Ask and Ye shall receive!

So this week we had Stake Conference. But this wasn't just any other ordinary stake conference. No, this stake conference we had the talks from the Sunday session by General Authorities. And not just area authorities, no, we had a special transmission from Salt Lake. The speakers: Robert D. Hales, D. Todd Christofferson, Craig C. Christensen, and Neill F. Marriott. So that was pretty dang awesome. Elder Christensen and Elder Christofferson both know Spanish and gave their talks in Spanish. They had near perfect Spanish. That was way cool for us to hear their actual voices in Spanish because most the members have only ever heard the translator. Like usual, the main topic was missionary work. Members working with the Missionaries. The M&M's of the Work of Salvation. One talk was given about an athlete in the Olympics who tore some muscle in his leg during a race, but got back up and hobbled across the finish line. In an interview afterwards he was asked why he didn't wait for medical attention. He said "My country didn't send me here to just start a race; they sent me here to finish one." Our Father in Heaven has sent us here to finish the race. We all start this race of life, the objective being to find the Gospel. But finding the Gospel is not finishing the race. It us just like one leg of the marathon of life. And we don't slow down and stop just because we have finished a portion of the race. We need to sprint to the finish line. We need to do all we can to make sure that even when we stumble over what seem like insurmountable hurdles, we pick ourselves back up and finish. Even if that means getting help to stand back up. That is the beauty of the Gospel. We are not alone. We have a family, we have a ward family, and we have our Savior and Redeemer. And sometimes we are not the ones that have fallen, but we should always be the ones willing to help those who have.

Another point was that families should be our number one priority. Today, there are so many things that the world is trying to say are important. Some things like school, work, or other pursuits of things less worthy. We were told that you should put your family, maintaining or starting one, at the top of your list. And all the men got grilled about getting married. You know, I would love to and all but it’s not something I can do at the moment. Ha-ha but I do know how important families are. Your family will be forever, so why not start now!?

Anyway, this week I have gained a little bit of a stronger testimony that our Heavenly Father is always watching over us. We were giving a lesson to a mother and her son and we were answering some questions about missionaries. She asked if our mothers or we were ever scared about being in Mexico, a country not particularly known for its safety. I don't know why but I just testified that, as the Lord's representatives, we have His protection and authority. While I was saying this I had the Spirit testify in my heart the words I was saying were true. This is the Lord's work; no one and nothing can stop it. One other little thing that was way sweet was that yesterday, Sunday; we were out doing our usual proselyting and all of the sudden I got a big headache. I carry some ibuprofen in my bag with me all the time just in case, but I can usually buy water from the little stores on every street corner. Well with it being Sunday, I couldn't. I told my companion "Man, I really wish I had a bottle of water right now." Well, we sat down to do a little planning session before our next lesson and two teenagers walk up with brand new water bottles that they got out of some promotion or something and were like "Hey, I have these water bottles but I don't really like purified water. Do you want them?" Numero uno- Who doesn't like purified water? And numero dos- Heck yeah I would like some water! So, after contacting these fine young gentlemen and setting appointments, I was like, "I have never witnessed the power of the 'ask and ye shall receive' like that before!" ha-ha it was pretty awesome. Well, that's all I got for this week. I hope you all have an awesome week!! Like always, keep the faith!! Someone I really love sent me this really awesome scripture this week. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you...” John 15:7 Love you all!!

-Élder Morris