Journal entry May 3
Today.. medyo
mahirap. Thoughts of home and wanting to be there. I felt discouraged
and exhausted. I prayed and prayed for a change of heart. My merciful
Heavenly Father heard my prayer.. Just about every appointment we set..
it fell through. And so I took that as a sign that the Lord wanted us
somewhere else. So I tried my best to be as sensitive as possible to
any prompting. I felt the Lord put us exactly where we needed to be.
We sat on the side of the road texting investigators trying to make
appointments when a tricycle driver and I got talking. He wanted some
of the pamphlets that I was holding. I learned that he was a husband
and a father. Whose life had been very difficult.. sobrang mahirap he
kept repeating. He works all day everyday just to try to get enough
money to take home to his wife and daughter. As I explained the
contents found in our pamphlets- I bore my testimony to him. That our
message has the power to change his life. Sure, it won't take each
mahirap thing away. However, it will absolutely strengthen him and he
can receive the help and strength he needs through our message. I
poured out my heart to him in just about all the tagalog words I could
muster up. I wanted him to feel and know the message I was sharing was
true. and was especially for him.
We then made our way to an investigators home- Brother Rodellio, to
find him gone working. His wife's mother let us in to their small
home, that barely fit the three of us. We sat on the floor next to this
sweet frail woman as she told us with shaky hands about her life. She
was fourteen years old during WWII when the Japanese invaded the
Philippines. She watched as the soldiers would beat her mother..
relentlessly. At the age of seventeen she moved to Manila alone to find
any kind of work. She worked in a home and the man who lived there
would beat her whenever he returned home and felt that her work had not
been done well enough. She married, had eight children, and then lost
her husband. She would stay up all through the night ironing clothes to
provide for them. One by one each child left her, and to this day she
only has contact with the youngest- whom she lives with.
This woman attended church with us Sunday, with the only money she had.
Tonight
was a night that I fell to my knees and spent a long time down there.
I prayed with a humbled heartbroken and grateful heart. I am so
grateful to be in the Philippines serving these people. These people who
teach me through their kindness love and circumstances everyday. I
have every reason to be happy and grateful in every moment. I am being
taught lessons every moment of every day that will change my life
forever. and I pray it will bless others lives forever. The plan of
Salvation is more than just some chart of where we came from - where
we're going- different kingdoms. It is a plan of happiness from a
loving Heavenly Father of how each of His children can find strength and
purpose in this life. How they can know exactly who they are and who
they can become. Its a plan made possible because of His son, our
Brother, and loving Redeemer.
“And
he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of
every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he
will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12).
Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.
There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (seeAlma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah (see 2 Nephi 2:8). I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up our burdens with ease (seeMosiah 24:15). As we are yoked with Him through sacred covenants and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to His will. We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14). We will be blessed with spiritual traction.
“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12).
Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.
There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (seeAlma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah (see 2 Nephi 2:8). I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up our burdens with ease (seeMosiah 24:15). As we are yoked with Him through sacred covenants and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to His will. We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14). We will be blessed with spiritual traction.
-Elder Bednar.
I
truly love this work. I truly love this people. and I wouldn't trade
this experience for anything in the world. I wish there were words to
articulate how full my heart feels. with this gospel, with gratitude,
with humility, with amazement, with love.
this gospel is TRUE and i love all of you
Love Always,
Sister Welling
ps.
Naomie accepted the invitation to be baptized yesterday.. she knows
with all of her heart that Joseph Smith was a prophet.. she knows the
Book of Mormon is true.. Her spirit is so strong.. she has received
answers to each prayer and you should hear some of the dreams she has
had.. wow wow.. continue to keep her in your prayers :)
No comments:
Post a Comment