Dear Everybody,
So many things happened this week! I will have to tell it
day by day again.
Monday- P-day! We went to Belém (in Portuguese that´s
Bethlehem) to visit some historical sites and taste some amazing, tranditional
pastries. It was really fun because the Elders in our district as well as
another pair of Sisters came with us. It was nice to get some fresh air! We got
a wonderful letter from President Fluckiger with a personal story from a
missionary in the States. It talked about spiritual purification beginning with
a fast. I have attatched the text in this email. I highly recommend reading it!
Tuesday- Our last division of the transfer. This time we did
it like the Elders do! I went to Benfica with Sister Azevedo while Sister
Gidney stayed in Odivelas with Sister Call. It was good. These Sisters are
replacing the two that had feet problems last transfer, so they need to do a
lot of work to get the ball rolling again after so much down time. They live
right next door to the Mission Office, so I had the pleasure of seeing Sister
Mendes, the one that got sick in the Azores. Turns out she was born with
two fractured vertebrae that got aggravated from wearing a heavy bag. She is
probably going to get surgery soon. I hope that things work out! Right now she is
staying with the Senior couple that work in the office. Her family actually
lives in Portugal, but I hope that she won´t be released as a missionary! If
you have time, send a prayer her way!
Wednesday- We have been teaching Maria a lot, hoping that she
would get baptized this Sunday. We brought Brendo, a 17-year-old recent
convert, to the lesson. I think the lesson helped him more than it helped Maria
because he keeps telling us how he wants to go back to help her! We hope that
this will give him the desire to serve a mission too, which would be soooo good
for his family. Unfortunately Maria was not feeling ready. She has what we call
an `Iceberg Problem,´ meaning that we can only see 10% of the problem of her
life (like the visible part of the iceberg), and we can´t help her until we see
the part underneath the water. Trying to get to the root of the problem has
been like yanking out a wisdom tooth! We also had dinner with a member that
night, after which I started a 24 hour fast (what a better way to start a
fast?) to know what I can do to purify myself so that I can feel the Spirit
more.
Thursday- Mission Tour with Elder Kearon! It was absolutely
AMAZING! He made me feel so good, you know? I remember at the last mission tour
we all felt bogged down afterward because all that we heard was chastisement
and an overwhelming amount of information. But this time was a lot more relaxed
and focused purely on what we wanted to hear at the time. It was such a fun
experience to be fasting during a meeting like that because I was more
sensitive to the Spirit. It was in Oeiras, which is a big stake center. It was
neat because the people that needed a translation had what I call `TV ears´
connected to a microphone that two Elders were speaking in. It was really tasteful
and helped us cover more and feel more natural. Plus, everyone felt willing to
share what they thought no matter of which language they originally speak!
Friday- Mission Council with Elder Kearon. It was the best
mission council I´ve ever been to! We decided TOGETHER what the missionaries
need right now, including ourselves and it boiled down to 2 main points: Exact
obedience and Being full of faith! We are really excited to help one another do
that! I also got a June Liahona of which MY BROTHER DAVE AND HIS FAMILY IS ON
THE COVER!!! I can´t stop telling people about it! We visited Jorge quickly in
his doorway. We introduced the idea of temples to him, after which he said a
prayer. He started sobbing in the prayer and afterwards explained that sometimes
he feels so happy that he cries! We are so excited that he´s having true growth
in his soul!
Saturday- Maria de Carma was still feeling wishy washy, but
we asked her to be interviewed to have a third opinion from our District
Leader. I don´t know what he did, but it was magical! She finally opened up to
him and he explained that she has to give it an all or nothing effort in order
for her life to get better. She came out of that interview excited and
relieved, ready to do her part. She is marked for June 1st for a do or die
baptism.
Sunday- Brendo through a surprise birthday party for a
member friend of ours! It was a fun way to end the transfer. Both Sister Gidney
and I are staying one more transfer together here in Odivelas, but we are
Sister Training Leaders over a different Zone... No more flights!!!
Whew! I hope that covered what happened. It was a fabulous
week. I love you all,
Sister Derrick
The Price and Blessing of Exact Obedience
“As a junior companion I experienced some missionary success
but it was limited. As a senior companion I
committed to work harder than I had ever worked. Initially
this brought no success. I paid deeper attention
to the scriptures. I worked hard to become a better teacher.
In finding I worked at acting instead or being
acted upon. I thus began to move closer to Christ and
suddenly my appointment book began to fill. I was
excited to finally have people to teach. Finally I was going
to be successful. Then the phone rang. The
mission president was transferring me. It seemed
inconceivable that at this moment I would be transferred.
I went to the new area and continued to work. In terms of
spiritual things, I was starting to
understand more deeply. Yet there was still something
missing. I began to read the scriptures even more
thoughtfully. More accurately, I began to search the
scriptures. As I did, I began to sense that there was still
something missing. One day a member informed us that he had
an investigator that was ready to be taught
and he volunteered to attend the first discussion. The
discussion went along as usual. At the conclusion my
companion and I bore witness of Joseph Smith and then turned
to our friend. He paused for a moment,
looked at the young lady and said, ‘I know that Joseph Smith
was and is a Prophet of God.’ The room filled
with the Spirit. The investigator started to cry. As we
walked home, I was baffled. That man said the exact
same words that we had said but the result was dramatically
different. When he spoke he had an influence
that we did not have. There was still something to be
learned. I had to find out what the secret was so I
returned to the scriptures. It seemed like we were so close
to being effective and yet we just could not make
it happen.
Later we attended a meeting and heard a man speak
about the scriptures as a source of
spiritual power. His words caused a burning in my soul. When
he finished his address, I explained to him my
desire to be effective. I told him about the lessons I had
learned. I told him that something was still missing.
Finally I asked him if he could tell me what it was. He
looked into my eyes and said nothing. Nearly a minute
went by and I began to feel very uncomfortable. Finally he
spoke. He said, ‘Elder, when those pretty young
ladies pass you on the street, what do you think about?’
Before I could answer, he asked, ‘Do you ever speak
sarcastically to your junior companion?’ ‘Do you get up on
time every morning?’ ‘Do you keep every mission
rule?’ His list of questions grew longer. Finally he said,
‘These are things that keep the Holy Ghost from being
your companion. If you want the constant companionship of
the Holy Ghost, then you must purify yourself.
I will tell you how to do it. Go home and fast for a day. In
the attitude of fasting and prayer, make a list of
every behavior that pokes at your spirit. Once you have made
your list, then go to the Lord. Covenant with
the Lord that you will fast from the things on that list for
40 days. In other words, for 40 days you will do
nothing that appears on that list.’
‘You cannot just stop the old behaviors and start the
new ones. You need the help of the Lord. So each
morning go to the Lord and specifically promise him that you
will avoid or start each item on the list. Ask for
his help so you can have extra strength and then at night go
over your list with the Lord. If you failed on
some items, figure out why. Tell the Lord. Ask for more
strength the next-day. Go through the process for 40
days. If you do, you will find that your most basic desires
will change. Your spirit will flourish and the Holy
Ghost will become your constant companion. You will become
an effective tool in the hands of the Lord.’ I
thought I had become an obedient missionary. This man was
raising the standard. He was taking the notion
of exact obedience and complete conversion very
seriously.
We went home determined to make the concept work. We began
to fast and we began
to make a list. It proved much harder than we assumed it
would be. I would pray and then I would feel
impressed to write down some item. Then arguing that there
was nothing wrong with the particular thing, I
would fight the impression. For example, I felt impressed to
put golf on the list. My response was, ‘There is
nothing wrong with golf. We only play on preparation day.’ I
ignored the fact that on the other six days my
mind continually dwelled upon how to play better. I wrestled
with the spirit and then finally wrote golf on the list. It is interesting that
from the moment I wrote it on the list, I experienced the most intense desire
to
play golf. Everywhere I turned there was some reminder, some
temptation to break the commitment. So it
was with each item on the list. Each day I had to fight all
my natural inclinations and turn to the Lord for the
help necessary to overcome myself. Sometime between the 30th
and 40th day, I suddenly realized that my
desire for the things on the list had disappeared. It was as
if a great anchor had been cut from me.
The last morning my companion and I knelt in prayer and then
started out the
door. I was impressed to go back and again pray. With
unusual confidence I addressed the Lord "Father,
these are thy children. We are now doing everything within
our power to live the gospel. We turn the burden
over to thee. Please carry us the rest of the way and the
glory be Thine forever." This was a profoundly
important sentence. We were giving all we had. We were
comfortable in the presence of God. We were
now surrendering ourselves. We hungered only to think the
thoughts of Christ, to speak the words of Christ,
to do the work of Christ. We went to our first appointment.
Halfway through the discussion, our
investigator began to make an excuse that he could not be
baptized because he did not believe that Joseph
Smith was a Prophet of God. I interrupted him. "That is
untrue. You do know that Joseph Smith is a prophet.
Your real fear is that your mother will disapprove if you
join the Church. In the name of Jesus Christ, I
promise you that your entire family will embrace the Gospel
because of your courageous example. The Lord
wants you to be baptized now and it is necessary that you
comply." I never before had done anything like
that. In fact, I knew nothing about his mother. He had
hardly mentioned her. While I could hardly believe
what I had said, a familiar spirit filled the room. This
brother began to weep. He committed to be baptized
the following Saturday. The experience repeated itself. At
our very next meeting with each investigator,
there was a celestial manifestation and every one of them
was committed to baptism. Between Thanksgiving
and Christmas we baptized at least one person every
half-week. It was an unusual number of baptisms for
our mission.
While the number of baptisms was large, the truly impressive
thing was the change in my
companion and me. We were different people. O
