July 9, 2012

It was about 8:00 at night and my companion and I were selecting the last few houses we wanted to knock before heading back to our apartment.  Looking down a little allyway off the main street we saw a quaint house all lit up.  As we approached the house, we noticed a couple things.  First, alongside the house was another allyway, but much smaller and much darker.  Second, there was a plaque on the house that said, 'pequeno covento'.  I pointed to the plaque and kind of laughed, thinking that this was an extremely Catholic home or something like that.  Without putting much more thought about the strange plaque, I clapped my hands at the door to get someone's attention inside.  Imagine our surprise when a nun came walking out of the kitchen to answer the door!  hahaha :)  My companion and I just looked at each other and said, 'ohhhh...so that's what 'pequeno covento' means...'!  The nun answered the door, and I did some quick thinking and starting a conversation with her just talking about how we were missionaries here in Guarabira and did she know anyone that we could visit.  We had a pleasant little conversation about how much the people of Guarabira needed Jesus Christ in their lives, and then the Nun told us that she could give us one piece of advice.  She pointed to the dark allyway that passed along the side of her house and proceeded to tell us that we should never go down that allyway.  As my companion and I walked away from the 'pequeno covento', my companion turned to me and said, 'before we knocked on the nun's door I wanted to walk down that allyway...'  The Lord's always looking out for us, even if it's through a Catholic nun!!

Last night, my companion and I stopped at the home of a family who we had made a contact with earlier in the week.  The grandmother, daughter (40), son (35), and daughter of the son (10-12) were present.  We taught a simple lesson about the importance of batism and invited the family to prepare to be baptized.  The family wasn't super receptive, but they said that they would be willing to come to church one Sunday and learn more about the Gospel.  It was just a normal lesson with the normal responses.  However, at the end of the lesson my companion asked if there was anything that we could do to help the family.  The adults shook their heads, but the young daughter timidly raised her hand to draw our attention to her, and said, 'I have something that you can do.'  Then, with a slight crack in her voice she continued, 'Can you please help my father stop drinking?'  I looked into this young girls eyes and could see the enormous amount of faith that she had in us - she truly believed that we could help her father.  I've never helped anyone overcome something as difficult as drinking, but I'm not about to let this little girl down.  My companion and I won't leave Guarabira without doing everything in our power to help this father stop drinking and to bring the the blessings of the Gospel into this family!

With my interaction everyday with a wide variety of people, members, less actives, and people of other religions, I see more and more clearly how Satan works in our lives to destroy us and our families.  In 2 Nephi 28:20-22 it says, 'For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.  And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: all is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well - and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.  And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none - and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.'  Satan is tricky.  He uses a variety of different methods to pull us away from the things that will truly bring us happiness and eternal life.  And for this reason the Lord has warned us, 'wo be unto him that is at ease ini Zion!...watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil and ye be led away captive by him.'  The Gospel isn't just a 'to do' list of 'fun suggestions' or 'good ideas'.  The Gospel is our protection!  The Gospel is the ONLY way that we can defend ourselves and our families from Satan's influence.  Family pray, daily scripture study as a family and personally, FHE, visiting teaching, home teaching, attending church meetings, living worthy and honoring our covenants, obeying the commandments (tithing, word of wisdom, the law of chastity, etc) -- these are the things that will truly protect us.  We can't afford to make excuses to not do these things.  Instead, we need to make excuses TO DO them!!  This Gospel is true!  When we live the principles of the Gospel we will have true happiness in our own lives and in our families.  And one day, if we remain faithful and endure to the end, we will receive eternal life!  This Gospel is glorious!