and get people to church! We are excited to bring more people unto Christ through His church.
This week I have been reflecting a lot on my spiritual progression over the course of the mission, and I read a fantastic talk from April 2013 General Conference called "Being Accepted of the Lord." I invite you all to read it - I think that many times, we focus too much on being accepted by other people. For example, I want to be accepted by my companion, by my mission president, by the bishop in my ward, by the hermanas and elders in my zone, by the investigators, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s good to want other people to like and accept us, but the problem comes when we seek for acceptance from other people that we forget about what is truly important – being accepted of the Lord. I love the scripture that Elder Kopischke uses in this talk, D&C 97:8: “Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.” I know that this is true. We must reflect upon the condition of our hearts. Are we truly willing to sacrifice for the Lord? Are we humble and teachable before Him? Do we admit our mistakes readily and strive to repent? As I prayed about and considered this talk, I learned a lot about some ways in which the Lord still wants me to improve, and also received the sweet confirmation of the Lord’s love and acceptance of the progress I have made up til now. I invite you all to do the same, because while it’s great to be accepted by the people around us, there is nothing more special or more important than feeling accepted of the Lord.
Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week! And Mom and Dad, if the whole DC/NY trip one kid at a time is now a tradition, I’ll definitely be waiting for mine... :) Haha love you!
Love,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk
Well, we’re still working hard here in Paraiso! We had a kind of tough week with church attendance; a lot of the people we have been working with committed to go to church, but in the end, only one came. Hermana Lopez and I are praying to understand better what more we need to do to help these people come to church. We are also praying for our ward. This ward, and Central, the ward I was in before here in Tarija, have pretty low attendance and the area has said that if we can’t pull attendance up to at least 200, and do so pretty soon, they will combine the two wards. Well, talk about motivation. All the members of the ward council, and us (the six missionaries in the ward) are really motivated to work a lot harder and get people to church! We are excited to bring more people unto Christ through His church.
This week I have been reflecting a lot on my spiritual progression over the course of the mission, and I read a fantastic talk from April 2013 General Conference called "Being Accepted of the Lord." I invite you all to read it - I think that many times, we focus too much on being accepted by other people. For example, I want to be accepted by my companion, by my mission president, by the bishop in my ward, by the hermanas and elders in my zone, by the investigators, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s good to want other people to like and accept us, but the problem comes when we seek for acceptance from other people that we forget about what is truly important – being accepted of the Lord. I love the scripture that Elder Kopischke uses in this talk, D&C 97:8: “Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.” I know that this is true. We must reflect upon the condition of our hearts. Are we truly willing to sacrifice for the Lord? Are we humble and teachable before Him? Do we admit our mistakes readily and strive to repent? As I prayed about and considered this talk, I learned a lot about some ways in which the Lord still wants me to improve, and also received the sweet confirmation of the Lord’s love and acceptance of the progress I have made up til now. I invite you all to do the same, because while it’s great to be accepted by the people around us, there is nothing more special or more important than feeling accepted of the Lord.
Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week! And Mom and Dad, if the whole DC/NY trip one kid at a time is now a tradition, I’ll definitely be waiting for mine... :) Haha love you!
Love,
Hermana Chelsie Faulk
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