Outpouring of the Spirit

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I had the privilege yesterday to attend the Zapadores Stake Conference. The chapel and cultural hall were full as we listened to inspired messages from the various speakers including Elder Garcia of the area seventy. It was raining outside and at times so hard that the sound on the roof was very loud.

It was truly inspirational to me to see the faith of those who attended the conference. They could have easily just stayed home and justified not attending because of the rain. The Lord will greatly bless them for making the effort to leave their homes and attend Church in spite of the bad weather. President Illesca, the Stake President of the Zapadores stake gave an excellent talk on the importance of being faithful tithe payers. He cited a quote from President Hinckley that impressed me very much:

1. Faith is the power.

2. Obedience is the price.

3. Love is the motive.

4. The Spirit is the key.

5. Christ is the reason.


In Alma 37:36 we read:

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

We may at one time or another ask ourselves, “Why did I come on a mission?” There may various reasons such as “it was something I always planned to do” or “I know it will make me be better” or “my parents wanted me to do it” etc. However, after all is said and done, Christ is the reason we invite others to come unto Him and love is the motive. As we truly develop our love for the Lord we will come to a greater realization that this is truly His work and we are serving Him. We may ask ourselves, “How can I develop more love for the Lord?” The Lord has said the following in regards to this:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
In other words, obedience with exactness is the price we pay to develop greater love for the Lord. It is extremely important that we understand this principle. Our conclusion from this is the following:

1. Obeying the commandments and the rules of the mission with exactness will increase a missionaries love for the Lord.

2. If we are obedient to the commandments and the rules of the mission with exactness we will increase our love for the Lord.

3. I will obey the commandments and rules of the mission with exactness.

But as Elder Bednar has said on a number of occasions, “we do not always act according to what we know.”

Let us follow this counsel given in Preach My Gospel:

Live What You Learn
As you feel the joy that comes from understanding the gospel, you will want to apply what you learn. Strive to live in harmony with your understanding. Doing so will strengthen your faith, knowledge, and testimony. Acting on what you have learned will bring added and enduring understanding (see John 7:17).

Let us make our love for the Lord our greatest motivation in everything we do as missionaries so that we may be instruments in the Lord´s hands to bring may souls unto Him is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

We love you very much,
Presidente May