It was an Awesome Week

Monday, June 13, 2016

We took an early bus for 6 hours all the way back to Barranquilla for Leader's conference.

Leader's Conference in Barranquilla, Colombia

After the Leader's council we had a devotional by the new apostle Elder Ronald A Rasband.  He came to Barranquilla to talk about the temple and spoke at a devotional for all the members of the church in Barranquilla.  He didn't come specifically for the missionaries, but all the leaders were able to attend, as well as all the missionaries currently serving in Barranquilla. It was super cool!  

The Area President was also there.  The devotional was so great.  I received a lot of answers for myself. 

While we were there, we realized this would be the last time we would see President and Sister Searle.  It was super sad!  We all took a bunch of pictures with him, and with other missionaries who will be going home next month.

Elder Burk and President Searle

It seems like the whole leader's council is going to completely change over.  All of them are going home with the big surge of missionaries that came out together after the age change.  We are going to be left without a lot of leaders.  It will be tough.

Elder Wyat Selman and Elder Mason Burk

Elder Rusada sp? is an area authority from Peru, that spoke and has a lot of energy inside and is super awesome.  He taught us about the temple.  He listed 5 things we need to do to prepare to go to the temple.  He said a tradition in English means to turn in something.  I liked that.  They are things that we get our family to turn to everyday.  I hope that everyone can make these things a regular practice in their homes, marriages, and families. 

1. Put a picture of the temple in your house.  If it is hanging in your house every single day, you will make the goal to go there.  

I feel really good about our family that we've had that our whole life. 

2. Buy your own temple clothes, get them in a bag, and always be ready to go. In Barranquilla, maybe it will be hard for you to buy all of your temple clothes at one time.  So start now.  While the temple is being built, buy a tie.  Then buy your pants, then one sock, then another sock.  Work up to it slowly, until you have all of your white clothes and you are ready to walk into the temple of God. 

In Mosiah 13:30  It talks about remembering our commitment to God. 

3. Remember to do your own family history work.  Find names and be ready to go to the temple.  Yeah, well, this part I have not done so great on, but I'm going to do it more when I get home. 

4. Have a current recommend to go to the temple.  Keep it in a safe place so you always know where it is.  And then use it.  

5. Make dates to go to the temple.  Make dates with your spouse, with your kids to go regularly. Talk to each other and set up specific dates to go.  Where you guys live it is not hard to go to the temple--once a week, once every two weeks, or once a month. 

I would really like to invite my own family to do that.   Every Mom and Dad, that go to the temple together regularly and study the scriptures together every single day, will have their marriage change for good.

When Elder Rasband got up to speak, the spirit was so strong, and felt so Awesome! I wrote down so many things. I received a lot of answers to personal questions I had.  Surprisingly, I did not write down very much about what he said.  But I did write things about my life and what I need to change.  And I pretty much wrote a talk while I was sitting there.  

I was thinking about my future and what I wanted to do.  

The family is of the Lord--it is the most important school your children will attend.  

When we got back home, we were greeted with a lot of rain.  We are working with an investigator named Harold Ayala. He's 18 years old and has kept every single commitment we have given him.  From the first day we knocked on his door, he just looked at us and smiled, and when we asked if we could come in, he said, "Yes." He's listened to everything.  He loves it.  He's felt the spirit, and now he's getting baptized. He has his interview on Saturday.  We are so excited about that.  

We finally got a deaf class organized in church, so now we can get members to start learning signs and going out with them. And I almost gave a talk in church.  They asked me during sacrament meeting when someone didn't show up.  So I sat on the stand, and was ready to go, then they needed the meeting without me.  I had a great talk put together from all of my notes I took at Elder Rasband's devotional address in Barranquilla. 

Here are some pictures from my last area in La Playa.  The Elders there finished teaching some of our investigators.  They got married, and baptized.  I was so happy to hear about it!

The wedding of Joel Ospino and his wife Sara.

Omar Morelo baptized his sister Tatiana