I Cannot Explain to You the Light that has Come Into His Life

From Cambree King

Teaching in Honduras

... Gustavo. So everyone here kept mentioning to us that we needed to teach him the law of chastity. I guess they kind of have judged him but anyways... the story goes. We went on Monday to teach him and as we walked in, we both decided that the law of chastity wasn’t it. We needed to teach him the word of wisdom.

We taught what we could, and he began to tell us that he drinks coffee. He doesn’t just drink it... he lives off of it!! Haha! He drinks a good ten glasses of coffee each day. That is definitely hard to hear when his baptism date was for Saturday. Well... we didn’t give up.

The next day, he committed to only drink three glasses of coffee. Of which he did and the next day, he went down to two. That was Wednesday and on Thursday... he drank three. On Friday, we bought some organic coffee that Mormons can drink and we took it to him -  from Friday on, he said that there would be no more coffee in his house and he was done. It was literally something incredible... leaving coffee in less than a week.

And so he got baptized this Saturday and I cannot explain to you the light that has come into his life. When he left the water, he had the biggest grin on his face and every person there could see the difference he has made in his life. The bishop took a good ten minutes to talk about the change he has seen in him and was literally left shocked. I have prayed that the Lord would bless us with people that have a true desire to come unto Him. Gustavo has pure intention to come unto the Savior and I am so grateful that I was blessed to be here and be part of his coming unto Christ.

An Incredible Week of Miracles

From Cambree King

Teaching in Honduras

... This week was an incredible week of miracles and I am so happy I got to be here to see all of this happen. First off... I do have transfers. I will leave (Juticalpa, Honduras) in the morning tomorrow but I don’t know to where. I said all my goodbyes Sunday because I was pretty certain I was leaving. I am excited for new things. Something different... a new companion, area, investigators, challenges and successes.

As for the miracles... One of the very first persons that I met here in Honduras is a lady named Johanna. She is living with a member (who was less active) but started to come to church back in August. Johanna always came with her. We tried so many times to put a baptism date with Johanna or teach her or try to talk to her but it was so difficult. The desire really just wasn’t there. On Tuesday, she called us in the morning and said she wanted to be baptized the next day. So we went over the baptism questions and the next day she was baptized. It was absolutely incredible. It made me realize and understand so much more about the Lords timing in all thing here. 

We are also visiting another less active [member] who hasn’t come to church for 10 years. Sunday, she finally came and it was one of the happiest moments here. To see the light in her eyes as she took the sacrament is a moment I will never forget. 

And another... we have been working with a family and they never ever come to church. And this Sunday they finally came. As I said my goodbye... Felipa started to cry and I realized that all the work we had done has really made a difference. I know that one day her and her family will be baptized and will be so happy. 

A Life Saved, a Purpose Found

From Cariann Weiler

Serving in Idaho, USA

A woman we have been working with who hasn't been to church in quite some time recently had a near death experience. We will call her Camrie.

Camrie grew up in the church but hasn't been in years. I met her because she used to live with her active grandparents before she moved down the street. 

Camrie accidentally overdosed this last week. She had to take two different medications because of health concerns. By mistake, she took the one that she had already taken two hours before. A family member had found her and she was lying on her bed completely blue! They were able to save her life and she should be dead right now.

This woman, through her experience, has truly felt that God saved her life, and that she obviously has a purpose in still being here. Seeing a new found light in her eyes, the spirit prompted me to invite her to take the missionary lessons. She exclaimed, "Yes!" where two weeks before it would have been a absolute no. 

The work presses forward!

A Warm Smile and a Hand to Help

From Dominic Shaw, 
Teaching in Korea

Doctrine and Covenants section 45 verse 28 is the Lord's promise that, "when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my gospel."  The promise is that the Gospel itself, as restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, will be the light that leads God's children back to his presence, but I submit that we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are to be the points from which this light shines forth. It isn't hard to radiate this light.  All we have to do is continue in God by showing an interest in our fellow man (D&C 50:24).

I learned the validity of this principle here in Korea, when I met Brother Seo.  We were waiting in the bus terminal in Sacheon ( a small town in the area where we are teaching) for a bus to take us back to Samcheonpo, where we live.  As we were waiting, an 18 year old kid walked by and greeted us with a "hello" in English. This is quite common in Korea.  I decided to have some fun and see how much English he actually knew and  responded with a cheery "Hello! How are you?" a phrase most students are equipped with.  This lead to a nice little conversation in which we explained we were missionaries, exchanged numbers with Brother Seo and went our separate ways.

Later we began meeting with Brother Seo and he began attending our church because of the deep conviction he's always held that church will bless his life.  He is still in the process of investigating our church, but the point of this story however comes with what Brother Seo told me that first Sunday he attended our branch.  In explaining his reason for coming to church he said, "You were different.  I say 'hello' to foreigners all the time, but I've never received any more than a 'hello' in response.  When you asked 'how are you?' I sensed that you were different and I wanted to know more."

It's that easy.  It's a warm smile, a hand to help.  It's being a true brother or sister to everyone around us.  I promise that as we strive to treat all of God's children the way we would treat our own immediate family that the light of the Gospel which radiates from us will indeed grow "brighter and brighter until the perfect day."