Amar y Servir

Amar y Servir

Monday, October 13, 2014

The Fourth Missionary, Smelling Roses

This past week has been pretty eventful. We had a false alarm with bed
bugs, transfers just happened, and among the many other things, the
power has gone out in our apartment. With the exception of the three
most important things in the house: the washer and dryer, oven and
stove, and last and not least the refrigerator. *phew

This next Saturday we are having a baptism! (Well 4 people) they are
awesome kids and their grandma that takes care of them won't be to far
behind along with their sister who turns 8 in December. Yea!! The
Spanish is coming slowly but I have such a strong testimony of the
gift of tongues. The Lord truly blesses those that are in the service
of Him.

So it's been quite a ride being here on the mission. I have come to be
extremely grateful for the experiences I've had and the things I have
learned in this short time. Being a missionary is NOT easy. If I
didn't put enough emphasis on what I just said... BEING A MISSIONARY
IS NOT EASY!! So how on earth can so many returned missionaries look
back to their mission as such a great and valuable experience? Well
let me tell you what I have been able to learn so far.

Just recently I read the Fourth Missionary by Elder Corbridge. He
wrote it while he was a missionary president. It explains four
different kinds of missionaries. The first two were disobedient
missionaries that result in them accomplishing nothing on their
missions and they eventually fall away into inactivity or are very
uncomfortable when anything about missionary work comes up. To add, no
one benefited. The third missionary is obedient, only because they
have to, and possibly brings many people unto Christ. Yet they don't
actually change themselves and don't have many spiritual experiences,
even if they are in spiritual lessons. Basically they don't change a
whole lot personally, even if they do good things and follow the
rules. How can that be? They are doing everything they should right?
Well, on paper yes. They follow the rules. They bring others unto
Christ. To add they served a full mission. But they are missing one
quality. They haven't given themselves to Him.

One scripture that we all know talks about this.
"25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
(Matt 16:25,26; emphasis added.) "

The main difference is here in this scripture. The difference is that
the Fourth Missionary GIVES himself. He gives up his own dreams,
wishes and desires. He allows them to be turned to the side and to be
overcome by the dreams, wishes and desires of our Father. This also is
what defines a disciple of Christ. So when you can truly become the
Fourth Missionary you also become a disciple of Christ. One that is
full of "Faith, Hope, Charity and Love with an eye single to the glory
of God." D&C 4:5

This should be the focus of our lives. To become a disciple of Christ.
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will
lose his life" in the service of our God "shall find it"

I know that when we truly can turn outward and lose ourselves in the
service of others, we can truly become more like Christ. And whether
we may know it or not, that is what everyone wants to be like in the
end. It's our divine nature to have this desire. I know this church is
true with all of my heart. And through my mission the Lord has been
able to stretch me and mold me into the kind of person he wants me to
become.  In more meaningful and effective ways that will last
throughout this life and through the eternities. I say these things as
a humble missionary and servant of the Lord. In the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Elder Nathan Benson


P.S. Don't forget to stop and smell the roses :)


Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Blitzing for Baptisms

I really want to be
better at emailing you guys.  I think I am starting to figure it all
out. And Elder Taylor absolutely
loves the letter Brooke wrote him. He is "going to keep it forever"
yes he loved it.
One thing that has been going on for me, to keep you guys in the loop,
is the growth first of all.

My testimony has been stretched, pulled, and formed into something
much more powerful than is comprehend able right now. It has been
quite a ride. I have been going through times of great blessings and
miracles, and at the same time I have had to push on through feelings
of insufficiency and inability. I have felt a roller coaster of
feelings, most have been the ones I have just mentioned.
We have been getting a lot of work lately. Which has been a huge
blessing. There are days that we have so many lessons we have to
reschedule some for future days because other lessons go over time
because they are so good, or because there simply isn't time.

One family is on date for next week. So we are blitzing to get them
ready for their baptismal interview this Saturday. This family is
amazing. They do almost all the homework we give them and this
includes going to church for the past 3-4 weeks! Their grandma is the
only one not on date because she needs to quit smoking, but she is
showing a lot of promise. The 4 grandkids under her care are the ones
on date.

One more family is one that we just taught for the second time just
yesterday. They are so ready. They don't do anything against the word
of wisdom, except very infrequent beers. They share a lot the same
values of our church. At the end we were feeling the spirit so we
invited them to baptism! We didn't set a date but we plan on doing
that soon.

Your updates keep me going, especially when I get to see you guys grow
through the gospel. I promise to write more next time and they will be
better. I love you guys!

P.S. Conference was awesome! I don't have a favorite talk because they
were all so good!

P.S.S. We might have a bed bug problem.... We are taking a lot of
precautions right now. We are praying it was a false alarm.

Elder Nathan Benson