Wednesday, July 2, 2014

6/23/2014 Email


From: Camille Weller [mailto:camille.weller@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 11:35 AM
To: Melissa Wheatley;
Subject: 15 minutes early to church...

 Wow this week was so awesome!!! Apart from the progress and work here in Chivay we got to go to a zone conference in arequipa, with two other zones and it was the most spiritual conference i can remember.. loved it! Well i guess ill start with what else happened this week. 

Oportunities to serve both miembros and investigators came out of the woodwork this week, we got to help Hna Gladis, one of our new investigators clean and organize her store(which included moving huge bags of noodles and rice.. talk about a work out.), we got to help hna sonilda pull the dried corn kernals off the stem.... our hands were practically bleeding but it was worth it(: She has been less active for quite some time and we couldnt find a way to gain her trust... until that day, now were practically best friends and she is excited to meet with us and come to the activity this friday.. charity never faitheth(: then last but not least, we got to help put back together a nursery room for one of our investigators. Ive gained a strong testimony that if we pray to have more service oportunities the Lord will open our eyes so that we can find them (:

At our zone conference we talked about so many good things! heres some of my favorite things..

Attitude is the key to accomplishing our goals.

We can not have a testimony of the church without paying tithing.. tithing is a commandment of obedience and blessings. 

We also talked about the importance of the sacrament.. and we were challenged to be at church 15 minutes before the meeting starts.. and to invite the members and investigators to do the same.. in that time we can think about the past week and think about the things we need to change.. i loved that. we did it this week and it made such a difference.. i never even thought to do that at home.. it was always rushing to get there right on time.. it makes a difference to just take time to get there, and then have time there in the chapel to think and to listen to what the spirit wants to tell us. So thats one of my invitations to all of you, and i know that if you try it, you will feel the difference, especially during the sacrament. 

We also talked alot about fear.. about how when we have fear.. we cannot have the spirit with us. then we talked about ways to get rid of fear..

1 to trust in God.. to trust in the holy ghost and trust in things you cant see..

That like the people in alma who burried their weapons of war.. we should burry our fears and never look back.. some fears we might have are being affraid to share the gospel.. or to fully commit to living the gospel.. we might be affraid to reach out to someone or to express our love for those around us.. whatever our fears may be we can overcome them and become stronger..

2 is love.. "El amor perfecta desecha todo el temor" .. perfect love casteth out all fear. When we love those around us and love our Heavenly Father then we wont be affraid to show it.. to be obedient and to love and serve those around us. 

then we talked about how there will always be oposition but that we also put our own limits and we decide how far or how much we will do. loved that. 

I think the best part of the whole conference was at the end.. each zone had to do a musical number and it turned out so cool! one of them did Joseph Smiths first prayer.. another did i know Heavenly Father loves me, and then our zone sang Army of Helamen... the spirit was so strong and i just sat and thought about how much i love being a missionary.. and how much i love my mission and the people here in peru. These last 3 months couldnt go by slow enough for me. as much as i miss my family and friends, the love that i have come to have for the mission is more than i thought possible.. i didnt even think that i would make it this far, but here i am(: And i know that it was because of the help of my Heavenly Father.. missions are the best. THE BEST. 

Then after the conference we got to hang out with president and sister zobrist and talk about a conference thats coming up, they are seriously the best.. i feel like they are my 2nd parents and can feel thier love each time im with them.. we have the best mission presidents in the world, im sure of it(: 

When we got back on friday night there was a huge party in the plaza for the anniversary of chivay and then saturday we got to see alittle bit of the ceremony and stuff that they do, they also had a parade.. and a bunch of drunk people passed out on the benches... rough night i suppose haha 

Sunday was such a good day, we got to church early and had time to sit and think and make some new goals on things we want to improve, all the missionaries did a special musical number as well which turned out pretty good, were just full of musical numbers this week! Victor also recieved the priesthood! so proud of him, he is such an amazing guy is progressing more than i could have hoped for(: Then me and hna stone taught the gospel principles class about agency and the decisions we make heres some parts from that chapter..

“Thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee” (Moses 3:17).

God has told us through His prophets that we are free to choose between good and evil. We may choose liberty and eternal life by following Jesus Christ. We are also free to choose captivity and death by following Satan. (See 2 Nephi 2:27.) The right to choose between good and evil and to act for ourselves is called agency.

Agency makes our life on earth a period of testing. When planning the mortal creation of His children, God said, “We will prove [test] them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). Without the gift of agency, we would have been unable to show our Heavenly Father whether we would do all that He commanded us. Because we are able to choose, we are responsible for our actions (see Helaman 14:30–31).

When we choose to live according to God’s plan for us, our agency is strengthened. Right choices increase our power to make more right choices.

As we obey each of our Father’s commandments, we grow in wisdom and strength of character. Our faith increases. We find it easier to make right choices.

We cannot choose righteousness unless the opposites of good and evil are placed before us. Lehi, a great Book of Mormon prophet, told his son Jacob that in order to bring about the eternal purposes of God, there must be “an opposition in all things. If not so, … righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad” (2 Nephi 2:11).

When we follow the temptations of Satan, we limit our choices. The following example suggests how this works. Imagine seeing a sign on the seashore that reads: “Danger—whirlpool. No swimming allowed here.” We might think that is a restriction. But is it? We still have many choices. We are free to swim somewhere else. We are free to walk along the beach and pick up seashells. We are free to watch the sunset. We are free to go home. We are also free to ignore the sign and swim in the dangerous place. But once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. We can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown.

Even though we are free to choose our course of action, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. The consequences, whether good or bad, follow as a natural result of any choice we make (see Galatians 6:7; Revelation 22:12).

Heavenly Father has told us how to escape the captivity of Satan. We must watch and pray always, asking God to help us withstand the temptations of Satan (see 3 Nephi 18:15). Our Heavenly Father will not allow us to be tempted beyond our power to resist (see 1 Corinthians 10:13; Alma 13:28).

God’s commandments direct us away from danger and toward eternal life. By choosing wisely, we will gain exaltation, progress eternally, and enjoy perfect happiness (see 2 Nephi 2:27–28).

 
That was probably one of my favorite lessons.. i got to share my testimony that i know that when we choose to be obedient and do what is right we are more blessed and we are actually more free.. and when we choose to do what is wrong, we cannot be happy and that it will actually only bring less freedom into our lives. 

Well this past week was amazing, this week is the last week of transfers and we will see what happens(: we had some missionaries from Arequipa come visit so today we will be hanging out with them which will be fun to have visitors here! We´ve got Elder Boyds birthday this week, which will be fun, and were still praying that Brenda will get baptized this saturday.. keeping the hope! also i will hit my 15 month mark this week! crazy!!! i hope all of you have an amazing week and can look for more oportunities to serve and also make the effort to be at church 15 minutes earlier! love you all!!! (: 

Hermana Weller 

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