I hope everyone had a fantastic week and are doing great this beautiful Monday morning! (It´s beautiful here in Costa Rica at least :) )
This week was a good one and I have great news... Santiago is getting baptized on Saturday!! Even though the iron rod activity that we did was a failure haha, we went to visit him during the week and he agreed to be baptized the 17th! He´s actually super excited now too and handed out invitations to everyone at church on Sunday to invite them to come. That made my day and I can't wait til Saturday. His mom has been a member of the church her whole life but went inactive after high school. She just started going to church again this year and hasn't missed a Sunday since :). Her husband and her 2 step-sons aren't members yet so I´m looking forward to be able to teach them as well and I´m hoping the baptism of Santiago will soften their hearts and increase their desire to listen to us and follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
I was studying in Alma 5 in the Book of Mormon this week and I LOVED it. I hadn't read it in awhile so it was definitely nice to review and learn from the teachings of Alma. I loved the whole chapter but there were a few verses that I liked especially: verses 14,16,18-19,24, and 27. I´m not going to attach all these verses in this email, but I invite you all to look them up because they are powerful and super great. Alma asks a TON of inspired questions in this chapter and they really impacted me while I read them. One that I will share is verse 14:
"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"
This verse impacted me greatly as I read it because it made me think and wonder if I really have been born of God? Or if I´ve really received his image in my countenance? Or if I´ve really experienced this mighty change of heart? I think these are great questions to reflect on for all of us and I inivte all of you to do so as I have. The Lord expects us to be able to respond to these questions (plus all the other questions Alma mentions in this chapter) and I want to be able to respond confidently to each and every one. I love this Gospel so much and I´m so grateful for the blessings it has brought me. I truly testify that there is no greater joy than living the true and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and applying it daily to our lives.
Love and miss you all!
Elder Smith
Pics: playing with my favorite niño :), "Am I too turtely for your turtle club?", more turtle pics
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