Austin: 6/22/2015 - Temples are awesome

Hola Familia!

 

This week, Estela and Paulina got baptized! They are Kevin`s cousins. They`re twins and they decided to be baptized this week while we keep trying to help their parents get married. They`re kind of giving the example to the rest of their family. I really liked their bapismal service. It was super, super simple. The ward, because of father`s day activities and the temple dedication, didn`t come to the baptism, just my bishop and a few members that already knew Paulina and Estela. There weren`t a lot of people there, but I really liked the baptismal service. It was so simple, but I at least felt the spirit. 

 

The big news of the week was yesterday. In peru, there has always been one temple, in Lima. But yesterday, The Trujillo Peru Temple was dedicated! Instead of sacrament meeting, we were all invited to go to the temple dedication in the stake center, if we had a recommend. It was a really powerful experience for me. In the mission, we always talk about one thing. Baptism. Baptism, baptism, and more baptism. It`s all we talk about. It`s our focus, it`s our goal. But as I was sitting in the dedication, I realized that after the mission, the focus isn`t going to be baptism, it will be the temple. One time, about a year and a half ago in a conference with Elder Waddell, he said "endure to the end means going to the temple to recieve the endowment, and then living worthily of those covenants until the end" The temple is such a sacred, important part of this great work. Without the temple, we cannot have eternal life. There were several parts of the dedication that I really liked.

 

President Uceda, the area president, talked and said 5 things that we should all do, as members of the church. 1) have a picture of the temple in a visible part of the house. I realized that I need to put a picture of the temple up in my room. 2) Buy you temple clothes, now. He said "no member is too poor to buy his or her temple clothes, now" that is a bold statement in peru. 3) Fill out the pamphlet "my family" Well, I`ve never done that. 4) have a current temple recommend. He said we should all have a current temple recommend, even if our circumstance doesn`t permit us to go the the temple regularly. and 5) Go to the temple. Go to the temple as often as your situation permits. I loved those 5 points, and I realized that I`m not completing, as a full time missionary, I`m not doing what he said. I realized that I need to imporve, I believe we all need to improve. even if we are completing these 5 points, we can still give more. We can still improve. 

 

Presidente Utchdorf dedicated the temple, and said a few things that I loved. He said "normal life is temple life" He said that we should normally go to the temple. We should always live worth of, and have, a current temple recommend. It is privilege to have temples in these, the latter days. It should be a normal, important part of our lives. 

 

President Utchdorf also told a story that I loved. He told an old, written story about Martin. Martin one night was sleeping and he dreamed that the Lord told him to prepare everything, because the next day, He would come. So in the morning, Martin, excitedly, prepared his shop. As the day went on, he saw an old soldier outside, shoveling the snow, so Martin invited him inside and gave him something warm to drink. Thenm, as Martin kept waiting, he saw a young woman outside, in the cold, with a small baby. He invited her into his shop, and found out that they hadn`t eaten since morning. So Martin prepared some soup, and made them eat. The young woman thanked him, because her son would have died without Martin`s help. So Martin gave her his only coat, and she went on with her life. Then, as the day was coming to an end, Martin saw a lady in the market selling apples, and a child stole one, but he was caught by the lady. She was about to punish him, but Martin came up, calmed the situation, and made the child ask for forgiveness. After he asked for forgivness, Martin bought an apple and gave it to the child. And then, Martin returned home, closed his shop, rather disappointed. He was disappointed because the Lord had not come. He had not visited him. But after he closed up, he grabbed his Bible, and sat down to read, as he usually did. And his Bible fell open to a page. And he read "I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  Naked, and ye clothed me:  I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." And he asked himself "who have I done that to?" And then he heard voice saying "to me." "To me" he heard, and the old soldier walked into the light. "And me" as the young woman with her child walked out. "and me" as the lady and the child walked into the light. "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Martin happily realized that that day, and every day, the Lord had visited him. He visits us everyday, we just need to see in what way. If we look for Him in our lives, we will see, everyday, that He has come unto us. He has lifted us, and we have lifted Him. As members of the church, are we seeing the Lord in our lives? Are we bearing one another`s burns? Are we morning with those that morn? Are we comforting those that stand in need of comfort? Are we standing as witnesses of God in all times, and in all things and in all places? Are we serving and following our Master? If we do, we will receive the fulness of joy that the Lord promises us. We will recieve what He has. I know that if we follow the Lord, if we give our all to Him, if we make sacred covenants with Him in His holy temples, we will have eternal life. I know that there is no other way. He is the way. His temples are there so that we can receive a fulness of his blessings. I know this church is true. We are His servants, and He is our Captain. We are his warriors, and He is our God. 

 

Love you all

Elder Schouten

 

Pictures are:

Paulina and Estela with the missionaries

Paulina and Estela with their family