Dear Family,
These last 2 weeks have been wonderful, fun, and full of lot´s learning experiences! First in celebration of Colombus day, October 12th, the Spaniards have a lot of pride, go crazy and party hard. Here it is called Dia de Españoles. They dress in traditional Spaniard clothing, sing, party, and DANCE!!!!!!! We went on preparation day and joined in the celebration. We watched one of our investigators, Enoch, getting baptised soon, dance. He is from Ghana so it was African dancing, but there was all kinds of dancing everywhere in the streets so Im sure you can see how much I enjoyed this event and day! Felt like I was back at Disneyworld. They had this huge just huge pile of flowers to the saint Pilar. There were parades and food from every latin country. Pilar (name of the whole monthly event) ended with fireworks that are even cooler than the states! Just as you see the finale it stops and starts over again and the fireworks are so different...kinda neat.
The Sunday before I bore my testimony in church and for some reason everyone thinks I can speak Spanish just fine so I was asked to give a talk then sing that next Sunday. It went fine. I got up there fearless not nervous at all and talked about the role of the spirit in conversion. How we as missionaries don´t convert, it´s the spirit that does. Our job is just to help them feel that spirit that manifests the truth of all things. Then I used Columbus as an example in remembrance of Columbus day. Here is a little piece of what I said:
Between 600 BC and 582 BC, the prophet Nephi from the Book of Mormon recorded this remarkable prophesy:
"And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters, and I beheld the spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man, and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my bretheren, who were in the promised land." (1 Nephi 13:12)
Columbus explains his motivation for making the great voyage of discovery with these words:
"With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies, and he opened my will to desire to accomplish the project. This was the fire that burned within me when I came to visit Your Highness. All who found out about my project denounced it with laughter and ridiculed me. All the sciences which I mentioned above were of no help... Whocan doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit who encouraged me ....urging me to press forward?
Columbus, ofcourse, did not have access to the Book of Mormon account of Nephi´s vision, yet he understood clearly the prophetic nature of his endeavor..."I believe that there is evidence that our Lord is hastening these things. This evidence is the fact that the Gospel must now be proclaimed to so many lands in such a short time. No one should be afraid to undertake any project in the name of our Savior, if it is a just cause."
As missionaries we need to remember just that. To not be afraid to take on this great task or project. We are here in the name of our Savior, our badges even say it. Our Savior accomplished all. And for me that sounds like a pretty just cause, why not go forward with the work? Being a missionary is not easy, but so worth every minute! And it´s fun! So have confidence and don´t be afraid to get out there and share what you know to be true, because it is true and the spirit will manifest to the people that it is. Yay for COLUMBUS who discovered the promised land, America, so that this great work could be brought to pass!
¡Adelante!
Le ama,
Hermana Walker
Here is my address if you would like to write letters:
Hermana Walker
c/ Clara Campoamor 18, 8B
Zaragoza, Spain 50018
Hermana Caminadora, Spain Barcelona Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
No comments:
Post a Comment