(Elder Mackrory)
Happy Birthday USA! Hope you had fun blowing stuff up!
This week was crazy for me. So crazy, in fact, that I can't
for the life of me remember what happened in specifics. But I can never forget
this week or the things I learned. The normal things happened, English class,
district council, pday, lessons, contacts, and all that good stuff. But this is
not what I want to focus on today. So we'll get to the real focus shortly. Here
are the highlights:
14 fuscas for a total of 743.
Made cuzcuz (couscous) twice. It's a dish made from corn
flakes cooked as if it was oatmeal. Since it's savory by nature, you can add
things like eggs, deli meat, cheese, vegetables and all sorts of good stuff. So
I did that. each time differently and each time better. The first time I just
put green peppers, eggs, deli meat, and cheese. The second time I put green
peppers, tomatoes, corn, carrots, savory sausage, onion (grilled of course),
and cheese. It was incredible. Highly recommended.
Google maps told me that I have spent 58 hours walking this
month. I don't take my phone with me every time we leave though, so it's more
than that.
I don't know if you guys remember, but I had a division with
Elder Levie on December 30. During that division, we taught the restoration to
a family. This Sunday, the daughter and son were baptized, and their parents
are next! Missionaries, no effort you put forth goes unnoticed. The people
notice it, and your Heavenly Father notices it more. For me these fruits took a
good 5 months to come, and some take more time.
I've started including slang in my English classes. The
students really like it.
Alright, now for the good stuff. I've been thinking about
what the most important thing we teach is. Is it the Book of Mormon? Is it the
Plan of Salvation? Is it Baptism? While all these things are important and
integral to anyone's true conversion, there is but one principle that goes
above all these. It's repentance. Numberless times the scriptures call
missionaries to “cry repentance” or “preach repentance”. The Savior himself was
often quoted by starting with “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
This is the word for which I have been called. Preach repentance unto those who
need it. Who needs it? People who are far from God. People who are close to
God. People who are distancing themselves from God. People who are nearing
themselves to God. Everyone. No matter the situation or the past, everyone
needs repentance desperately. It is the only way we can overcome the world.
Christ has already done that, and he has given us the tools to do so as well.
The Spirit of the Lord drives away sin. Sin drives away the Spirit. The Spirit
of the Lord allows us to leave our worldly desires behind and follow Christ.
When we have the Holy Spirit, we will reach a point where sin loses its appeal,
and we are left wondering why we would ever want to sin. How do we get to
having the Spirit? Repentance. Simple as that. Repentance allows us to realize
our faults and shortcomings, but does not leave us in that gall of bitterness,
it gives us the righteous desire to do better and to be better. In a lesson
this week, we were setting goals for this incredible couple to follow the Word
of Wisdom and other commandments. In the Spirit that this repentance brought,
the wife said out of nowhere “and I need to be reading more of the Book of
Mormon!” We had not mentioned the Book of Mormon in this lesson yet. But the
Spirit of Repentance, who is the Spirit of the Lord guided her to make the
changes she needed to make. The joy that comes from deciding to follow the Lord
leaves us wanting more and more and more. Repentance is not sadness and guilt.
It is joy and relief. It is what I now strive to fit into every conversation I
have, be it with members of the church, other missionaries, or with our friends.
Repentance is the most important thing that my calling holds. As a missionary,
it is my duty to share the joy that comes from repentance. In my prayers I
always reflect on how I can become better. In doing this, my guilt of not being
better before is swept away and joy, greater than was my guilt, fills my soul.
I feel inspired and full of righteous desire. A fire fills my spirit as I
prepare to preach to the souls of this dispensation. There is no greater joy
than that of repentance. Make it a daily goal to reflect on how you can become
better, and your day will be filled with inexplicable joy. I promise this. The
lesson we had with this wonderful couple was a tender mercy for me and I am
forever grateful to have experienced it.
Fotos:
1. Batismo of Bryan and Maria Martha
2. Haircut
3. English class
4. Théo, the goat
5. Cuzcuz part 2 (has the fork)
6. Cuz cuz part 1
7. All you can eat buffet
8. Super sick bike
9. The district
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