Bonjour Friends and Family!
This week was so packed with stuff I have no idea where to start and what to include because I am well aware I write way too much. Alright I will focus on three things: The Visit by Elder Gary B. Sabin and his wife and the success of Light the World! Ok, on y va!
We were privileged enough to be visited by Elder Sabin and Sister Sabin. He is a member of the European Presidency and a member of the First quorum of the Seventy (if that has no relevance to you, refer to Lds.org.) So they gave us a wonderful formation about missionary work, but the advice can be applied to everyone!
One of the best things he spoke about was how missionaries should view numbers. Elder Sabin said in effect that numbers are important, but they aren’t just numbers. The number represents a person and it is our job to remember them as people not as numbers. Just as our Father in Heaven knows us personally, he also has numbered his people.
The big focus of Elder Sabin’s formation was how to judge our success and what to focus our teaching on as missionaries, and this can be applied for member missionary work as well. When it comes to teaching others about the Church of Jesus Christ we need to focus on one thing and that is The Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. A very big issue many people have is that they just do not understand who they are and the potential they have. Our message is the Plan, we share the plan and they learn who they are and what great things they are destined for. Every question anyone has, can be answered with the Plan of Salvation. Long formation short, Heavenly Father gave us the choice to decide if we will be exalted or not. We make our choices because of our agency, we can do whatever we want in this life, but an eternal law must be remembered, that we do not choose the consequences of our actions. So do your part and learn about the plan and then teach others and you will reap the blessings of heaven, rather than the consequences of choosing sin.
I really enjoyed how Elder Sabin determined how we are successful. He used the story of Nephi in the Book of Mormon. This is in the book of Helaman, when the Nephites are incredibly wicked and Nephi is not sure what to do any more and he prays to God and this is the response he receives. The Lord in effect tells him that Nephi you are not blessed because of the amount of people you have baptized or the amount of people you reactivated, but he said blessed art thou for trying your hardest. That was the theme of his message. We are not blessed because of numbers or because of the praise of man, we are blessed by how hard we are willing to work. Obedience is key to this principle and I will not claim to be perfect about following rules because I fall short a lot, but it is important to remember that we have not failed until we quit trying. So as long as we are working hard and trying to become better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ then we will reap the blessings.
Elder Sabin used this great analogy about the Commandments. In my mind I pictured the commandments as a giant wall, and he said that we can be beating ourselves up with the commandments or we can be blessing ourselves with them. It’s our choice to decide if we want to run into the wall and break ourselves or we can simply follow their teachings and enjoy a life that is full of the Light and Love of Christ. Follow the commandments and we will be blessed, it is that simple. Elder Sabin said, concerning happiness, “Smile because you know what you are doing is the will of the Lord. We don’t find happiness in everything, but we should in knowing we are doing what the Lord asks.” The life of a disciple of Christ is the best life and although it is hard and we will all face our ups and downs, I know the ups will always outweigh the downs and the joy we receive knowing we are worthy in the sight of God will be far greater than anything the world can offer us. Elder Sabin said we do not have to see success to know what we are doing is right and in my own words, Being faithful is more important than being successful.
Alright this email is long, so I will keep the rest of this short. We have been seeing a lot of success from the Light the World initiative. Truly the spirit of Christmas helps others receive the light of Christ more fully in their lives. We worked pretty hard this week and plan to work even harder this next week to find those who have been prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is FREEZING here and it snowed as well, oh lala, we walk around in low 30’s and high 20 degree weather and it pierces you to the bone, but it is worth it! Light the world with your testimonies and your service and you will be blessed for it! I’ll invite everyone to watch the Light the World video again and determine to share it with someone else if you liked it.
Merry Christmas, I love you all and bonne continuation,
Elder Molinari
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