The Sacrament! May 16, 2016
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It feels like almost everyone dropped us this week, an incredibly solid recent convert from February, told us that she doesn't want us contacting her anymore, a family that seemed really solid that we were starting to teach told us maybe in a few weeks they would have time, and it seemed like everyone we were meeting with, we dropped. We decided with a lot of our solid families moving out, that we really need to be working on our branch. We aren't able to get many members out with us to teach, or the investigators we are working with have dropped us, so we have decided to actually put in an Oklahoma Initiative plan this week. We are actually going to do it. We, unfortunately, have already done this. But it's only up from here!
Last night after an appointment with a less-active couple and their mother (she's like in her 90s) who we started teaching last week, we went out and tracted in the rain- to be honest, that's the first time that, I think, I've actually tracted in the rain. And we found, Lee, and talked about the Plan of Salvation and set-up a return appointment for Tuesday! We are super excited about this and have seen miracles from being obedient and working even when it's a struggle! We have a baptism of an 8 year old girl this Saturday. Madi is from a part-member family (so she isn't a convert baptism), but we've been working with her and helping her to understand the gospel a little bit better and she is amazing! She is just a bright young girl and understands the gospel and wants to be baptized for the right reasons. In stark contrast to Madi, we have tried to work with another less-active's 8 year old daughter who has been raised in the not so great circumstances who says she wants to be baptized. The environment and manner that children are raised are so vital and it's sad to see 2 girls that are the same age, both wanting to be baptized, and yet, the second doesn't understand nor is ready for baptism and so we can't let her be baptized into inactivity. We are going to continue working with the second girl, but it's going to be awhile until she's ready and we are going to start focusing on her mom and hopefully that will help!
So something that has stood out to me this week was Elder Bednar's remarks in his last General Conference talk entitled "Always Retain a Remission of Sins" he says "The ordinance of the sacrament is a holy and repeated invitation to repent sincerely and to be renewed spiritually. The act of partaking of the sacrament, in and of itself, does not remit sins. But as we prepare conscientiously and participate in this holy ordinance with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then the promise is that we may always have the Spirit of the Lord to be with us. And by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, we can always retain a remission of our sins." The highlighted part is what stood out to me this week and during gospel principles, as one of our recent converts who was baptized in January or February was teaching, the answer of how then do we retain a remission of our sins through the sacrament hit me. We take the sacrament every week, and we always say that by taking the sacrament we are renewing our covenants with God. Well,
then, why doesn't it feel like the amazing opportunity that it really is? As Brother Gilbert was teaching, I was thinking about him and the other recent converts conversion process. They worked so hard to be ready for baptism. Their baptism was a huge deal! If we made taking the sacrament each week a big deal, a big next step in our lives, how much more meaningful would taking the sacrament be! We have to prepare for the sacrament like a convert. Meaning, as I prepare to take the sacrament throughout the week, in what ways am I needing to repent to truly be ready for that sacred ordinance? Or what is the Spirit pushing on me to repent of, or change, to be more in line with God's will for my life, right now? Maybe I can't completely
change my negative thinking this week, or maybe I wasn't able to get to studies on time each day this week, but what am I doing to get there? How am I showing God that I am really changing/repenting? What goals can I set to measure my progress? As we do this, I believe the need for the sacrament and significance for the sacrament will increase in our personal lives! So I hope that that made sense and maybe gave a new perspective on the sacrament for any of you reading and I would love to hear some of your thoughts on the significance of the sacrament for you too! (: I love you all and hope you each have such a blessed week! Chao!
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