Well, last monday we had a Mission Conference with all the missionaries in Costa Rica to say farewell to President and Sister Wilkinson and their family. It was very spiritually impacting. When you have that many young missionaries in one chapel, singing at the top of their lungs, knowing that it´s the last time being with our beloved Mission President, it´s pretty emotional. I didn´t see too many dry eyes :)
President Wilkinson talked about having a vision. We should always have a vision of what we desire to accomplish. We should ask God what He wants us to accomplish. Then we should take the necessary steps to make our dream, or vision, a reality. I am so thankful for all the things I have learned from Pres. Wilkinson. They are innumerable. The whole time he was giving his lecture, he had a long white thread on his coat jacket. I noticed it and was a bit bothered that he didn´t seem to notice it the whole time he was giving his presentation. Then he started to talk about how Satan starts with threads, things that seem harmless, but they build up until they are strong cords. Genesis 13:8-12. Abraham was the prophet. Lot made two bad decisions. 1. not to follow the prophet. 2. he put his tent facing Sodom. Genesis 14:12. Now Lot is living in Sodom. He went from threads to cords. He now was living in the most wiked city and obviously not living the commandments of God. It all started with the thread of not respecting the ordained line of authority that God has placed for us here on the earth. We must obey our Priesthood and Auxillary Leaders. When Pres. Wilkinson enlightened us with this story and example, I remembered something that Dad had taught us one family night years ago (I don´t remember if we were living in Tennessee or not, but I think I was probably 10 years old...maybe mom or dad remembers). He had us lay on the ground, and he put a thread of dental floss across our forehead. Then told us to lift ourselves off the ground without our hands. It wasn´t easy with Dad holding down the dental floss, but it was possible. We could lift ourselves up. Then I think that dad put a piece of rope across our forehead. This time we could lift ourselves up. It´s the same idea. Satan works little by little, first with pieces of string, or seemingly harmless sins, and then with strong rope, which is millions of tiny pieces of string put together. I know that in order to defeat Satan, we have to deny the threads of sin that he offers us. We must be EXACTLY OBEDIENT. I love that first I learned this principle in family night, and again here in the mission. Thanks pops.
Well, things have been rough here in San Carlos, because our baptisms keep falling through....Marbelly, Wilmar, and Greyci we hoped to baptize last month, but they didn´t want too, and they didn´t come the third time to church. We are working hard still to find inactive members and to teach them and to testify so that they have desire to return to the gospel, and some of them came this Sunday. But we need more. Pray so that Marbelly will recieve a spiritual answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that she needs to be baptized by someone authorized with God´s Priesthood. I love you all and hope that this month you all were able to invite friends to church and mutual. If not, make it a goal this month! :)
Love,
Hermana Flake
