This was a pretty fun week. If you remember, Juan Domingo
one of our investigators brought a neighbor friend to church last week. Mónica
is pretty great and is coming through on all of her commitments. She came to
church yesterday and is really excited to get baptized on Sunday.
Unfortunately, her grandson Rodrigo didn't come yesterday because he was asleep
and we couldn't wake him up... and he still hasn't gone to church yet, so he
won't be getting baptized with his grandma. He's really excited about everything
though.
I don't know if everyone remembers, but Juan Domingo has had
a lot of challenges and obstacles in his path to baptism. He's been wanting to
be baptized since day one. He's been separated from his woman for 5 years but
they're living in the same house in separate rooms. When he heard he couldn't
get baptized because they were living in the same house he worked hard to find
a new place to live, and then moved in with his sister. We were then preparing
him to be baptized, but the day of his baptism his sister kicked him out
because he was too hard to take care of, so he moved back to where he was
living before. These past two weeks we've just kind of been sharing motivating
scriptures with him to help him to be happy and positive. Last week we decided
that we should probably just talk to President Ayre about the situation, so I
wrote him a letter last week explaining to him the seriousness of his diabetes.
Yesterday during lunch he called me and we talked for a while about Juan, about
his situation and about his testimony. Juan is going to be baptized this
Sunday. When we told him, he got really excited. He will be getting baptized at
the same time as his neighbor that he invited to church.
This week was a little stressful in that a few really strong
converts here in Pacheco were having some doubts and were having problems with
testimonies and they wanted us to help them. I'm really grateful for the Spirit
and that God is aware of His children. Just a few thoughts to share. In Alma
31:8-10 it states, "Now the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites;
therefore they had had the word of God preached unto them. But they had fallen
into great errors, for they would not observe to keep the commandments of God,
and his statutes, according to the Law of Moses. Neither would they observe the
performances of the church, to continue in prayer and supplication to God
daily, that they might not enter into temptation." The Zoramites were once
active members of the church, but they slowly slipped into apostasy as they
were lazy with their daily prayers, their weekly attendance at sacrament
meeting, and their obedience to the commandments. They are small and simple
things, but as Alma later explains in chapter 37, "small means in many
instances doth confound the wise." I encourage one and all to reflect upon your personal conversion. Are you growing closer each day to your Father
in Heaven? Is what you are doing on a daily basis helping you to become more like
our Savior? If not, it is time for a change. It is the negligence of the small
and simple things that slowly leads us to fall away. Let us make a stronger
effort to complete our part of our covenants with our Father in Heaven,
because as we do, He will come through on His part. I know God lives and loves each of us. If you don't know
that or are doubting it... it may be because daily scripture study, daily
prayer, and weekly attendance at church isn't one of your top priorities. It's
time to reorganize them. There is no better day than today. I know that as we
come through we will be richly blessed.
Much love,
Elder John William Garrett
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