Dear family,
You and I mom are thinking alike. Since the iPad's have come I have gone insane with reading the words of the living prophets. It's been amazing and my testimony of the restoration truly has been strengthened!
We started off the week meeting with Will, our friend from California, who by self-initiative has been investigating the church for a while. We taught lesson one and we discussed it in good detail due to his fairly deep knowledge of the church and its structure and our beliefs. It turned into a lesson that filled in the gaps for him and answered a lot of his questions. He had some good questions and more than anybody I've ever seen had a sincere desire to know. We invited him to read and pray and he accepted, taking specific note on how to pray based on Moroni 10. ( sincere heart, having real intent, and having faith in Christ) and then Sunday a miracle happened. He came to stake conference on Sunday at Pavones and was telling us afterwards how much he enjoyed it. We were talking about the temple and its purposes, and he then told us, "Well I read what you asked me to read, and I think I received my answer. I know it's true and I know Joseph Smith was a prophet." He explained some of his situation and the potential difficulties he might face if he got baptized and as we started to tell him about how if he decides to get baptized, and he immediately said, "Oh, I'm getting baptized!" Tonight we will be discussing his fecha. We are thinking it will be July 4!! It was a very powerful experience there by the temple. He just simply needed missionaries to tell him to read and pray and he received the answer because he tried the promise with the 3 necessary elements.
Vilma and Vanesa are also doing really well. This week we were able to set them with a set fecha and they are both excited and preparing well. Vilma will be baptized the 4th of July and Vanesa will be baptized the 18th of July. We taught the Word of Wisdom yesterday and Vilma will be giving up coffee as they have both committed to live it.
Lolo is doing good, he just struggled getting to church. He is still on date for the 27th but we will see. We may need more time for more preparation. But he's doing well.
We are working well with the ward and have a solid relationship with both the Elders Quorum President and the Bishop. We are continuously receiving assignments from them on things we can do to help the ward and we are truly strengthening this ward.
We had the leadership council meeting this week at the mission home, the final one of President and Sister Jackson. It was a powerful meeting. We discussed the digital age, the importance of preparation, our two biggest weapons (the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel) and many other things. My absolute favorite part was when president Jackson simply read passages from the Book of Mormon. The room was silent and the spirit was so powerful as he read the words of the prophets. That night for thirty minutes we started to plan the zone training that we were to give to next day. We got up the next morning and planned from 7:00-10:45 and put together the zone training. It went amazing. The spirit was strong and helped us transmit the message and it was powerful. I learned so much and it was really fun as well. The most powerful part was when we tried to replicate what President Jackson had done with reading the passages. We asked everyone (if they wanted to) to stand up and read a "power passage" from the Book of Mormon. They stood up one by one and it was one of the most powerful moments I've seen. The Book of Mormon brings such a sweet spirit as every verse they read testified of Christ and of his divinity and his purpose. Amazing experience.
For the spiritual thought this week, I wanted to talk about something else we talked about during the leadership council. President Jackson in his mission president's meeting in Germany he went to a month or so ago, Elder Bednar was speaking and was saying we have a very old group of apostles, and something we need to do is carefully listen to their last words. In the council we read the last words of some prophets such as Nephi and Moroni and I went and read the final words of L. Tom Perry and it was touching:
"We want our voice to be heard against all of the counterfeit and alternative lifestyles that try to replace the family organization that God Himself established. We also want our voice to be heard in sustaining the joy and fulfillment that traditional families bring. We must continue to project that voice throughout the world in declaring why marriage and family are so important, why marriage and family really do matter, and why they always will.
My brothers and sisters, the restored gospel centers on marriage and family. It is also on marriage and family where we can unite most with other faiths. It is around marriage and family where we will find our greatest commonality with the rest of the world. It is around marriage and family that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the greatest opportunity to be a light on the hill.
Let me close by bearing witness (and my nine decades on this earth fully qualify me to say this) that the older I get, the more I realize that family is the center of life and is the key to eternal happiness."
Families are eternal, and that's our message. I've tried my best this week since readimg that to simply testify to the world that families are eternal. Sometimes it's hard. It's definitely not popular and it takes boldness to defend because some people are against the family. But let our voice be heard!! Defend families. It's what the lord needs.
Love you all!! Have an amazing week!!
Love,
Elder Jarrett Anderson
¡Hurah por Israel!
Elder Cahoon, Javier, Elder Anderson
Javier's brother
Sent from my iPad
