Missionary work is full of surprises each day. By the end of this week, Sister Brewer and I were convinced that it was not yet Reggie's time to accept the gospel. We said, "He just cannot give up his addiction to smoking!" We gave him an ultimatum and invited him to accept the full gospel. A few evenings later we were speaking with him; he said, "Sisters, I really wanted to pay my tithing a church earlier, but there were no slips left to pay it." We were shocked to learn that Reggie had been expressing his faith in ways we could not detect. By living the Law of Tithing, although he is not yet even a member, he showed us his sincerity about accepting the gospel (http://www.mormon.org/faq/church-tithing). His family can barely afford food, does not even own blankets, and struggles each day to make it. Yes, he has an addiction he must still overcome, but he can do it as he continually expresses his faith in the Lord. I am thankful the Lord gave us a way to show Reggie's seriousness about the gospel. We might have left him, even though he had a strong desire to follow the teachings of Jesus.
This week we taught Heizel. She is a young wife and mother and is dedicated to following the Lord. She is a member of another church, but welcomed us in to share about the gospel. Heizel, like many people in the Philippines, likes to argue, "One god, right?" People say this all the time to us as missionaries, their thought being that we all worship the same God and that it does not matter where you worship Him. Our response as missionaries is always the same:"One God, one gospel, one truth, one atonement, one path, one way." Heizel told us that there was no way that she can believe that we are the only true church. I told her that all of the churches are true, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the whole truth. We have the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. You will only find bits and pieces in other faiths. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus walked the earth and established this Church and it is on the earth once again.
In Helaman Chapter 5, we read, "...the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.
And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls."
No comments:
Post a Comment