Hey folks!
It turns out, for these next six weeks I will be with Elder Martinez and in Las Ilusiones again. This will quite possibly be my hardest transfer in the mission up to this point, since the progress did not change very much since early January. So my companion and I will be praying harder, studying harder, and working harder.
And for now, I just want to share a thought. I figure I should keep my updates shorter and more to the point. We only have so much time to write so I want to make sure that the little I write can be more dense with the word of God.
A scripture that has been helping me a lot is found in Alma 27:16-19. It is about the joyful reunion of a few missionaries found in the Book of Mormon, one of which is Ammon. Mormon made a note about him, explaining why he was so happy upon meeting with ihs brethren, that he even fell to the ground unconscious. Mormon explained the following.
Now, let us ask ourselves, who is the "truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness"? This is the type of person that recognizes that they are imperfect, but tries their best every day. This is a person who strives for perfection but is not a perfectionist. This is a person who does their best but at the same time lets themselves make mistakes. And this is a type of person who makes mistakes so that they may learn wisdom from their mistakes. Along with this, this is a person who counts his blessings, who sees the positive in every situation and in every other person, who wants others to be happy as well. This is a person who is always smiling because, even though they struggle with sickness and discouragement and lack of success and support time from time, they have no reason to not smile.
And this is a type of person who understands the role of Jesus Christ in the wonderful plan of salvation. Because of His sacrifice for us, we can make mistakes, so that we can learn from them, and partake of Christ's love upon asking for forgiveness and the things we do wrong. And we can feel happiness in the instant. Though perfection is eventual, we can experience joy right now. We can rejoice in our being human, because we can always improve. We can feel exceeding satisfaction in everything that we do as we strive to do what is right and fix what we do wrong in the process. And we can be happy in knowing that our Heavenly Father knows us personally and perfectly, and with this can provide us with jsut the right experiences and resources that we need to be able to return with Him after this life is over. As long as we strive to do what is right and follow His Son Jesus Christ, we will have no need to fear, but rather be able to feel the peace after the manner of Christ. We can always be happy. We can rejoice in the many blessings we have wrought by the hand of God. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us, and that our Savior loves us too. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Elder Dredge
P.S. Among the pictures I have is one of Elder Martinez and I at a nice view we have in our area in a nice and elevated neighborhood. Along with that, some food I'm cookin'.
Elder Braden K. Dredge
Guatemala Guatemala City East Mission
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