We had Zone Training this last week
and what an inspirational meeting that was! My approach to missionary
work now has changed for the better. The main focus was extending the
baptism invite with our investigators in the first lesson and when we contact people
on the Square. As missionaries we are called of God to preach the gospel
to others and we have the authority to invite others to be baptized by the
proper priesthood authority. It is so easy to forget or we might be
apprehensive to do it because we do not want to offend those not of our faith,
but from that meeting I have a stronger testimony of the importance of
extending invitations, especially the baptism invite.
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| On exchange with Sister Yim |
Yesterday I was on an exchange with
Sister Yim from Hong Kong, and we took a Cantonese tour. They were two
men who were friends, Tim and Larry (not their real names). They both
moved here to Utah from China. Tim could only speak Cantonese and Larry
spoke both Cantonese and English. Tim did not have a belief in God and
Larry did. Larry brought Tim to try and persuade him to believe in
God. For the first part of the tour Sister Yim talked with Tim and I
talked with Larry. I learned that although Larry had a belief in God and
Jesus Christ he did not agree with having to attend church or find the one
truth because as long as we are kind, and have a relationship with God we are
okay. As we walked from place to place I began to share the Plan of
Salvation, but then our conversations turned elsewhere and I thought that Larry
needed to hear about the Restoration, but none of what was said brought the
Spirit. Larry was constantly talking and talking and he never allowed the
Spirit to teach him what he needed to hear. When we were at the Christus,
I thought that maybe he would open up to
more of the message, but still that Spirit I expected to come, did not.
We then ended the tour by taking them through "God's Plan". In
the third room, the Zone Training came to mind and I felt that we needed to
give Tim and Larry the baptism invite. In the last room when the video
was finished, we asked them to share their thoughts and feelings from the
presentation. Tim was touched because it shared the importance of
family. At that time I knew for certain Heavenly Father wanted us to
invite him to be baptized. I felt unsure how to approach this because Tim
and Larry had two completely different understandings of God, but I felt the
Spirit right next to me. After Larry had shared his thoughts I told them
we had individual invites to give them. I looked at Tim and asked that
when he comes to know that God exists, would he be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ? Sister Yim translated for him and he said
"Yes"! We continued to bare testimony to him and asked him to
stay in contact with us so we could help him learn more about his relationship
with God. Later she explained to me that after we had invited Tim to stay in contact with us, Larry
told him there was no need to because he could teach Tim about God.
Apparently Sister Yim immediately told Tim, "No! Do not listen to
him! We are missionaries and we have been called of God to teach others
about God and Jesus Christ." Tim's response was that he willl only
listen to Sister Yim and will only ask her when he has questions. In the
end, Tim gave Sister Yim his number to stay in touch.
Although this experience was a very
intense, I came out of it with a more profound
testimony of being worthy of the Spirit. I testify to all of you that the
Holy Ghost does exist. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a
living day prophet who holds the proper priesthood authority, the same
authority Jesus Christ himself did. I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Love,
Sister Aquino
Sister Aquino
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| My district in the Beehive House |
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| A package full of sunshine from the Ringleins! |
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