This is a letter I wrote to Glo, I don't know if any of these thoughts are worth keeping but it is so much of my ideas right now and I feel bad not recording it.
Dear Glo,
How are you? I hope you are doing well! Did you have any investigators at church today? I have been praying for you that you can find good people to teach and to bring to the gospel and Jesus Christ.
We had a great talk today by a fairly new member named Brother Brian Mangino who spoke about how he came to know the church was true when he was 60 years old after living a pretty rough life. Now he is married and he and his wife joined the church and are doing well. I am thankful you are serving a mission so you can find people like him.
I was listening to Ether the other day and I wanted to write about what meant so much to me when I read and listened to it. Obviously it has great meaning to me especially now because of what I am going through. Here are the scriptures in Ether 12:
3 For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled—
4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
5 And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not.
6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
7 For it was by faith that Christ showed himself unto our fathers, after he had risen from the dead; and he showed not himself unto them until after they had faith in him; wherefore, it must needs be that some had faith in him, for he showed himself not unto the world.
8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.
9 Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith.
10 Behold it was by faith that they of old were called after the holy order of God.
11 Wherefore, by faith was the law of Moses given. But in the giftof his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled.
12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.
13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.
16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.
17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith.
18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.
19 And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad.
20 And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother of Jared; for so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his finger he could not hide it from the sight of the brother of Jared, because of his word which he had spoken unto him, which word he had obtained by faith.
21 And after the brother of Jared had beheld the finger of the Lord, because of the promise which the brother of Jared had obtained by faith, the Lord could not withhold anything from his sight; wherefore he showed him all things, for he could no longer be kept without the veil.
22 And it is by faith that my fathers have obtained the promisethat these things should come unto their brethren through the Gentiles; therefore the Lord hath commanded me, yea, even Jesus Christ.
23 And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;
24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.
25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.
26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me—the fountain of all righteousness.
29 And I, Moroni, having heard these words, was comforted, and said: O Lord, thy righteous will be done, for I know that thou workest unto the children of men according to their faith;
I love this whole chapter. It is Ethan's favorite and probably one of my favorites too. From the beginning it is so amazing that Ether being all by himself against so many wicked people would keep preaching and about faith of all things. I am sure his faith was strong but no one would listen to him. How sad is that! He loved God and he loved his people and no one would listen to him and yet he continued to express his faith by teaching them and exhorting them to have faith on Jesus Christ.
He taught "by faith all things are fulfilled". "which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast". "Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen, wherefore dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith".
He goes on to say that by faith Alma and Amulek were deliver from the prison, but they did not get delivered until they had suffered deprivation, starvation, thirst, pain, humiliation and misery. By faith Ammon and his brethren deliver the Lamanites from their unbelief but they had to serve, Aaron and his companions were in prison and starved for a long time before they were freed and yet they continued to have faith and they were able to accomplish great things. With all that I am going through, and how long it is taking, I am having a hard time maintaining my faith. I keep being told by God it will be ok, but then I suffer day after day, week after week and month after month of fear and uncertainty and it takes its toll on my heart and mind. It so weird because we are getting paid and we have food and cars that run and health in general but I keep getting worried and it looks so hopeless from the world standpoint and I have a hard time holding on to my faith.
Then Moroni, because he is writing in Ether 12 says their writing is weak and he worries that the gentiles shall mock at his weakness and the Lord says: fools mock but they shall mourn and my grace is sufficient for the meek that they shall take no more advantage because of your weakness." I feel like I am weak at this hospital and they are mocking me and taking advantage of me and I think that I am being meek, and that gives me the blessing that they will not take advantage of my weakness. But I am scared Glo and its hard to keep holding on to my hope and faith.
Then comes one of the best scriptures:
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
I feel like I am trying to come unto Jesus, and I feel like he is showing me my weakness so I can become more humble. It is really hard to be brought so low. Being told I am a bad doctor and a bad person, and I don't think its true but its being said and people are trying to lay this on me and it is very hard on me. But, Jesus says "my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I sure feel like I am weak in the face of all this and I am depending upon Jesus to make my weakness become strong enough to overcome what I am going through.
I have faith that this will happen. I have faith in Jesus that he will succor me and take care of me, that fools are mocking me and trying to take advantage of me but the power of God will be with me and my lawyer and we will triumph.
I hope you don't mind that these are such long emails. I have to tell you, my emails to the other kids were much shorter and much less meaningful. I am sorry you have to get so much about what I am learning about God and Jesus but I figure of all people it might mean something to you and maybe it will help you in your times of trouble because being a missionary definitely has its hard times and its discouraging times.
I love you Glo. Thanks for being a missionary. Say lots of prayers and have faith in Jesus, you are on his mission so if people don't listen to you, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting Him.
Have a good P-Day!
Con amor,
Papá
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