But first things first. I have a new compañera, Hermana Loyola, from Culiacan, Mexico. She has just one transfer more than me, in fact, she only entered the CCM two weeks before me. So, we´re both pretty new. It´s been fun though, she is very sweet and sincere. It´s been interesting though, because now I´m the only one who knows the area and all the people and members here, so I´ve been the one who has had to take the lead.
Yesterday, for the first time since I´ve been here in Mira Azul, we had investigators come to church!!!! We had two investigators, well, two and a half (one doesn´t live in the area, but we´ve been teaching her a little) come see conference! WOOO-HOOOO!!!!! One was Jair, our eternigator who really has problems making the commitment to come to church. The other was Santa Rosa, the same investigator I taught by myself a few weeks ago when we did divisions. We also had a number of menos activos come, it was so great! I am so excited to be seeing these miracles here!
Ok, conference! For those of you who aren´t members, every April and October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a world-wide conference in which the prophets and apostles of the Lord, as well as other church leaders, speak to us.
I saw both of the morning sessions in Spanish, in the ward building. I understood the messages, but I am really looking forward to reading the talks later on so that I can get the most I can out of those talks. It will be like conference all over again! I got to see both of the afternoon sessions in English in the stake center.
So, even though I only saw two sessions in English, the Sunday Afternoon session was definitely my favorite. In fact, it might be one of my favorite sessions of General Conference ever, it was so good. Every talk. I especially loved the three by the three apostles, Elder Hales, Elder Oaks, and of course, Elder Holland´s.
One thing that Elder Holland said that I really liked was that the atonement of Jesus Christ saves us from the effects of sin and stupidity. I mess up so often. I´ve said plenty of stupid things during lessons, it´s honestly a miracle that we manage to gain or keep any investigators. But that´s just it. It is a miracle. The Lord is there to save me and the work every time I fall or do something stupid. And just like Elder Holland said, even though we may not be perfect, even if we don´t progress very much, in this gospel we get credit for trying. And I am trying the hardest I possibly can.
Elder Holland´s talk also reminded me of an article that I read earlier this week, "It isn´t a sin to be weak." The author pointed out something really interesting. A very famous verse in the Book of Mormon says "And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble..." I´m pretty sure I´ve commented on this verse before, about how it is exactly when we are coming unto the Lord that we see our weaknesses most clearly. But in this article the author pointed out that while sins are encouraged by Satan, our weaknesses actually come from God. They are not the same thing. And while we must repent of our sins, weaknesses require a different response. They require faith, and humility, and patience as we work to overcome them.
I encourage all of you to read that article. And to watch conference again :)
Love and miss you all!
Hermana Herron
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