Week 95: "I bear testimony of the amazing power of the Book of Mormon: of its simplicity and its truthfulness."

This week flew by! This week was interviews so we traveled with President to 6 of the 10 zones that are located in the interior of the mission. Everyday we were blessed to see a miracle in one way or another! On Monday we drove up to the zone of Mercedes. President taught to the District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and us the importance in following the example of Christ as a leader. He taught us two principles: the first being the need to be an example, the second being the importance of “Following Up.” He taught us “Following Up” is an eternal principle that is taught to us in the temple with Christ and our Heavenly Father. After the meeting with the leaders we had a meeting with the whole zone and he shared a scripture with us, Alma 5:7. He taught that every one of us is surrounded by a darkness that at one point and time in our lives causes us to fall into a deep sleep en cuanto a Dios. He shared with us that the investigators are sleeping in en cuanto a Dios and us as missionaries; it is our responsibility to wake them up from their deep sleep. And the way we do that is illuminate their souls with the word of God that is only found in the Book of Mormon. I bear testimony of the amazing power of the Book of Mormon: of its simplicity and its truthfulness. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon describes the plan of Salvation, contains the doctrine of Christ, and is the evidence that Jose Smith saw the Father and the Son in the sacred grove. President Smith showed us how we can use the Book of Mormon in order to help them understand the Doctrine of Christ. During our training we backed up president´s teaching of the importance of simplicity and directness by reviewing the purposes of the first three lessons. President has split the first lesson of the Restoration into 3 parts: 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, each lesson being shorter and teaching one of the three principles of the restoration. The first – the first vision and Jose Smith, the second – The Book of Mormon, and the third – the necessity of the power and authority of God in order to perform the sacred ordinance such as baptism, the confirmation, and the blessing of the Sacrament. We had seen that the mission was confused with the purposes of the first threes lessons so we helped them clear up their questions and resolve their doubts in this subject. We also talked about a few other things: giving baptismal dates, giving commitments (we introduced a new commitment in the first lesson – it is so legit!), the mission team, and how to teach clear and with power! The next day we went to Paysandú. After the trainings and meetings we did divisions for a little bit. I went with, Elder Bagget, we went to the house of a teenage kid that lived in the states for a few years. He couldn´t attend us so we contacted the next house and no one was home. As we were leaving the house we saw a guy of about 25 years old walking in the street, we stopped and talked to him. He said he was on his way to go steal some stuff, which is how he made his living when we testified to him that our message would change his life. He accepted the visit so we went to his house and taught him a lesson. At the end of the lesson we asked him to say a prayer, asked God for the thing in his life that he most desired, he said that he wanted his girlfriend to come back. No joke, as he said amen, his girlfriend opened the door and there she was. He was stunned. He said that it was the prayer that caused it and that he wanted us to come back the next day. It was such a spiritual experience! Then the next day we went to Salto, then Artigas (it was much fun to see every one again), then Rivera, and then we finished in the Tacurembo! It was a lot of fun and we learned so much! I love you and have a great week! 

Elder Arbon