Week #49
Alright. Time for happenings and what not.
Yesterday I spoke with my family with my companion and two members of a Brazilian Priests Quorum. One asked if my sisters are always so excited and my companion, Elder Souza (Souza as in the word "sew" not "sue") has already asked permission to marry one of my sisters. I just responded, "Se ela aceitá-lo." He finishes his mission in about 6 months and is studying English.
On to other things. We have a goal this week to speak with at least 220 people. It's almost double what is expected. It should be difficult, but should be worth it too. What a surprise for the Zone Leaders. With that many people to talk to, I should have some good experiences this week.
I've been reading a book called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries." The principles are wonderful for member missionaries and full-time ones too. There are a lot of good things I'm learning that I plan to use here to work with members and in our teaching.
I recommend studying it and trying the things the author suggests. He cites numerous stories the really are miraculous. Remember that faith precedes the miracle and faith without works is dead. Ou seja, we need to work if we want to see miracles.
We can learn this in the example of the Brother of Jared. In Ether 2:16, The Lord says, "Go to work" and the Brother of Jared, "did go to work, and also his brethren." They followed the commandment of the Lord. When they arrived at the point that they could do no more, (as John Bytheway says, "listen with your spiritual ears" here) they asked the Lord to provide the miracles of touching the stones with His finger. This reflects a phrase that we use a lot in Brazil, "dá umjeito" that translates as "find a way." What it literally translates to is "give a way" or "do everything you can to provide the way". It is this that the Brother of Jared did. The Lord asked him, "what would you have me do?" and the Brother of Jared did some thinking and "did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones." He gave the Lord a way to perform a miracle.
I believe that many times we can make performing a miracle more difficult or easier for the Lord. We are the instruments in His hands. Imagine how difficult it would be to build a house if every time you tried to hit a nail with a hammer, the hammer turned to the side or even jumped out of your hand. We can be a rebellious hammer, or an obedient hammer.
We can better ourselves even more if we make ourselves more sensitive to His touch. We can be as precise and useful as the surgeon's scalpel in the hands of the Lord, but we need to do the refining and sharpening and we must maintain that blade sharp and clean. The surgeon probably won't use a dull blade in a heart surgery, let alone a rusty one. We must be pure, sensitive, and receptive to the guidance of the Spirit if we want to help the Lord perform miracles.
His work and His glory is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man and he lets us help if we are found worthy. "And faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work." Our focus has to be His Glory, and we already know what that glory is.
The act of sharpening must be unpleasant for the blade. It scrapes the blade. The blade loses parts of itself. The blade is repeatedly dragged against something harder than it is that it may be refined and useful. If we don't let ourselves be sharpened, we are not useful.
Let's all be well sharpened instruments in the Lord's hands.
I love you all.
Elder Dickson
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| Here's a picture with myself, Elder Cotton (from Texas), Elder Barnes (from Kansas), and Elder Souza. |
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