Even though I am in a separate hemisphere, it appears that allergy season is the same in Chile. The last two weeks have been pretty rough, but I hope I'm on the tail end of it.
We are teaching a family that is preparing to be married. The parents are Erwin and Maria, and they have a 13 year old daughter named Paz (peace) and a 7 year old son named Johan. They are awesome.
I don't think I was a very spiritual person before the mission. Whenever people talked about spiritual experiences, or feeling the Spirit, I just generally felt uncomfortable. But I love feeling the Spirit now. It is a crazy experience, being an instrument (teacher) in the hands of the Lord. Example:
We had a lesson with Maria and Erwin on Sunday night. Before the lesson, we weren't really sure what we were going to teach, but we did know that we were going to verify that Maria had kept her commitment and prayed to know if she should get married.
We get to the house, and had a bit of chit-chat, and then started the lesson. I had a feeling that we should talk about the "will of God", and a scripture came to my mind. So we opened up to Matthew chapter 10. (By the way, I love the Bible. The actual teachers from the Master himself. So powerful.)
28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I explained that we don't have to make choices or decisions alone in this life. We are imperfect people, and even when we are the MOST careful and exercise the BEST of our judgement, we will make choices that we will regret later. But it doesn't have to be like that. We can yoke ourselves together with Christ, and He will make a burdens light. We can depend on Him, and on His guidance.
Sometimes, God wants us to do things that we don't want to do. We can't see how this particular piece of His Godly Advice will work for us, or we are reluctant to make a sacrifice. But when we humble ourselves before Him and are obedient to His will, everything will work our for our good. Even if it's not completely obvious at first, He wants only what is good for us, and He knows what that is better than we do.
We read about the Atonement, and how Christ submitted himself completely to the Father's will.
41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Even though the experience was so painful that He bled from every pore, He did it. Luckily, God's will for us is usually not that painful.
In the end, it turned out to be the perfect lesson for Maria and Erwin. Maria had not prayed, because she doesn't want to get married. But she recognized how that is a personal desire, and she recognized the need to ask God for His input on the decision. It was a spiritual experience, and to end it all, Erwin prayed for the first time. It was the most sincere prayer. He had expressed extreme reluctance to pray in the past, but really wants to get married. He seemed to be saying to Maria, "I'm willing to do things that make me uncomfortable, because I want to do what God wants me to do. Will you do what God wants you to do?"
I loved it. And I love them. It's kinda weird to love people in another country that speak a different language and have a different culture, but I do.
-Elder Crotzer
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