Email 3/4/17
Hello everybody,
I feel like every time I sit down to write this email every week, I have forgotten what happened and what I was going to say, no matter how busy the previous week was. Last week was a busy week, and so it went by quickly, and so it’s kind of hard to remember everything that happened because the days kind of just blur together during weeks like this.
First and foremost, we had the wonderful opportunity this weekend of participating in the General Conference. Because of the size of our branch and the lack of technology expertise of our branch president, we had to take some time last week to run around to a couple different tech stores, looking for the right cables and adapters in order to Broadcast General Conference from the computer onto a TV. So that was fun, but of course, the best part was watching the conference itself! Because of the time difference between the United States and Spain, we watched the Saturday morning session live at 6 PM on Saturday, the taped Saturday afternoon and priesthood sessions on Sunday morning, and then the Sunday morning session live on Sunday evening. It’s a bit complicated, but it’s such a blessing that we can be so far away from home and yet still able to participate as if we were there.
It’s always a privilege to hear the prophet, President Monson, speak. I loved His remarks about The Book of Mormon. “I speak about the power of the Book of Mormon and the critical need we have as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings in our lives.” I start of most every day by reading a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon. It’s been such a blessing for my life, and I do agree that the need to study it is indeed “critical.” The prophet Joseph Smith said it best by saying that, “and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book,” which is something I have felt as I make the Book of Mormon a part of my daily life.
Things have still been going well with Miguel and Jessica. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see them a lot due to the passing away of Jessica’s grandfather during the week. We hope we have the chance to see them soon in order to share about temples and how we can preform the work there for our family members who have passed on before us and be sealed together for eternity to them. Death isn’t the end, but just a step in the plan that God had made for our progression. Miguel seems to be doing alright with quitting smoking so far, but it’s been several days since we have been able to meet with them, so we’ve just been hoping that they’re doing alright.
There was one night this week when, as we were getting ready for bed, we received a phone call from the Gibson’s (one of the senior couples in the mission) informing us that we would be undergoing a piso inspection the next day. Although we keep our house clean and orderly, we were definitely not ready at that moment to undergo a piso inspection the next day. You see, one of the curses of living in a three story house that has undergone years of missionary abuse is that you might have the misfortune of being in said house when the time comes to have it inspected. Although we received a notice about a month ago informing us of impending piso checks in the mission, I had just set it out of my mind, thinking perhaps that the day would never come or that I might be transferred before it would.
Alma 34:33 says, “I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.” The day of accountability for our actions always comes and we’re going to regret it if we’re not ready. Fortunately, in this case with our house, the “night of darkness” was not upon us yet as we still had some time the next morning to use to clean our house. And clean it we did. When the Gibson’s showed up that afternoon, it was immaculate, and even though this all ended well, it was an important lesson to me about the dangers of procrastination.
Love,
Élder Stark ??
Photos
1: Afternoon in Motril
2: Our District: Hermana Woods, Hermana Gentry, Elder Cox, Elder Carter, Elder Cerna, Elder Ramírez, Elder Morgan, Elder Bird, Elder De La Rosa, Elder Stark, and Elder Pack.
3: Again, the district: Elder Cox, Elder Cerna, Elder Ramírez, Elder Morgan, Elder Stark, Elder Bird, Elder Pack; Elder Carter, Hermana Woods, Hermana Gentry, Elder De La Rosa
4: General Conference generally is a genial gathering
5: Until next time
