From Sister Bailey Elizabeth Rhoads BOM DIA TUDO MUNDO! Wow... don´t even know where to start, so much happened this week. But let´s start with Elder Holland... :) So everyone saw, I got to sit super close to him :) :) :) But after we took the picture, we all got to shake his hand :) It was incredible. I felt an overwhelming feeling of love from my Heavenly Father when I shook the hand of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Crist. Incredible. And then we all went into the chapel to start the conference. Poor Elder Holland was EXHAUSTED from travelling, he was falling asleep during the opening part and testimonies... but then when it was his part, he was filled with energy. He started off saying that he´s famous for chewing out missionaries... one of the things he doesn´t tolerate is missionaries who have no idea what they´re doing. He says that he goes crazy, bounces off the walls, screams, and his wife hides behind the piano haha. He said that when he goes to a mission with missionaries who don´t know what they´re doing, I´m a crazy man...But for you guys... I won´t do that. Yes I´m crazy... crazy for you. Keep doing what you´re doing... If you´re moms could see what I see, they´d be so so proud of you... I guess he liked us :) He then jumped up with energy of a 5 year old and said give me a microphone, I want to be right down there with them! Then proceeded to hop down the stairs, and grabbed Sister Mio´s face and said I want to get right down at your level and get in your faces! And gave an AWESOME training about our need to be close to Christ so that we can invite others to be there. We can´t invite others to be a part of something we´re not a part of. He said that we need to be able to say that WE are on the journey to salvation and exhaltation so that we can invite others to join us on this journey. We can´t invite others to have faith, repent, make and keep sacred covenants, and endure to the end if WE don´t have faith, repent daily, keep our covenants, and endure to the end. And not endure to the end of our mission... the end of our lives! We can´t invite others to be beyond where we´re at. And then he gave an awesome comparison. As missionaries we all teach people who are investigating the church. We invite them to hear our message, read the book of mormon, pray to know if it´s true, come to church, keep the commandments, and to make and keep sacred covenants. And oftentimes, we get frustrated with our investigators if they fail to do one of these things, or if they don´t have the desire, or if they don´t want anything to do with these things. Well we are Heavenly Father´s investigators... and He invites US to do these same things. Do you want your investigator to pray sincerely? God wants US to pray more sincerely! So on and so forth... it was a wake up call for me. We are all Heavenly Father´s investigators. He invites us ALL to come unto Christ. One of the missionaries asked him... what is the most important thing we should ask Heavenly Father in our personal prayers, and I loved his response. He gave two responses: 1. Repent and plead forgiveness... oh how great need have we to plead forgiveness of all our mistakes! 2. to live worthy to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. He then went on to talk about how he feels that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most undervalued thing in all of the Gospel. We take advantage of it, we don´t understand it, we don´t value it as we should. We act like it´s no big deal. He asked us if we truly realized that the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead... Heavenly Father sent Him to be with us, and He can be with us at all times after baptism if we live worth of His presence. That gave me a greater desire to always have the Spirit with me, and made me think of the things in my life that drive away the Spirit. So I invite us all to think of the things in our lives that maybe drive away the Spirit, and make goals to change so that we can always have this miraculous gift with us :) He talked about many many many other things, don´t have time to share it all. But that same night, he gave a devotional for all the ward members and shared the story of how his father was reactivated. One sunday, the bishop, the elders quorum president, and the sunday school president showed up at Elder Holland´s dad´s home. Elder Holland´s dad had been inactive for years... he smoked, drank coffee, and a beer or two here and there. When they arrived, he was smoking and had a cup of coffee on his table. The Sunday School president said, Brother Holland, we´re calling you to be a sunday school teacher. Brother Holland responded, ... BUT I SMOKE! The Bishop said... That´s your problem, not ours. Get it figured out. There was a silence for some time as Brother Holland thought it through. They didn´t tell him which class, but the Spirit spoke to him at that moment and said, It´s Jeff´s class they want you to teach He took a good look at Jeff who was 10 then... and then he responded, When do you want me to do this? There was a huge clatter in the kitchen as his wife dropped the pots and pans she was cleaning haha. And then they responded, Well the availability is this Sunday... But if you´re asking when YOU will do this... well you tell us. There was silence again... he pulled our his pack of cigarettes and threw it into the trash and said, I´ll see you this sunday. They confirmed what the spirit told him that he would be teaching Jeff´s class. He turned his life around, served as Jeff´s teacher for 2 years, then in the bishopric, and then in several other callings. But I just love that story. Elder Holland once upon a time was a 10 year old son of a drinking, smoking, less active father, and is now an apostle of the Lord. This man turned his life completely around because this bishop and sunday school teacher took a chance on him. I hope we can all look at the members of our ward who have lost their way and are maybe walking down wrong paths, and not see them as they are, but as they can be. Everyone of us has a divine nature, and a divine potential. Don´t ever EVER give up on those who have lost their way... for Heavenly Father never gives up on them. He is counting on US to be instruments in His hands to bring them safely back into the fold. He gave us all the challenge to think of someone that we know that is like his dad, and reach out to them and bring them back. All of us know a brother holland or two. I extend Elder Holland´s challenge to the people of Santos, Brasil to all of you at home. Do something THIS WEEK to reach out to a Brother Holland that you know to touch their lives and come back. And never give up :) Well lots of other things happened this week but I´ve gotta run! We´re teaching seminary, throwing an awesome mutual for the young women, and a date night for the bishop and his wife :) Oh and a baptism this saturday! Guilherme and Lucia... two very special people :) I´ll share their story next time :) LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL! Love, Sister Rhoads
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 17:03:42 +0000
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