Monday, September 14, 2015

September 14, 2015

   Well...another blink of an eye and here we are again! When am I going to wake up from this dream?! Time is flying way too fast! It was such a good week...I LOVE PANORAMA!!! I have officially fallen in love with this sector, the ward, the area, and the investigators! 
   How are things in the USA? I know things in the 'Ville are pretty dope! Congrats to the Devils for balling out and beating the Mapleducks! Haha! I heard it was a pretty intense game. Keep at it boys! Super weird that we are in the heat of football again! I feel like just yesterday I was strapping on the helmet! Man does time fly. 
   Last Monday night was super fun! We had a family night with the Stake Patriarch and his family. We ate sweet potatoes! They were not quite like Mamita Noll's but it was cool to bring back the sensation of sweet potatoes in my mouth again. We used the can that my parents sent me and we also made another batch out of "camote". Which SUPPOSEDLY are sweet potatoes as well...but they are purple...and don't look the same...nor taste the same...nor feel the same...Haha!
   I love talking with the Patriarch...he is such a loving man. You can visually see his humility...his love for everyone. It is something that I desire to develop. I was so humbled as he talked of our Savior. He explained to us how un-explainable our Savior is...His glory...His love...His attributes. It is so true! We cannot ever possibly grasp the divinity of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is so much more than we can imagine and His glory is so much brighter than what we could possibly behold.
   On Wednesday I got to take it back to the Saturday mornings with Dad days! The Hermanas in our Zone had to change houses so we got together as a Zone in the morning to help them load all of their stuff into a members truck and take it to their new house to unload it. So that was fun!
   We passed by an awesome family the other day. They are struggling with family prayer and scripture study. We have been focusing so much on the scriptures and the importance that they have in our lives. The excuse was that the scriptures give them desires to sleep. So we told them to simply try it...and to see what the Lord is willing to do for them. The Hermana said that she woke up even MORE tired that usual...and her and her sister started to read the scriptures...despite the dreariness...In her own words..."The words of the Lord IMMEDIETLEY took away my sleepiness." Wow. So incredible what the Lord is willing to do if we will obey and act. The scriptures are such powerful tools in our lives. With them we WILL NOT sleep through the restoration.
 
 
   Oh dear...never have I suffered with a soup as I did with "Caldo de Mangera". Hose soup. Not recommended for viewers at home. It is a soup of pig. But has 0 meat. It is filled with pig heart, intestine, foot, ear, liver, skin, and blood. It was a miracle that I made it through that one! I squeezed AT LEAST 14 lemons into that sucker and a bottle and a half of hot sauce...but I can still taste that liver in between my teeth! Haha! Overall good experience...Elder C and I are still laughing about that one...I had nightmares about that black, mystical, bubbling, caldo! The left cardiovascular ventrical artery that I swallowed whole because it was un-chewable is haunting me! ;)

``That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty; that ye may fear the Lord your God forever.``
In the Spanish ``Guide to the Scriptures`` it explains that to ``fear God`` is to feel ``reverence`` and ``admiration for Him``.
Our loving Heavenly Father and our Perfect older Brother have no intention to induce a threatening fear nor a scarce fear. The fear they induce is a fear explained in Philippians 2:12.
``Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,...work out your salvation with fear and trembling.``
We are told to simply obey...that is what working our or salvation with fear and trembling means.
The following verse helps us understand this fear a little more deeply.
``For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.``
As we allow God to work in us and as we strive to do His will with reverence and admiration we show the Lord God our fear, or in other words, we show Him our respect, loyalty, and love.
I love the battle of the Nephites and the Gadianton Robbers with Giddianhi as their leader.
In 3 Nephi 4:12 it says ``...behold the Nephites did beat them...``
But how exactly did they do this??
Verse 10: ``...for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate Him for protection...and they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them.``
And how did the Nephites show their fear of the Lord??
It was not through a scarce fear. They were not afraid of the Lord. They were not intimidated. Through SUPPLICATING unto their Lord...through TRUSTING...and as verse 8 teaches us...through ``...falling to the earth, and lifting their cries to their Lord their God...``
If fearing the Lord can deliver a Nephite army from destruction I testify that fearing the Lord can deliver us from our daily battles.

I testify that this fear will save us. I testify that this fear takes away fear. The Lord with His perfect humility and unfailing love does not wish to win our heart with fear of His power or to intimidate us with trembling of a future destruction...
The Lord with His perfect humility and unfailing love wishes to gain our heart through trusting in His power and overcoming destruction as we lift up our cries to Him and humbly fall.
Let us all fear the Lord God. Let us all raise our cries and fall. Let us all obey the will of the Father and trust in the Jesus Christ. We too will be delivered from our daily Gadianton!


Elder Noll

making sweet potatoes...Jessi's favorite!

Purple sweet potatoes!

 

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