Being Wise, Yet Harmless

Greetings from the south!

It's been a quick week but a good one. Full of small miracles and the joy of spreading the Gospel! Man. It's crazy how much reading the Book of Mormon can have effect on people. As we've been reading this week, our attitudes, our outlooks, our very desires have changed for the better. That book is REAL. And we've been utilizing it a lot in our teachings with Andres.

Hi-jacked picture from Mission Consejo

He's still great. And we see the evidence of his conversion everytime we talk with him. He's come a long way. But, he still needs to get married. And thank you Argentina for making that very difficult for him as the government building where you get married (I don't even speak English anymore...) is on strike... Great. There's really not much we can do there but pray. And trust me, we'll be praying like maniacs. But until that time that they decide they want to work, we just have to keep helping Andres build up his faith. And you do that through the Book of Mormon. The Hermanas who were here before us told us that when they first met him, Andres read through 1 and 2 Nephi in a matter of days. He loves it. And he's resolved his own doubts by reading it. But, he's fallen behind a little bit. He's been in Mosiah 2 for a number of weeks now. Come on man! King Benjamin?? That's the best part! So, this week, we decided to use his own vice of curiosity against him, just as Ammon was wise, yet harmless in his contention with King Lamoni. We asked Andres what was keeping him from reading. He told us he was confused in regard to the timeline of the Book of Mormon. "Why isn't it the Book of Nephi?" he asked us. "He wrote it!"

Hermana Beckstead and I looked at each other. "He wrote part of it. But the rest was abridged by Mormon."

"I'm still confused."

We knew there was no way we'd be able to explain the entire complex timeline of the Book of Mormon to him in those last few minutes of our lesson. Luckily, back in my Resistencia days, I had stumbled across an old Liahona article that was actually, a detailed timeline of the Book of Mormon. I smiled.
"I have something to show you next time." I told him.

The next time was Saturday. He came, he sat down, we got Hermano and Hermana Avalos the older to come sit with us as well, and we whipped out the timeline. It's HUGE. It's like, six pages, front and back. It stretches out into this long banner that details the dates, events, and peoples of the Book of Mormon. We proceeded to give a rehearsed summary of the ENTIRE Book of Mormon, including details of the different peoples and their trials. As we spoke, Andres just got this look on his face of complete desperation. His confusion had deepened. Which was EXACTLY what we wanted. Perhaps that seems a little counterproductive. But trust me, giving him a teaser of what the Book of Mormon actually contains and how complex and complete it really is, will be the driving force he needs to actually read it.
"You just have to read it." We told him, smiling.

We then bore solemn testimony of Jesus Christ and how one will draw closer unto Him by reading and living the teachings found in the Book of Mormon. It's crazy how fast the spirit flies into a room when you speak of Jesus Christ. We may not speak perfect Spanish, but we don't need to when we have the Holy Ghost doing his job, which is to testify of the Saviour. While before, the lesson had been fun with our elementary school teacheresque presentation of the Book of Mormon timeline, it turned very quickly, very serious and reverent as we testified of the Lord. All of us had tears in our eyes.

I really do know He lives. I know the Atonement is real. And I know that He is the ONLY way by which we will obtain salvation. We cannot trust in the arm of flesh. We cannot trust in our own strengths and abilities to save us. It will never be enough. But with Christ, we can do ALL things.
"I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness... and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come." Mosiah 4:11 I love the Lord more than I can say. And I pray that one day, I will be able to look Him in the eye and tell Him, "I've done my best. Please help me do the rest." Trust in Him. He will NOT leave us comfortless.

I love you all,
Hermana Hein

HiJacked Picture from mission Consejo
Jenessa camera still not working