June 1 in Reforma, Veracruz City

Wow so this week was crazy. First off we've been having a ton of success here. But I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about conversion and what it really is. This ties into the gospel a lot. Conversion is when our desires change, and we become more like Christ, desiring to do good and not evil.

In a nutshell, conversion in the only way we can be saved. We must be converted and become clean from all sin, because nothing impure can dwell with God. So then Christ taught us his gospel, which is how we can do these things.

The gospel is composed of 5 principles and ordinances (an ordinance is just a promise we make with God, like signing a contract).

They are: First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That means we believe that He is the Son of God, and that he atoned (paid) for our sins. We must believe that only in and through his teaching and sacrifice for us can we be saved.

Second, repentance. Repentance is one of the principle ways that we become converted. Faith brings us to realize that in order to have any hope to be saved, we must keep God's commandments. And when we don't, we must repent, or change. That means we recognize that what we've done is wrong. (That's why pride is bad, because then we cannot recognize that.) We confess to God and we make restitution for what we have done. Then, we don't do it again, and we keep God's commandments.

Third, baptism. This is the first ordinance of the gospel, and the third principle. In baptism, we promise to keep God's commandments, remember Jesus always, and be representatives of Him. God, in turn, promises us that we will be made clean and sanctified by His Spirit and have the same to guide us. Repentance converts us, and baptism prepares us for purification, which comes in the following.

Fourth, the Holy Ghost. This is like the key to everything. If you pull out this pin then the whole gospel falls apart. it is the 4th principle and 2nd ordinance. The Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit and can communicate to us the will of God. He is also the third member of the Godhead. The Holy Ghost is both what cleans us and converts us. Repentance allows Him to enter our hearts and to change them from the natural man to a spiritual man, and thereby be saved. His touch is also sanctifying and purifying, and can bring to us, through the atonement of Christ, the remission of our sins. We have the right to receive this prized gift from God only after baptism, though we may feel His presence occasionally before, as He may visit us to witness to us.

The 5th and last principle is persevere to the end. This also embodies the first two, continually repenting daily and growing in our faith and knowledge of Christ. Basically, keeping ourselves clean after baptism and the reception of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

This is all made possible through the atonement of Christ. Were it not for Him, there could be no forgiveness, and thus no redemption, and repentance would be in vain. There would be no change of heart, and all mankind would remain fallen, unhappy, cut off from the presence of God.

Adam fell that men might be, and man is, that he might have joy. And the messiah cometh in the fullness of times, to redeem men from the fall.....2 Nephi2:25-26. I testify that Christ came to save us from death and sin and that through His perfect gospel, all mankind may be saved.

Until next week!

Elder Thompson

 

May 25 in Reforma, Veracruz City

This is the weirdest change in my mission. So first I get taken out of Carlos A. Carrillo, then now guess what? The dearly beloved Elder B (He's an AWESOME missionary, companion, and friend) gets changed our of here on MORE special changes! He left today in the morning. He's going here close by in the stake Veracruz (the first stake to be established here) and my new companion is Elder C! I just barely met him but he appears to be pretty cool. I'm super excited to work with him. The bad news is that I hardly know anything about my area. I only have two weeks here, so we're almost in something called whitewash, which is when they pull all the missionaries out of an area and put in 2 new ones that don't know anything. Anyways this week was awesome. We had 6 less active members come to church and 1 investigator! But this week we could have something like 5 or 6 investigators! This one lady that we are teaching that I talked about last week, she's probably in her early 30's and she is married with 2 kids. All her life she's been searching for the true church. She prayed about the Book of Mormon and asked to know if it was true. She got the answer yes. Now she wants to get baptized as fast as possible! How cool is that? Anyways I don't have much more time and I want to respond to some individual emails but I want to tell all you guys that I know that this church is true. I've read the Book of Mormon and I know it is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today and that Jesus Christ, the very son of the living God, guides and leads this church today and is the path to salvation. I hope you can all come to know it too by having an open mind and open heart and a sincere desire to know. If you have those things and pray and ask, the answer will be eventually made manifest to you. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

May 18 in Reforma, Veracruz City

To all those who sent me emails, but I did not respond: I'm really sorry, I'll respond next week. Sometimes you're just super pressed for time out here. 

Also because of time, I want to just share one story with everyone that happened this week. We started teaching this one girl. She is married and has a 14-year- old son. She has been searching for "the true church" for quite some time.

The first time we saw her we taught her from the Book of Mormon about the atonement (the sacrifice that Jesus made for us), and how it applies to us. 

She promised to read the Book of Mormon and pray. When we came back she had done so, but had more questions and was just thoroughly confused. We felt that there was more to her questions that she wanted to know. We felt there was a big underlying question that she had. 

We left her the message of the "Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and told her to read it. We came back, and she had read it and said, "This answers all my questions, all my doubts. I know that this is true. This is what I have been searching for. What do I need to do to be baptized?" 

We were amazed. How wonderful is it that the Restoration of the gospel through modern-day prophets could be so important. I know that if we read the Bible, it really does testify of a Restoration, and I know that this is the true fold of the Lord Jesus Christ.