Hello everyone! Things are going pretty good in Valsayn. The apartment is much bigger than my last apartment with my own bathroom, which is nice. We live right next to the Williams which is GREAT. They are the best.
Elder Riter and I spent a good long time these last couple days trying to find some new people to teach. We have met some REALLY interesting people in our contacting area recently. Because of some recent baptisms and some investigators who have been dropped we are looking for some new investigators.
Because of all the stuff going on in Venezuela, there are lots of Venezuelan people here, especially in Port of Spain. So we have quite a few Spanish investigators just outside Port of Spain, who have been fun to teach. There is one family, the mother is a member as well as one of her sons, but none of her other kids were ever baptized, so we are teaching her two youngest kids who are 12 and 9. This week we set a date for them to be baptized in the last week of February. Our area covers two wards, the Curepe ward and the Port of Spain ward and we live right in the middle, so we spend about half our time in each area.
I came across some really cool scriptures this week during studies that I thought I would share. I was studying from the book of Alma and came across these verses in Alma 28: 11-14:
11 And the bodies of many thousands are laid low in the earth, while the bodies of many thousands are moldering in heaps upon the face of the earth; yea, and many thousands are mourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo.
12 While many thousands of others truly mourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in the hope, and even know, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending happiness.
13 And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.
14 And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.
These verses kind of jumped off the page at me when I read them. Even though I have read this chapter many times, I never really had focused on this or given it much thought. As I was thinking about the situation of the righteous Nephites in this story I realized just how important it is to live righteously. When we live wickedly we are sad over the separation from our loved ones, and we also have great sorrow because of fear, like the Lamanites. However, when we are living righteously we still have sadness over the temporary separation of a loved one, but we don't have to have such lasting sorrow as the wicked because we have faith, which is the opposite of fear. I know, as Mormon said, that we can rejoice in the hope that those souls are raised to dwell with God, and that God really does have a plan for us.
Have a great week!
Elder Porritt
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