A friend of mine included this quote in her weekly email last week that really hit me. It's regarding the story in the Bible where Peter and the rest of Christ's apostles decide to go back to fishing after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and seem to not have a clear idea of their scared callings or really any idea of what to do next without Christ. President Jeffery R. Holland explains what the Savior probably felt and said when finding his apostles back on the shore simply just well... fishing when there was work to be done.
"Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn't it obvious then, and isn't it obvious now, that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples - and I need them forever. I need them to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our father in heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is the work of almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me."I don't know about you but sometimes... I am Peter. Going back to the same mistakes, same situations and same problems and sometimes it's really because we honestly don't know any better. Even after leaving our own personal nets and following the Lord. I'm not going to lie, recently I have been really frustrated with myself because of how much I do exactly what Peter and the other apostles do ALL THE TIME. But every time without fail we can be confident that Christ will come back for us and invite us to change and leave our nets a second time... and a third... and a fourth... and a fifth....etc. Because we will NEVER be perfect and if we were how would we be able to realize the difference between being simple fisherman and being fishers of men like Christ asks us to be? And this is no easy task people, we have to literally leave our nets behind and trust that the Lord will make of us so much more than we can ever make of ourselves. Even if we retrieve for those nets once and a while and make the dumb same mistakes or even beat up ourselves because of times we have gone back. Even if we give up on ourselves I testify that the Lord hasn't and never will. He's waiting for us and willing to come back and get us as many times as needed if we sincerely repent and follow him.
Anyways, that has been on my mind all week and I realize I need the gospel just as much if not, more than my investigators need it! We all do! We didn't get to see lots of people this week because of work and busy schedules but the people we did see are doing great!
Guadalajara: Came to church last week with her niece and to church this week with a friend! Also we had a huge Noche de Hogar (FHE) with Mickey, Minnie, ward members, the Elderes, some less actives and Guadalajara... it was SO FUN!
Nefi: GOT MARRIED THIS WEEK! Their wedding was so beautiful and they had their engagements taken at the DC temple because that is their goal but the next step is... baptism! But... they moved into an apartment outside of our area so I will be teaching them for the last time this week... But it's all good cause there are missionaries there too and they gospel is true everywhere!
I am still cool enough to get invited to parties guys... I went to my first birthday bash as a missionary this last week and it was "LIT" to say the least. I don't want any is you getting jealous but I'm including pictures. The little girl is the daughter of an amazing investigator we will call Balada. She is from Honduras and has a husband from México. They are a great family we found a couple weeks ago that we have just come to love. They are so prepared and willing to learn because they love each other but they love the Lord the most.
English class miracle:
We have been teaching a family English for about 2 months now. And we always felt a TINY BIT guilty cause they never really showed interest when we would share a gospel message at the end of our English classes and as much as we love to serve we know our primary calling is to teach the gospel... But we really love and didn't ever want to stop teaching them. So we continued with our English lessons and prepared short, powerful messages to share at the end. But THIS WEEK the dad randomly asks, "So what time is church on Sunday again?" We tell him the time. And he says something around the lines of, "Okay, cool cause I talked to my boss about getting Sundays off so we can start going to your church and he said starting in April I can get Sundays off for the rest of the year cause we want to go to your church, it sounds great!" UM WHAT?!?! OKAY!!! All this time we were thinking they only wanted us for our English... maybe I'm bad at reading people? Anyways! Super pumped about our English class fam!
Okay friends, remember to leave your nets and follow the Lord this week and that selfless services has the power to bring people unto Christ. Los quiero mucho!
Love always,
Hermana Tapia
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