His Enabling Power

Why have 2 Elderes, when you can have 3. This week we received a new companion, Elder Ek. He's great, I know the Lord has a work for us to do and lessons to learn together. Yesterday in the office we received many new missionaries from Paraguay, Bolivia, Brasil, México, U.S., all over. It's always so exciting to receive the new missionaries in the office (after there 40hrs of travel usually), to welcome them, get them ready to adapt, help them with the questions the have, get them excited, and my job (that I'm sure they love) Vaccinate them all. There's probably nothing better than eating your first empanadas, getting vaccinated, and then eating more empanadas. This week we were finding and teaching a lot of families that have some members of the church in the family, but others aren't. I love to see the families take the steps to follow Christ together. The things that he asks of us, nos cuesta a veces, (they 'cost' us sometimes, or they take some time to adjust to, to put in practice), but as we give our best effort to put his teachings in practice it becomes more natural. And we will come to see the blessings. Especially, when we apply His teachings as a family. For our friends it starts with meeting with the missionaries, actively trying to learn, taking the learning and the search for the truth personally and as a family by reading the scriptures and praying so that they can find their own testimony not from 2 or 3 kids in the street, but from God. Going to the Church to learn more, set themselves apart from the world to show our love to God, to have a community to try our imperfect best to support and uplift one another as Christ would, and to most importantly take the Sacrament to remember His sacrifice, to renew or prepare ourselves to make covenants with Him, and to put us in a position to apply His atonement in our lives. I love to see how the application of these teachings can change our lives, as I reflect more and more, it helps me to see the why. Why is our a Loving Father gave us these teachings to follow and apply in our lives. As we do so we come to find greater happiness, hope, and unity in this life, that will prepare us for the next. This week my studies were aligned a lot with the application of the atonement in our lives, and how it can change us, the meaning of grace, and understanding the voluntad of our Father in Heaven. As I was study these things I turned to the "Guide to the Scriptures," and I love it's definition, it has helped me to grow my understanding and see the power of Christ in my life: "The enabling power from God that allows men and women to obtain blessings in this life and to gain eternal life and exaltation after they have exercised faith, repented, and given their best effort to keep the commandments. Such divine help or strength is given through the mercy and love of God. Every mortal person needs divine grace because of Adam’s Fall and also because of man’s weaknesses." As I was studying, I was pondering the question that was related to a lot of what I've seen recently, and the misinterpretation of Christ. What would be "being saved" if we just remained in the same state as we are now, forever? Being 'saved' through grace is more than being saved from death or sin, but having the power to change, overcome our weaknesses and the challenges of this world, and finding joy in this life. As I have tried more actively to apply this enabling power in my life, I have seen the blessings of it. And I've seen it in the lives of many others. It is the power to change, the opportunity to gain blessings, and to prepare us to live more like and with our Father in Heaven as we seek to sincerely apply it in our lives. A good friend just sent me a talk on almost exactly that, and I listened to it today. It's by Elder Uchtdorf, so entertaining, spiritual, and certainly a small airplane reference that you'll enjoy. And something to ponder and apply. I invite you to listen to it. "But the grace of God does not merely restore us to our previous innocent state. If salvation means only erasing our mistakes and sins, then salvation—as wonderful as it is—does not fulfill the Father’s aspirations for us. His aim is much higher: He wants His sons and daughters to become like Him." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/the-gift-of-grace?lang=eng&id=p25#p25 That is exemplified by a lesson we had this week. We passed by the house of a member and their sister-in-law was there with them. We asked a few inspired questions to get to know her, and quickly learned that she had recently passed through some very difficult moments. This year she lost her father and her recently born baby. I can't imagine the pain of this situation. And the first question she asked us was very impactful. "Where is my child?" I do not have the ability to completely lift up or give true hope in moments like this. But Christ does, thanks to Him there is hope, and thanks to Him we could let her know that there is hope. And not only that we will all be resurrected and have the opportunity to live in families forever, but also that thanks to Him we can have the strength to continue in this life and find joy. To every problem in life, Christ is the answer, thanks to His Infinite Atonement that gives us (as we seek for it, for Him) the enabling power to "obtain blessings in this life and to gain eternal life." We testified of Christ and how His sacrifice is for all, that thanks to His power she will have the opportunity to see her child again, and that she can use this power in her life now to find peace, joy, hope, and the strength to change and grow. That makes me so happy, and after a lesson with a few shed tears, we ended it all with smiling faces. Thanks to Him. I love you all, thank you so much for your constant support, and your efforts to follow and serve the Lord wherever you may be. My hope is that you can get something out of these experiences I've seen, and to see the hand of the Lord more in your lives as well. It is an everyday effort to apply the atonement in our lives and to see it working, but as we actively seek, reflect, and reach for the help of our Savior, we will always, always find it.