Hello family!
How are you all doing? I hope well! Good to hear that Kyle´s alright. Kind of scared the pants off me when I hear nothing but that he has a possible fatal brain virus and has been in the hospital. But it´s all cleared up now. Also glad to hear that Steph is getting all ready for her new baby. Sweet. I also hope that Zach had a blast in Mexico.
Something pretty exciting happened this past week. One of the hermanas in the mission had to go home suddenly so I´m now in a threesome. Me, Hna Groesbeck, and Hna Rial. She´s from Buena Aires, Argentina (I thought of you Julia) and she´s super awesome. She is an amazing teacher and KNOWS the scriptures. It´s a little overwhelming to be with two of the best (according to the President´s standards) sisters in the mission, but then again, gives me a lot to learn from.
We´ve had a great lesson from the assistants this last week that has impacted the way that I teach a lot and I think is worth sharing:
President Sloan wants us to change our frame of mind. I think that as missionaries (myself definitely included in this one) feel like we have to make sure people know that there is a prophet, that Joseph Smith restored the church, and that the LDS church is the only one with the proper authority. That stuff is all true and is very important, and anyone who gets baptized needs to have a testimony of it too, but there is something more important. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith in Him and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Every time I make a contact, teach a lesson, or testify, I need to testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the message that missionaries bring.
The first lesson is about the restoration of the gospel, but in every principle, there has to be the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is our loving Heavenly Father because He gave us the gospel, the gospel blesses families, we have prophets in every dispensation to teach us the gospel, Christ established His gospel, during the apostasy the gospel was lost, Joseph Smith restored the gospel etc... It´s not enough to teach about Joseph Smith. He´s only significant because he restored the proper way to live with Heavenly Father through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We´ve really started to focus on that, and it´s amazing the difference it makes. There is so much more power in our lessons and they are centered completely around Christ. We even invited fourteen people to get baptized this week!
Anyway, that´s pretty much it for now, except that the weather has been FREEZING for about the last five days. And our electric shower head doesn´t work. But don´t worry. I love my companions, I love the Gospel, I love the Book of Mormon, and I really love Ecuador. It´s amazing. I still can´t believe that I´m here!
Love. Love. Love.
Hermana Cooper!
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