June 8 in Reforma, Veracruz City

Well, today I don't have much time, but I do want to share something special very quickly. We've been teaching for three weeks a young woman named (V). She's 23. We couldn't figure out what her thing was! Normally when we teach people, they have a "need." Like, they need to hear about why are there so many religions, or what happens after death, or how can they find peace. Normally we can find out by what they tell us pretty fast. But with her, we couldn't. This week we finally did. We taught her and it became apparent that she felt nobody loved her, and she would never have the things one needs in life to be happy (family). We told her she should go and pray and ask if god loved her, if he was her father, and to make her understand the way he felt about her. She came to church this week, whereas before she wouldn't come. She knows about the truth of these things now, I guess you could say. I'm sure that somebody who's reading this has at some point felt the way that she has. I want to testify that when you think those things, you are thinking lies. Lies that Satan puts in your head to try to destroy you. I know that God is your Heveanly Father and that he is only a prayer away. Put your trust in him, do his will, and all will be well.

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.