A couple of weeks ago, one of the Assistants to the President, Elder Tai taught us a formula of success in the mission that I thought was pretty neat. Here it is:
Motive = Love
Secret = Work
Key = The Spirit
Power = Faith
Reason = Jesus Christ
Price = Obedience
And even though this formula is particular to missionary work, it applies to every aspect of life. When we help out in the house, for example, we do it out of love for our family, we work instead of sitting on the sofa, we feel the spirit when we serve our family and our testimony and faith grow, giving us more power to help out around the house and do our chores in the future. We do all this because Jesus Christ showed us the example and so we obey in order to feel His presence in our homes. haha. mas o menos.... but en serio, it applies to everything we do in this probationary state on the earth.
Ultimately, Kattia will be baptized this weekend! She is wonderful :) I love her so much. She has transformed so much since the first time we met her. She was telling us of how she knows it was God's hand in her life that we found her that day almost 2 months ago. She had been waiting outside the gates of her house for somebody, when we passed by and started to talk to her and invite her to let us visit her and her son (initially she wanted us to only teach her son, who is 16 years old) and help them to be closer to God. She accepted and always put forth her part, even when we had a couple of scares when she didn't answer her phone for a whole week, and one sunday she didn't want to go to church because we had left her with the pamphlet about tithing, and she said to herself that she could never obey that commandment being a single mother and little money, so why bother going to church. We helped her to understand what is tithing, why we pay it, and more than anything, the importance of obedience to the Lord. She now wants to pay her tithing to see if God really will open up the windows of heaven. She has so much faith, and so much desire to be a good example for her son, and to be obedient to the Lord. She truly is converted in heart and mind and wants to keep on learning and changing to become a better mother, daughter, neighbor, and friend to everyone she knows. Wow. this is what truly makes a missionary happy. True conversion.
I realized that I haven't taken a picture of her to show yall. Next week I will have pictures of her baptism para ver. ;)
Something that I really gained a testimony of this week, through the experiences of others and much study and prayer, is that God, our Heavenly Father has great promises in store for his children. Many. Tons. And every one of these promises has a commandment attached to it, or visa versa. If we are obedient to the commandments, even those that don´t seem to be spiritual (though even the temporal commandments are spiritual, everything is spiritual) such as the word of wisdom, tithing, fasting, keeping the sabbath day holy, law of chastity...etcetera, we will be blessed temporally, spiritually, mentally, you name it. Sister Kattia was at first very closed minded about tithing. She is a single mother and works hard for what little she earns, and told us that she would rather give money to the needy in a direct way, such as pay a beggar for example. However, once she understood that it is a commandment of God, that he doesn't need our money, only our obedience and faith, that every penny of our tithing goes to the building of the kingdom of God (the church buildings and everything needed to keep them running, temples, missionary work, books, pamphlets, hymnals, etc) and not to the leaders who serve voluntarily, she now wants to pay tithing and has the faith that she will have sufficient for her needs.
But it´s so true. God tests us to see if we will be obedient. He also wants to bless us. So remember the promise. Remember that every commandment has a promised blessing. Keep the commandments. Learn what they are, why they are given, and how we should live them. It´s that simple.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Flake
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