Transferred Again!

Week #76

I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but it seems that the Lord doesn't want me getting comfortable in my area anymore. This will be my third area since leaving Montenegro in August. Goodbye Vera Cruz. Now, I have to spend the day packing everything. I was not expecting to be transferred, so I have a lot to do. 

This week was a week full of work and Marli was almost baptized. I have never seen someone face so much opposition, especially from her own family. The strange thing is that even though we were so close and didn't make it, I am still satisfied with our work. There is a promise in Preach My Gospel that says a diligent missionary is happy. It's true.

I started to read all the Standard Works in Portuguese. My goal is to finish before the end of my mission and at least start Jesus, the Christ as well. I've learned a great deal of the complexities of the language reading the Old Testament and I understand much more how the Church is the same in every dispensation. 

I'm also reading the Book of Mormon for the third time in Portuguese and fourth time as a missionary. I am learning to love it more and more each day. The Book of Mormon truly contains every principle of the Gospel that is necessary for our salvation and rarely investigators understand that fact. President Ezra Taft Benson said that the saints are under condemnation for neglecting the Book of Mormon. I feel I have not been using it as well I as could/should have been. I certainly haven't been giving the Book of Mormon all the opportunities it needs to convert the hearts of men. 

After 20 years as a part of the Church and the many (I lost count) of times I've read the Book of Mormon, I am just now learning how important it really is. I invite all to strengthen their testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is really is the Word of God and should be the keystone not only of our testimony, but also of our daily lives. It should support every decision we make and it's teachings should be a standard by which we judge our own lives. 

All scripture strengthens and builds. All scripture serves as a Liahona to guide us through the wilderness of mortality. As we heed carefully the words written therein and give heed to the directions given, we will be guided to the parts more spiritually fertile of life. (1 Nephi 16:16, 26-29)

The Book of Mormon is true and with the Bible confounds every false doctrine and gives us safety for the soul. 

Until the next area,

Elder Dickson