a very spiritual sabbath day :)
Muy buenas tardes!!!
wow, this week was quite interesting, and im tempted to just fast forward to friday and saturday, because though we did work last week, it wasnt too much because my companion had a few health issues and we had various appointments. and where we are in our area, its hard because we live far away from the central part of the city, which is where everything is, and so we lost a lot of time last week soing things like that. but we did find a few new people and are excited to go and be diligent, and visit them, to open our mouths and let the spirit take over to teach the restored gospel.
once again, our hermano jose arturo didnt get baptized for some reason this week. he keeps saying yes, but then things come up...anyway, i think we are gonna have to sit down with him and have a misisonary heart to heart. also, Marcelino is getting more excited as the time comes for him to get married soon so that he can live the law of chastity diligently and get baptized. this family is so awesome, they are definitely some of whom i am gonna stay in contact with. the hermano wants to get baptized, and so this week thay are gonna go to the civil registration? building (here its called the registro civil :) and take a few steps, and then 4 of us misisonaries are gonna be witnesses and get them married! then hopefully he can get baptized on saturday, and confirmed on sunday! also, jesus needs to get confirmed this sunday so we will be working with them on that.
ok, so heres the spiritual part: this weekend, we were able to see the dedicatory services of the Mexico city Mexico temple, which were broadcasted to the chapel here in delicias! forst, on saturday was the cultural celebration, and its pretty cool because it was my forst one, seeing as how i had never seen before a cultural celebration. it was a theatre-style presentation, which explained the how and why of the book of mormon. the book of mormon is of course, for everybody and it was written for our day in these the last days of this final dispensation...BUT, it was especifically written for those here in the american continent, and is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the americas. so, its to say, the people in the book of mormon are the principal ancestors of those who are of latin american nationality (whoooa, im "half"way there!) haha...if you got it, you got it, and if you didnt, you didnt. but yes, it was a mervelous celebration.
then, yesterday was even better. we saw all 3 dedicatory sessions, in the which was present Henry B. Eyring, and Jeffrey R. Holland, Kent F. Richards, and the mexico area presidency...and of course the temple presidency. it was like watching 3 mini, 1 1/2 hour sessions of general conference, only temple version and they were dressed in their awesome white suits (love it!) i actually learned something from one of Elder Hollands talks, is that the coming of elijah was one of the most important events to ever occur, next to the first vision and the atonement. i had always thought that he only came to restore the sealing keys that bind families together, but no...the sealing keys are not only used in the temple. its to say, thanks to the sealing keys that were restored to joseph smith which President Thomas S. Monson holds, my baptism, confirmation, patriarchal blessing, temple covenants, and every single ordinance performed in this live will have validity after this life. when you hear the word "sealing", dont only think of "between husband and wife"., though that is true. when you hear "sealing", think of the phrase "the power that connects ordinances and covenants from the earth to heaven". in other words, if we could build a bridge that connects the earth to exhaltation, the sealing keys would be the bricks and cement we would use to build said bridge. and God expects and desires for us to walk on that bridge, not only hand in hand as a marriage, but also as a family.
(sigh), phew! hope all that made sense. but just know that i cried like a baby in the first session, for the spirit overtook me completely, and as we sang hymn #2 "the spirit of god", which is my favorite hymn, i couldnt sing because tears were flowing down my face, and i just had to mouth the words. it was wonderful...surely its experiences like that that refer to the fruit so sweet and desireable that lehi dreamed of (see 1 nephi 8).
i hope everyone has a good week, and that we can all have spiritual experiences!! i love you all :) !
con mucho cariño,
Jason
Elder Newman
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*Elder Newman*
Misión México Chihuahua
November 2013 - 2015
Alma 26:12
Click on the slide show for descriptions of these latest photos.
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