Akory aby! Hope you all are doing well and it was a great week! This was a good week for us! A few sad moments this week as our investigators that were preparing for baptism
this Saturday were not able to get vita soratra (legally married). That was sad but I know they will be baptized one day!! We do have a baptism coming up this week! Emma will be baptized! She is a twenty-year-old girl and the cousin of our Young Mens' President who is also the Institute teacher who is also a recent convert. He is a baller. But anyways Emma is a stud like him, so we are pumped to see her baptized! I know she will help this branch a lot!! This week I thought a lot about the Atonement of Christ. One thing that amazes me is how little other churches teach about the Atonement. We will teach members of other churches and lots of them know very little or nothing about the Atonement. They know Christ died for us but it seems as though that's all they believe or know. It makes us sad when people don't know what the Atonement means for us and how many blessings it allows us to receive. There are 3 scriptures that I read this week that really made me think about the Atonement. The first one is Alma 37 verse 46. (I don't have my scriptures and this computer is too slow for me to switch pages and copy and paste. I am sorry you will have to read them on your own haha). This scripture talks about how the way is prepared for us and if we will look we might live. Then in Omni 1 verse 26 there is a line that says "partake of His salvation." I love the Malagasy translation of this as it translates to "handraisanareo anjara aminy famonjeny." It literally translates to take responsibility in His salvation. These two scriptures stood out a lot to me. The Atonement is done. Vita. Check it off the list. It's finished. Eternal life, happiness, peace, living with God and our families for Eternity is all prepared for us. It is all there. Heavenly Father and Christ are now just telling us to go get it. The path is there and Christ has done everything for us so that we can receive all that God has prepared for us. But we need to partake of His salvation. We need to take responsibility and do what we need to, to receive it. Christ suffered, died, and rose again for us so that we, sinners, can receive such great blessings. But it doesn't just come to us. Christ didn't just suffer and die for us so that we could be lazy and not follow Him and still get all that. No, He did all that and prepared the path. And then He showed us that path and has given us all we need to go and stay on that path. But He cant drag us down that path. We need to do our very best and when our best comes short then He takes care of it. But it has to be our very best. I had a seminary teacher tell us that everyone in this life gets what they desire. That is so true. Hopefully our first and foremost desire is Eternal Life and following the Savior. If it is, then we know we will do anything to get and do that. If our desire is to go win a state championship, we are gonna work our tails off and practice more than everyone else. And if our desire is to follow the Savior, we are gonna work our tails off and follow Him. Then the last scripture is in Moroni 10 verses 32 and 33.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.
(Hey that copy and paste worked, #churchistrue.) Christ prepared the path and He calls for us to walk with Him and follow Him. As we give all we have to the Lord, He will perfect us. He doesn't ask for us to be perfect but He asks us to give our very best. There is a quote by Gordon B Hinckley if I am not wrong, sorry if its not his quote. He said, "All we have to do is try, but you REALLY have to try!!" I know that is true. The Atonement is done. We just need to follow Christ and keep His commandments and do our part. I know that through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we can follow Him and do all that is required of us to receive the blessings of the Atonement. I hope you all have a great week!! A day without repentance is a day wasted :) Veloma! Mazotoa.
Our dinner with President Danielson. He came to the other missionaries house this time haha we made sloppy joes. His daughter wasnt the biggest fan.
A bunch of little kids ran up to me asking for help and led me to this poor kid whose older brother tied him to a fence. He was crying and I told him I would let him go but I had to take a picture first haha...older brothers are jerks. At least I never tied you to a fence Brax haha.
Dorgivier's mom wanted a pic with me haha. She is awesome and will be baptized in a few weeks! Sadly I wont get to see it.
Some nice Malagasy bathtubs.
A selfie with all the kids in Mbola's house for our lesson with them! Thats only the kids that were in the lesson! haha.
And a kid at Mbolas that wanted a pic!
This fruit is the fruit from the baobab trees. The ones Madagascar is famous for! Btw the fruit was nasty. It was way sour and just weird haha
Mbola's brother wanted a pic with us and it was way windy ha.
