Hola Queridos Míos!
What an amazing General Conference! Honestly I´m always a super sad when they announce the final speaker. It goes so fast. But I´m so grateful for all of the inspired messages that we heard from our leaders and our Profeta.
Something that I noticed was a recurring theme in many of the talks was the topic of ¨decisions¨.
I love the story of the Brother of Jared. The Lord helped him prepare, and then, finally, told him to make some of the decisions for himself. The Lord made sure that they had the things that were of the utmost importance, ¨tight like unto a dish¨. I thought it was interesting how Elder Vinson emphasized that it was the Lord who sent the waves and torrents as well. Why not just change the weather? I´ve often thought about that in relation to trials and hardships. Given the choice between stopping the waves, and preparing the sailor before the journey begins, the Lord always allows us to use our agency to choose. He doesn´t leave us completely alone, but neither does he do it all for us. The waves are important, they train the sailor.
There were several people who mentioned that our seemingly insignificant daily, or even hourly decisions determine our destiny, having Eternally significant consequences. ¨Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.¨I think it was M. Russell Ballard who said once ¨It doesn´t matter so much to the Lord whether you have eggs and bacon for breakfast, or something else...¨ BUT as Pres. Eyering said ¨The Lord´s plan is the only way for true and lasting Happiness.¨
With that, there isn´t one of us that God isn´t completely aware of. He has already developed a very specific, intricate, and of course perfect plan for each of us.
So then where is the decision?
The decision is made when we exercise that God-given gift of AGENCY to lay aside what we think is best, and to submit. Humbly, prayerfully, and fully, our wills to HIS.
After all, he is the one with the ¨perfect foresight¨.
I´ve learned a lot about agency this week, as two of the five baptisms in the district (one of them being Lucia), literally just disappeared off the face of the earth. It´s frustrating when those things happen, and honestly something that I´m sure we won´t ever truly understand.
But, as President Uchtdorf said: ¨it may break our hearts when someone chooses to use their agency to turn away from the church..(and consequentially the blessings), but we respect their ability to choose.¨
Agency is beautiful, right?
We may not be able to ¨force¨anyone to join the church or accept our doctrine, although honestly sometimes it seems like a nice option...
The call we have is to invite them. Help them understand what we have to offer. The gospel changes lives. I´ve seen it.
We invite them to ¨Come, join with us.¨and they, when they choose to, will see it too.
My invitation to all of you, along with many of the speakers from conference this weekend, is to think of someone that you can INVITE.
We have been promised so many times that they will accept this invitation, and that by Christmastime millions will be brought to the fold.
I love you all. Take the challenge. Sometimes that´s what it is, a challenge. But this work is amazing, thrilling, contagious, and worth every effort. We need EVERYONE to push the work along.
Until next week.
Les Quiero, muchísimo!
xoxox Your Hermana C
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