Week #68: El Amor!

Hola!! This week was super hot and super great! Nothing too crazy happened, so I don't have a specific story for you guys...but I just thought I'd share something this week from the scriptures! 

I was reading in Luke 7, the story at the end of the chapter is what I really loved! I believe it begins in verse 37. A sinful woman, began to wash Christ's feet with some ointments and her tears, and wiping his feet with her hair. The Pharises began to question Christ about why He would let a woman such as her, wash his feet. Christ's response is something that just left me thinking for a while. He said that she had rendered Him an act so full of love, and her sins were forgiven because of the love that she had in her heart. Although she was a very sinful woman, Christ had forgiven her in that moment. Christ then said that those who love great, receive great forgiveness. Those who love little, receive little forgiveness. 

There is no need to try to become a "more patient/humble/forgiving/etc type of person". Because at the end of the day, all we need to do is love more, and have pure charity in our hearts for others. As we love at a new level, we become more humble, patient, happy, and obedient disciples of Christ. 

Our greatest example of love was our Savior Jesus Christ. He descended from His heavenly throne, to come among us, only to be tortured, crucified, and hated by those around Him. He loved those that hated Him, and He served those who did Him wrong. The world will tell us to treat others the way they treat us, but if we are to be more like our Savior, we have to love those who despise us, who hate us, who mistreat us, and dont love us at all. I promise we will never regret loving someone to the full extent we can!! 

Week #67: ¿A quien miramos para la salvacion?

Hola hola todos! Como andais mis consiervos? Hope everyone is doing just dandy. This week had it's ups and downs. I'm getting destroyed health wise, between an ingrown toenail, a fever, allergies, and a migraine since Saturday, my patience and endurance has been tried at a whole new level. But...were hoping for a better week here than the last. 

Other news, transfers came...and I'll be staying here in Salto for another transfer!! Elder Johnson and I will be companions for another change. I'm super excited because I'll get to be here to help some of my converts continue to progress and help the work go forward with finding new people! It will be a great change. Although one of my housemates, Elder Ross, will be heading to a new area. Im sad to see him go, for all that I've learned from him. 

Elder Ross started his mission here in Salto just 3 months ago, and it hasn't been easy for him. He's reminded me so much of starting my mission and when I was getting trained. It really isn't easy for anyone to start a whole new life as a missionary. But while you're in those months of trials, you find out what you really treasure in life and whats important to you. I've seen that in Elder Ross a lot more than I ever saw it in myself. Many times, when we have a little spare time in our house at night or spare time after lunch, we end up just chatting or joking around about random things, or we break out a quick card game, or we just hang out and rest. Elder Ross never really joined us in those activities, instead, he reads the scriptures. When he was struggling, he knew the only thing that gave him hope and comfort was reading the scriptures. Maybe he never even recognized it for himself, but it was a natural instinct to open up the scriptures and just read. The joking around, the resting, the games, all of that, didn't matter to him, because it never game him that comfort and joy he needed that the gospel gave to him. 

I think we can all learn from Elder Ross. When we find ourselves without friends, family, our home, or anything else that actually matters to us, the only thing we can do is to turn to the words of Christ to be lifted up and receive hope. John 6:66-68 says something along the lines of, "and Jesus said unto them, Will ye also turn and go away? And Peters replies, Lord, where would we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." 

If we ever feel there is a time where we cant hold out, Christ will always be there with His arms opened wide waiting for us. There isn't a soul in the universe who is too far away from the Love of Christ. Lo conocemos a Cristo por medio de la lectura, la potente oracion, y nuestras obras diariamente. Esta es la senda, y no hay otro camino ni nombre dado debajo del cielo por el cual el hombre pueda salvarse en el reino de Dios. Los amo a todos! Tengan una buena semana! 

Week #66: La jornada espiritual

Yoo! How is everyone doing! Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!! Halloween isn't super big here in Uruguay, but there's a decent amount of kids who go out, get dressed up, and ask for little pieces of candy. Elder Johnson and I decided to dress up as two missionaries and go door-to-door as well:) ha!  

This week was great honestly! Vicente Sosa, who was baptized last week, received the Aaronic Priesthood and got interviewed for his first calling in the church yesterday! He was ecstatic and just super content with everything. Maria (Vicentes wife) is also doing awesome. She called us on Saturday telling us that she was going to try and fast for her first time in her life. She was honestly so excited to fast (she taught me a good lesson there). We talked to her at church and she said she was tired and a little dizzy, but that she was hanging in there! Vicente and Maria have honestly changed my life and raised the bar on how all members of the church need to be. 

But I want to tell you guys about Maicol. He's 19 and we started teaching him about 3 weeks ago. He seems to have had a hard up-bringing, having a dad who is a big time alcoholic and very against the fact that God exists. Maicol recently found a desire to start believing in God for the first time in his life just about a month ago from his girlfriend, who is a member of the church. She gave him a Book of Mormon and he's been reading it ever since. He understands that book better than most of the people who actually go to church every Sunday. He had been praying and studying and going to church for 2-3 weeks and said he still hadn't felt anything that indicated that God existed. He said part of him just wanted to give up and throw in the towel and just go back to how he was before. But about a week ago, he said he read 1st Nephi, and prayed after. He said it was the most sincere prayer he had offered yet, and sure enough, he felt something. He said for the first time in his life, he felt as if God existed, and that was the happiest I had seen him since knowing him. 

Maicol has come to church a few times now, and we meet with him a few times a week. He rejected our invitation to be baptized, because he said he's still working out some of the doubts he's had, but I'm confident that very soon, Maicol will feel the pure desire and need to get baptized. Ive learned a whole lot from him in these weeks. Many times, we dont get that immediate answer that weve been searching for, and we really dont understand why. We know our desires are aligned with Christ and His gospel, but for whatever reason, God just doesn't bless us with that answer at first. Many times we have to work harder than ever before just to know that God exists, as in the case of Maicol. Each one of us are in this spiritual journey full of ups and downs and a lot of hard, but gratifying experiences. I think Maicol would be able to tell everyone that we dont always understand why we have those spiritual trials, but looking back we always realize how God was with us every step of the way and we learned something that we could have never learned if we just recieved the answer easily. 

This video was sent to us by one of the Elders living in the same house with Braxton.  His message attached to the video said "Elder Shoemaker is a best and the people all love him here." 

A picture of some of the Elders in Braxton's zone on a recent P-Day paintball activity! 

Week #65: MARIA Y VICENTE

Heyyyy everyone! Sorry I wasnt able to write a letter last week. Had to sacrifice a lot of time talking to the family and everything in order to play paintball!! It was a great time honestly! For sure the most adrenaline I've felt in a long time...but this week was so memorable actually for what happened over the weekend! 

Maria and Vicente got baptized and confirmed members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!! Their baptisms were so special for them. We received a text from Maria afterwards and she told us "Vicente can't stop talking about the baptism!" That put a big smile on our faces!! They were both just so content and happy after the weekend. The whole week leading up to the baptism they were just anxious and so excited to get to the big day! They are some of the truest converts you can have as a missionary. They had worries about keeping the law of tithing, but after literally 2 minutes of talking about it, they just changed their attitude about it. They just changed their whole mindset towards tithing and just said, "It wont be easy, but God will provide the way. We're going to pay our tithing". They have invested everything into this gospel, and they aren't looking back thinking about what they are having to give up to become members of Christ's true church. 

It's really what we have to do everyday as Christ's disciples. We really will never recieve all the blessings that God has instore for us, if even the smallest part of us is looking back and sad about what we have to "sacrifice". The gospel brings blessings as we leave behind everything to follow the Savior! We quickly come to realize it really never was a sacrifice at all, rather it was the biggest blessing all along. 

Baptism Day with Vicente and Maria

Classic 'mirror selfie' on baptism day with Elder Johnson! 

Week #64: P-Day Fun 

Elder Shoemaker didn't have time this past week to write a group email.  He had a very fun activity with his zone in the mountains playing paintball.  It took a little longer then expected, so he only had time to send off a few pictures from the day and say hello! He is doing great and very excited for the baptism of Vicente and his wife on October 26th. I'm sure we will hear all about that next week. 

Adios!!

Week #63: Hay oposicion en todas las cosas

Yooo everybody! Como estamos? It is getting nice and toasty here in Uruguay! in fact, we bout near died of the humidity and from sweating here this week. The rain has arrived and now it's cold again all of a sudden, gotta love the Uruguayo weather! This week was really crazy! We went to another city for a multi zone conference, which was awesome. Also an hermana in our zone had appendicitis...and we were in the hospital with her for a good amount of time. We also had stake conference and interviews with Pres. Dunford!! It was all so good...and the hermana who went to the hospital is now back at home and doing well!!(: 

Right now we are teaching Maria and Vicente and they are what we call ESCOGIDOS. They have been to church a few times now and are so excited to be baptized on the 26th! Their daughter died, at 19 years old, in a car accident three years ago and they say they still don't understand exactly why she died then, but that they understand that for whatever the reason, it was God's will and it was her time to go. They couldn't believe it when we taught them that their daughter can still receive blessings from being baptized and having her work done in the temple. They are so excited now to get baptized to be able to get to Montevideo and do the work for their daughter!! When she passed away, Maria and Vicente went through a very rough time. They had wavered in their faith and weren't sure if God really existed...and they were filled with questions that they never found answers to. While no one wants to go through something like that, sometimes it's very necessary for us. 

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." -2 Nephi 2:11

This verse has grown on me a lot since being a missionary. I think I've come to understand this concept much better in this past year of my life, after having passed the many trials that all missionaries have to go through. If we never knew the deepest of sorrow, we could never appreciate and understand the greatest joy that God has in store for us. If we never knew what it felt like to be separated from Gods love and spirit, we could never know what it truly means to be connected with His endless love. I find it very necessary that we walk along paths of darkness from time to time, so that we may learn to find our way back to the light of Christ. We really must trust in God's plan for us and know that every single thing that happens to us in our lives is for our benefit and as an opportunity for us to get better and reach new heights. I know God loves me because He has blessed me with many trials and a whole lot of weaknesses, so that I may learn to rely on Him and learn from Him, so that I may become like Him one day. 

Week #62: ¡Pa, que conferencia general!

Hola hola everyone! Wow what a weekend. I really hope everyone got to watch and listen and pay attention to the general conference sessions from this weekend! It was honestly just so full of the Spirit and revelation for each of us. 

I have learned as a missionary that if you go into general conference weekends with a few questions, you always get so much more out of it. You really open yourself up to more revelation and the ability to learn from the Holy Ghost! There were a lot of themes that we heard from the speakers this weekend, but I think maybe the thing I personally heard more than anything else was the phrase "Trust in God".

 Maybe it was just me, but I was constantly hearing it and hearing that it's just so necessary that we completely trust in our Heavenly Father and just rely on His wisdom and His plan, rather than our own. If we can learn to not "lean unto our own understanding" and learn to confide in Him more,  we receive gifts from Him that are greater than any worldly thing we can obtain in this life. 

Which brings me to the second theme I seem to hear a ton of...Joy. Joy is a gift from God. Joy is not a side effect we have when we simply do what is pleasing to ourselves, nor is joy obtained from living as the world tells us to live. Joy can only come from God, it cannot come from any other source. When we truly understand this concept, we start to really live in sync with our Heavenly Fathers commandments, and we begin to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

God will bless us with the gift of pure joy and happiness, when our desires and intentions are centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we seek to simply do His will. I have learned this for myself as a missionary more than in any other moment of my life. I have found so much more happiness and joy in doing missionary work and Gods will, than I ever did in high school when I was considered "free" to be able to do my own will.

 I testify of a joy that is durable, and unbreakable, as we strive to come closer to The One who suffered absolutely everything we can imagine, just so we could repent, and achieve great things while in this life, and the life to come. Joy is real, and it comes from living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Week #61: ¡¡Bautismo!!

Yoooooo everyone!! How is everyone doing?? My week was amazing to say the least. We got our transfers and I will be staying here in Salto for another transfer, but I'll get a new companion! Elder Johnson will be coming here. We went to the MTC together the same day and I even sat by this guy on the plane to Colombia and then to Uruguay. He's from Bountiful Utah and he's a stud!! Im super excited to be working with him. 

The greatest part of this week was the baptism and confirmation of Rodrigo!!! Man it was something so special for him and all of us. He loved his baptism so much and said it was just the greatest day of his life. I asked him how he felt after his baptism and he just said "full of peace". He truly understands so much of the gospel already and gets how important baptism is. He was later confirmed in sacrament meeting and he said that was such a special moment for him. Rodrigo has been such an example to me and just being able to teach him has taught me so much. I saw so cleary how perfectly God prepared Rodrigo, to be able to get baptized right now in this exact moment of his life. He is so excited to serve a mission in the following year so he can teach other people about the thing that has brought him so much happiness. 

God truly is preparing us in the same way that He has prepared Rodrigo, and he will never stop preparing us for things in the future. God is so aware of us, but we often don't realize it. A lot of times, we slowly stop seeing the hand of God in our lives, because we are not searching for it. Our mission recieved a challenge to simply point our three tender mercies in our lives from everyday. Its something so easy, but helps us see Gods hand in our lives of every day and second of our lives. We really do have a loving Heavenly Father who prepares us so that we can live closer to Him and eventually return to live with Him! 

Rodrigo's Baptism

Rodrigo's Baptism

Week #60: Dios nunca deja de prepararnos para el futuro

Yoo everyone! ¿Como estamos? This week was awesome! Full of trips going up to an area on the border of Brazil and then, the day after, going down to Montevideo for a mission conference. They were both awesome, and even though we didn't get to work a lot in our own area, we saw miracles and God blessed us with success amongst the people! 

Yesterday a few people we are teaching, actually showed up at church! We were so excited to see them and they all seemed to love it! God seems to always bless us when we just help other people and do His will. Someone else who came to church was Rodrigo! He is getting baptized this week!!! We are honestly so excited for this baptism. We found Rodrigo a few weeks ago, when we were visiting his aunt and uncle, who are members, but weren't going to church. After a few weeks of teaching him, we will now have his baptism! He is already super excited to serve a mission in the following year and the thought of being able to go to a foreign place to simply teach the gospel to other people who are like him and are searching for the true gospel in their lives.

 Rodrigo was so perfectly prepared to recieve the gospel it's crazy honestly. He came from a little pueblo just a few months ago to study in the city and live with his aunt and uncle. In his pueblo, the church still doesn't exist, so he wouldn't have ever heard the gospel if he was still living there. Maybe the thing Ive learned more than anything while being a missionary is that God is constantly preparing us for things in the future.

 Sometimes our preparation is a trial we have to pass through, or an obstacle we have to overcome, but there isn't a second of the day that God isn't constantly guiding us so that eventually, we return to Him. We truly have a Heavenly Father who loves us, and wants only the best for us. 

Sometimes we think we know better than Him. We think that we know what is going to help us in our lives better than what He knows, or we forget that He has His own personal plan for us, and He knows what will help us have success in our mortal lives. God loves us, and sent His own Son just so that we can return to live with Him. Quisiera declarar estas cosas a todas las personas del mundo, por que no hay otra manera ni otro camino para regresar a su presencia

Week #59: Dios lo permite, por el amor que tiene para nosotros

Hola gente! Hope everyone is doing good and enjoying the start of a new football season! I'd be lying if I didn't say I miss it a ton haha...but either way, I'm loving my life here just fine. This week was really good. The wheather is starting to get a little hot and super humid again already. Getting to that time of year again where we just suffer outside and get burned to death hahaha. 

This week my house mate, Elder Ross, and I, sang the national anthem for our two latino companions on September 11. They had heard the jist of what happened on 9/11, but didn't know too much, so we got to explain everything that happened. I think remembering  9/11 this year was a little more impactful for me than normal. While thinking about how close to 3 thousand people died that day, we contacted a woman outside of her house and began to chat with her. She quickly got very angry and was shouting about how God didn't exist and then calmed down and explained to us that as a 4 year old, she was sexually abused by her father and had a horrible up-bringing. She said she had never once been happy in her life for all the trials shes faced. She asked us many times, "Where was God in that moment?" We tried to explain to her why God doesn't interfere in those moments, and why bad things happen to good people, even children, at times, but she didn't want to accept our answers. 

She simply was angry and confused with God, rather than not actually believing in Him. After a nice conversation of 15 minutes or so, we realized there was no way of giving her an answer that would suffice. She left us with the comment, "Until God comes down and stands before me and tells me that He exists, and is all powerful, I will not believe in Him" We left her with the wise invitation to begin believing in Him before she stands before Him. But after this experience with this woman, and also the remembrance of 9/11, I thought of a scripture that has had a big impact on me.

      

"For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that His justice and judgement may come upon the wicked; Therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost, but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God." Alma 60:13.

What happened to this woman as a child, and what happened to the people in the Twin Towers was injust, and the people had no control over what happened to them. God loves us so much that He will never interfere with our agency. Even if it means a horrible outcome for an innocent person, He knows that this life is temporary, and that we will all return to live with Him. We will all stand before Him at the last judgement to give count of what we've accomplished with the free agency that He has given us, and He will give unto us a perfect judgement. I know these things to be true, and I would invite everyone to know for themselves, that God really is all-powerful, but also all-loving in every way possible. 

Week #58: ¡¡Los cambios son inspirados!!

Hola hola todos!! Como estamos?! Man this week was awesome! Lots of awesome things happened. I want to mention two of them. First off, Rodrigo Benitez is a beast. He is 18 years old and recently moved in with his aunt and uncle who are members, but inactive, in the church. We found them contacting houses a while ago and the aunt and uncle were super receptive and wanted to come back to church. 

Their nephew, Rodrigo, wanted to hear our message as well. He has been to every church you can imagine and has studied tons of different religions and none of them ever stuck with him. He said he was always just searching for a church that just seemed to call to him. He came to church one time last week and now he has received his answer from God, multiple times, that this church is the true church and it is this church that he needs to join. 

His aunt and uncle are coming to church again now, and Rodrigo is coming with them and is preparing for baptism the 28th of this month. He got so excited when we invited him to be baptized. He understands the gospel so well already and knows the Book of Mormon to be true. I know without a doubt, that God prepared him so well to recieve the gospel right in this moment of his life and to be baptized this month. There isn't one person in this world that God isn't constantly worrying about. Every second of every day, he is trying to bring us closer to Him, to help us taste of this happiness that He has in store for us.  Even when He's miles away from our thoughts and hearts, He never leaves us and never abandons us. 

Second thing I want to mention....All the leaders in this church are inspired and called of God. For so many reasons we could never understand, they are in the position to lead and direct Christs church. He knows who he wants to guide His people. We had a conference this past week with Pres. Dunford, and he introduced some big changes and focuses of our mission. It is very different than what we focused on with Pres. Olsen...but I know it is what God wants for the people of this country now. 

Every leader is inspired in his own unique way, but it all comes from God, if the leader is seeking the guidance of the Spirit. Its really something so special for me and a testimony builder that God calls the weak of us to be His leaders. He has a plan to gather Israel again and Hes gonna do it by working through imperfect people. Si ponemos toda la confiaza en los lideres de esta iglesia, llegaremos mucho mas lejos. ¡El profeta es llamado por Dios, y nos guiará para el bien en todas las cosas! 

Week #57: ¡¡¡Bautismo!!!

Como anda buena gente!! How is everyone doing? This week was fantastic, to say the least. Im gonna get right to it...we had Paulinas baptism!!! It was a very special day for sure. Paulina is a 9 year old girl and her mom is a member of the church already. Her mom had been inactive for a long time, but just started participating again in the ward and her daughter, Paulina, immediately wanted to get baptized when she came for the first time to church! 

We started teaching Paulina a month or so ago, and this past weekend we had her baptism and confirmation. Her baptismal day was crazy, but ended great. We ran into some problems (including not having hot water) but everything turned out perfectly. She couldn't have been happier. I was just so happy to see her and her mom with the biggest smiles on their faces that day. It is a day I wont forget for a long time. 

I began thinking a little more about baptism in general. I was thinking, 'how is it that we are saved through baptism?'  We all know that through baptism we can enter the kingdom of God, but how is it possible? No unpure thing can enter the presence of our Heavenly Father...but somehow getting into the water and then coming out makes it possible that we can become clean from our sins...? I quickly came to the conclusion and the reminder, that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that baptism makes it possible to be forgiven of our sins. 

The Atonement is easily the most important doctrine that we have in the Restored Gospel, but also probably the least understood doctrine as well. Because Christ felt our sins, our weakness, our sickness and our afflictions, He can forgive us of what we have done. He understands us and our trials. He cries for us, when we cry and he rejoices with us, when we rejoice. He knows that only by and through His Atonement for us, can we be saved and live with Him and God again. 

If it weren't for His sacrifice for us, there would be no hope for a better world. There would be no meaning to this life and it would be filled with a temporary happiness bound to end when we die. But thanks to Him, there is hope. We can live with our familes again, and we can be forgiven of our mistakes through baptism and repentence. The whole gospel of Jesus Christ is centered on the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. 

I promise as we increase our understanding and testimony of the Atonement, everything will become clearer, and the complicated subjects will become easy. Se que mi Salvador vive, y que El expio todos de nuestros pecados. Gracias a La Expiacion, disfrutaremos las bendiciones de Salvacion para la eternidad con nuestras familias y nuestro Padre Celestial en un estado de gozo y paz. No hay otro camino ni nombre dado para recibir todas de estas cosas.