Monday, May 19, 2014

"The Spirit is the real teacher, and when it is present hearts are touched and lives are changed."

Hola familia como les va?

With the news of Connor in the hospital with stomach pains I can imagine that being a little bit scary for everyone! I remember the time I ended up in a hospital after taking a dive off a mountain trying to ride a bike! The good part of this story is that Connor was conscious while entering the hospital and he was in Texas with the comfort of having Mom at his side! But I am sure glad everything is okay!

Well I will very briefly detail what has been happening this week so I will have time to write a few of you individually, it has been a while since I have done that!

This past week was really great, we are working with a wonderful family we found about 3 weeks ago. The Murillo Family! It is a little strange how the family is made up because it is actually 3 sisters and each of their 1 daughters. The whole family has been to church 3 times now and have also been going to the activities we have been doing as well. They are progressing spiritually as well as socially mixing with the ward. 

A great experience we had with them was when we went to verify the first time they read the Book of Mormon. They had all read together and when they did, they all started to share with each other what they had learned. We had given them 2 Nephi 32 which talks a lot about prayer and we felt that it would be perfect for what they needed. Well when we asked them what impression they had had while reading they commented to us that they had had the feeling that baptism is what they needed to do to enter the true path. This was a little striking to us because to be honest the chapter doesn't mention the word baptism even once. 

I instantly remembered something that Elder Bednar had taught us while he was here about a year ago, he taught us that the Spirit is the real teacher, and that it is possible to receive personal inspiration for your own needs that has little or nothing to do with what the speaker or teacher is teaching. This is true conversion. We helped them understand the answer and then helped them put a baptismal date for next Saturday! The Spirit is the real teacher, and when it is present hearts are touched and lives are changed.

In the mission right now we are getting ready to start the last zone conference tour in the President Prince era. The focus this conference will be "the method" by which we teach, the Holy Ghost. We have good practices and trainings set up that should make it a special conference for every one. 

I have learned so much being at president's side, it seems like I have a journal full of wisdom that has helped me in a lot of ways. We are also planning the Mission Leadership Council and that will also be a great meeting. I have learned something about setting goals, we have tried in the past to think of the best possible ways to set our goals to the point where they are reasonable, and stretch the missionaries. However, we learned that the missionaries respond better when they are the ones who come up with the goals. Instead of putting ones on them, they come together and commit themselves to a goal. When it is their idea they respond better. So that is what we will try this time to hopefully get everyone pumped up for the last 2 months of President Prince! 

Alright! Thanks for everything, see you next week! 


Elder Eliason 

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