Wow, what a wonderful and sacred week I have had.
Daniel got baptized!!!!! He was SOO happy and excited :) I can´t wait for Mom and Dad to meet him when you´re here. He is such a sweet heart. Everything went really well for the baptism. At the end he bore such strong testimony. We were so proud of him! He has learned so much and has so many desires to tell everyone about what he knows now! It is the sweetest thing!
Heavenly Father has truly blessed me. I can´t even begin to describe all that I really feel in my heart, but I know that the Lord has blessed me with so many moments of revelation this week. It has been so powerful.
We had the privilege of having Elder and Sister Dykes from the area presidency visit us this week for our mission tour! And I forgot all of my notes today to write you, but I´ll do my best to write what I remember.
Elder Dykes is an incredible teacher and leader. He truly teaches with the power of the Spirit! He talked about ways in which we can be greater teachers, master teachers, just as the Savior was the master teacher. His words inspired me. He talked about how master teachers never make assumptions. He gave us lots of techniques that we could use in our teaching to help us, but more than anything, how to really listen to people, and how to ask them inspired questions according to what they really need. I admire great teachers! Where would I be without the teachers in my life. Not only my school teachers, piano and violin teachers, but gospel teachers and church leaders. People who have taught me the gospel throughout my entire life, who have inspired me because of the Spirit they have carried. I learned that really the most important thing that we can ever do, despite our ability to teach well or not, is live worthy of the Spirit. If the Spirit isn´t present, no matter what we say or do, no amount of effort we make to try and teach well can replace what the Spirit can teach, or how the spirit can touch our hearts. Elder Dykes truly teaches by the Spirit and for that I am so grateful. I was truly edified and uplifted and had so many desires to just be better after that meeting.
Then the next day, I had the opportunity to sit in on the Mission Council as Elder Dykes led our Council with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders!! Wow, I can´t tell you enough how grateful I am that President Jackson allowed me to be there in such a personal counsel meeting. I learned SO much! I am so grateful for the leaders of the church and for all they do. They have such a great responsibility, but I know they truly are called of God to lead and direct the affairs of the church on the earth and to hold the priesthood keys or channels of revelation and responsibility for the Lord on the earth. My heart was full and my mind was enlighted. He first started talking about Agency and how not only do we know that we are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon, but that we want our investigators to understand that THEY are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon as soon as possible! I loved that! This all stems back to learning how to become effective teachers....knowing how to help others learn what you know is not an easy task! He then talked about Responsibility, how there are so many ways that people try to avoid taking responsibility in their lives....ways that people avoid responsibility are....they blame, they make excuses, they are prideful, they rationalize, they are fearful, the list could go on an on. My mind was just so enlighted the entire time he talked about this. This is absolutely true! How many people do these things to avoid taking responsibility? How many times do WE ourselves do these things to avoid taking responsibility? It just made me realize the connection he was trying to make with all of this. We have to help others understand that they have a choice, to take responsibility for their own lives for their own salvation. And if we want them to understand the importance of taking responsibility for their actions, we ourselves must take responsibility for every area of our life if we are to truly be happy and live in harmony with God´s will for us. Responsibility is huge in our choice to be agents unto our own selves. The Lord wants us to choose for ourselves the good, but we have the choice....the choice to be responsible and exercise our agency and faith to do the Lord´s will...to face conflict and overcome our fears and pride with the right attitude.
He then moved on and connected responsibility with forgivness, with repentence, with charity, accountability. Wow. I wish I could just scan all of my notes and send them to you! It touched my heart and helped me feel at peace. I´m going to bring my notes next week so I can tell you more things! I can´t believe I forgot my notes! I especially loved what he talked about responsibility and forgiveness. How many times are we offended and we don´t even realize it? When we are offended, sometimes we feel justified for not forgiving the offense. Maybe we are justified. But....we are responsible for ourselves. When we don´t forgive others, we give the offender control over us and we are not taking responsibility. And we´re not allowing the Sacrament to cleanse us weekly. I have never thought about that before in that way and that is what he focused on alot. I wish I could even begin to phrase things in the way that he did, but I was just so grateful he talked about personal responsibility. We really do have control over our own emotions and thoughts....sure we don´t have control over what happens to us or the actions of others, but we have the choice to choose to take responsibility for ourselves....that includes what we feel, think and do. We are more happy when we take responsibility in every area of our life. We must not allow the bad things that happen to us, do bad things to us.
Anyway, I know the Lord is aware of each of us, he´s aware of each of our circumstances and he wants to help us. I know that as we truly live according to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we show the Lord that we want to take responsibility, we show him our faith, and we show that we want to be like him. I am so grateful for the Savior, for his infinite and unconditional love. We have every reason to rejoice and be happy because of our knowledge of the Savior and his restored Gospel on the earth!
I love you! Have the best week ever!
Con mucho amor,
La Hermana Carroll
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