Week 23: I'm Lovin' It

Copanecos

Ok this week was very busy so we're just gonna get right into it.

Tuesday we just worked like dogs and found a new family who is super nice and they don't go to a church (super rare) so that is awesome and gives them a lot more potential. Almost died eating the beans they gave us but what's new🫠

Wednesday we did divisions with the other elders in Copán and it was fun and on this day I invited our friend Jorge to be baptized and he said yes! He is super elect and says he believes everything we have been teaching him right as we say it. We're already seeing some challenges from the adversary now that Jorge has made this commitment so please keep Jorge Paredes in your prayers!

Long story short, on Thursday we traveled to a nearby town to cast evil spirits out of a woman's home and give her a blessing. Some wild stuff has been happening at her house. She is not a member of our church but she has connections to the church that contacted us. Afterwards, she told us she already felt a huge difference in her home and in herself in comparison to the other pastors and priests who tried to help her previously. This experience was a huge testimony-strengthening experience for me of the priesthood and how we have this power of God on earth today to bless all children of God.

Friday we had interviews with President McClellan in La Entrada and it was full of revelation, laughs, and super good/familiar food. We talked about acquiring the gift to identify promptings of the Spirit and how we can strengthen ourselves in our studies.

Saturday was slow but we worked and still had some solid lessons.

Sunday we traveled to Santa Rosa (3 hours in bus) to go to District Conference for all of the members in the state! Super awesome experience full of inspired teaching and honestly refreshing to see that there are areas here where the church is well-established with men who hold the priesthood and consecrated members. Copán is lacking a lot in these aspects (our branch president is basically inactive) and I honestly forget sometimes what the church should be so it is also great motivation to work harder with the members to strengthen them.

This week I want to talk a bit about something my mission president said. He told us that those who are disobedient to the commandments in life are disobedient because they do not truly understand the Gospel. This hit me. If we truly understand the Gospel and the plan of salvation, we would have no desire to be disobedient– no desire to commit our favorite sins. With true understanding, we can have an eternal perspective in all things. For me, this means putting the covenants I have made with God before everything else. However, true understanding is hard to acquire. To have a true understanding of the Gospel we have to study and we have to put it into practice. To understand the Atonement, we have to truly repent in the manner Christ established for us. To understand our covenants we have to try our best to complete our end of the promise and then recognize and remember the blessings we receive from doing so. As we do all this, God will give us more understanding and wisdom– more faith to do what is right.

God's plan is perfect! Difficult but perfect! By reading the Book of Mormon we can truly understand the Gospel!

Also go listen to “Sometime We'll Understand” from Rob Gardner's Lamb of God for me and also to learn more about this principle and feel the Spirit like crazy.

Love you all so much! Your prayers are felt every day.

Élder Snyder