The Miracle of the Lord´s Latter-day Work

This morning in the devotional with which we begin a new week of work in the Area Offices, José Ruano shared a moving testimony.  He told of gowing up in a Lutheran family and of attending the Lutheran church each week with his grandmother.  One Sunday when he was 8 years old, the pastor recounted the story of Jesus' baptism in his sermon and of how Jesus said that he was baptized to "fulfill all righteousness."  Brother Ruano recounted that after the meeting, he told his grandmother he wanted to be baptized like Jesus.  She told him to go talk to the Pastor.  He went to speak to the Pastor who was talking to a group of members.  He approached the Pastor and tugged on his robe. The Pastor asked him what he wanted, and he told him that he wanted to be baptized.  The Pastor told him he could be baptized when he was 30 years old.  Brother Ruano said that he remembers crying all the way home from his disappointment that he would have to wait for what seemed like an eternity to an eight year old boy before he could be baptized.  He then explained that two weeks after this incident, there was a knock at their door.  When his grandmother answered the door, there were two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints standing there.  She invited them in and sat his two older brothers and him down and told them to listen.  She then left the room. The missionaries taught them of the apostasy and the restoration.  When they were finished, his grandmother came in and told him to ask them his question.  So he turned to the missionaries and asked them if he could be baptized.  He said the missionaries looked quite surprised, but they told him yes he could.  He was excited and told them there was a font nearby and asked them if they could go now.  They explained that there was a process, that he would need to attend church and receive the missionary lessons first.  He asked them how long that would take, and they said probably three weeks.  He was so relieved and agreed to do what they asked.  Three weeks later he and his brothers were baptized and became members of the Church.

Brother Ruano recounted how he then wanted to serve a mission and as an eight year old boy he would accompany the missionaries in their work.  When he was of age, he served a mission, and as a missionary had a similar experience where he was invited into a home and left by the parents to teach a young boy.  He recounted how the boy and his family were eventually baptized and how he received a message from the boy through Facebook thanking him for coming to their home to share the Restored Gospel with them.  The boy expressed his desire to be a missionary.  Brother Ruano responded to the boy that he his thanks belonged to the young men who had come to his home years earlier to share the Gospel with him and his family.

This moving testimony caused me to remember a similar experience I had as a young missionary in Armenia, Colombia, when after sincere fasting and prayer, we were led to a young boy of 8 or 9 years of age who became the means for his family and eventually several other families in his neighborhood receiving the ordinance of baptism at our hands and joining the Church.

This is the miracle of this work.  The Lord prepares his children one by one to receive the message of the Restored Gospel, and He inspires his servants and leads them to those he has prepared, many times even through a child, and they receive his glorious message one by one.

Haz la Obra

I had the privilege of giving the devotional message this morning for the employees and missionaries here in the Area Office. I drew on the talk Elder Duncan gave at our Stake Conference about the third son. Here is the message in Spanish.

HAZ LA OBRA

Hermanos y Hermanas, me complace mucho estar aquí con ustedes y tener la oportunidad de compartir con ustedes este pequeño mensaje. Estamos enfocándonos en este mes en el tema de “Haz la Obra” y hablando de este tema, quiero empezar con la parábola del Salvador que compartió después de la entrada triunfal en Jerusalén que se encuentra en el libro de Mateo, capítulo 21, versículos 28-31, que dice:

28 Mas, ¿qué os parece? Un hombre tenía dos hijos, y acercándose al primero, le dijo: Hijo, ve hoy a trabajar en mi viña.

29 Y respondiendo él, dijo: No quiero; pero después, arrepentido, fue.

30 Y acercándose al otro, le dijo de la misma manera; y respondiendo él, dijo: Sí, señor, voy. Pero no fue.

31 ¿Cuál de los dos hizo la voluntad de su padre? Dijeron ellos: El primero.

Un punto de esta parábola es que lo que hacemos es más importante que los que decimos--es más importante hacer el trabajo que decir que lo haremos. Los otros pasos del modelo de liderazgo, el definir dirección, deliberar en consejo, desarrollar capacidades y organizar la labor no valen de nada si no hacemos la obra.

Recientemente Elder Duncan presidió la conferencia de estaca en la estaca Molino en la Zona 6 donde nosotros asistimos. Él contó esta parábola y entonces la cambió para que hubiera un tercer hijo. Y el hombre dijo al tercer hijo, ve hoy a trabajar en mi viña. Y el tercer hijo respondió, Sí, Señor, voy. Y fue y trabajó con toda su fuerza y con todo su corazón. Elder Duncan nos animó que seamos como el tercer hijo, pronto para aceptar una asignación y fiel para cumplirla.

Pensando en la parábola como revisada por el Elder Duncan, me di cuenta de que este tercer hijo realmente es Jesucristo. Fue él que dijo, “Heme aquí; envíame.” Y después vino e hizo siempre lo que a su Padre le agrada. Y cuando estuvo abrumado de la agonía de la expiación, dijo, “Padre mío, si es posible, pase de mí esta copa; pero no sea como yo quiero, sino como tú.” Realmente Elder Duncan estaba invitándonos a llegar a ser como Cristo.

Jesucristo dijo, “No todo el que me dice: Señor, Señor, entrará en el reino de los cielos, sino el que hace la voluntad de mi Padre que está en los cielos,” otra vez enseñándonos que lo que hacemos cuenta más que lo que decimos.

Para mí, un gran ejemple del valor de hacer la obra es el profeta Nefi. Cuando su padre le dio una tarea muy difícil, dijo “Iré y haré lo que el Señor ha mandado, porque sé que él nunca da mandamientos a los hijos de los hombres sin prepararles una vía para que cumplan lo que les ha mandado.” 1 Nefi 3:7

Cuando él y sus hermanos mayores llegaron a Jerusalén para obtener las planchas de bronce de Labán, él trató de matarlos y robó sus bienes. Sus hermanos desanimaron, lo maltrataron y quisieron volver a la tienda de su padre sin las planchas de bronce. Pero Nefi les dijo:

“Así como el Señor vive, y como nosotros vivimos, no descenderemos hasta nuestro padre en el desierto hasta que hayamos cumplido lo que el Señor nos ha mandado. … Subamos de nuevo a Jerusalén, y seamos fieles en guardar los mandamientos del Señor, pues he aquí, él es más poderoso que toda la tierra.” 1 Nefi 3:15; 4:1

Como sabemos volvieron a Jerusalén y dejando a sus hermanos fuera de la ciudad, Nefi entró de nuevo y volvió a la casa de Labán y fue “guiado por el Espíritu, sin saber de antemano lo que tendría que hacer.” Y cuando encontró a Labán ebrio de vino, el Espíritu le constriñó a que matara a Labán, cosa que era muy difícil para Nefi. Y sucedió que otra vez le dijo el Espíritu: Mátalo, porque el Señor lo ha puesto en tus manos. Entonces obedeciendo la voz del Espíritu y cogiendo a Labán por los cabellos, le cortó la cabeza con su propia espada. Después Nefi obtuvo las planchas de bronce y él, sus hermanos y siervo de Labán volvieron a la tienda de su padre.

Aun cuando encontramos desafíos y obstáculos en el camino de lograr nuestro trabajo, si oramos con fe como hizo El Salvador en Getsemaní y seguimos el Espíritu como lo hizo Nefi en Jerusalén, podremos sobrevenir todos estos desafíos y obstáculos y lograr un buen trabajo para El Señor.

Yo les invito que sean como el tercer hijo, siempre dispuestos a aceptar una asignación y leal y fiel en llevarla acabo.

Testimonio.

The Third Son

Early this morning I received a message from Angie Morrill, a client of mine from years ago in Richfield. This is what she said:

"I just came home home from a wonderful adult session of adult stake conference about missionary work, and I had to write you a quick thank you note.... many years ago I tagged along with you and Karla to lunch at the Pastry Pub after a training and you shared a story about living in Germany and taking your young family a significant distance to attend stake conference and you spoke about the many blessings you received from doing that.....anyway I had grown up in a completely inactive somewhat anti Mormon home and my husband grew up with a very faithful mother and a father who is an ambvilant but supportive regarding church..Brandon served a mission and we were married in the temple, but stake conference Sunday was always  a "day off" until that conversation many years ago with you in the Pastry Pub.....anyway you really made an impact on my life that day...and I haven't thought about for years until tonight....thanks...."

"I came home and Brandon and I talked about your story and the example we wanted to set for our kids and since that day 10 plus years ago I think we have missed 1 stake conference."

I was moved by her story, and this was my response:

"Thanks for sharing that, Angie.  Just yesterday we also had stake conference here in the Molino Stake where we are assigned to attend. It is clear across the city in a very poor area, and the wards in that stake really struggle. Yesterday there were meetings scheduled for all adults beginning at 3:00 pm and continuing until 7:30 pm. The BYU football game began at 1:30 pm, and we had three other missionary couples, good friends of ours, gathered in our apartment to watch the game. They all planned to go out to dinner after the game as well. Mary Ann can't speak the language and doesn't understand anything in these meetings, so sitting through 4 and a half hours of unintelligible talking would be very difficult for her. I have to confess that I was sorely tempted to skip these Saturday meetings and enjoy the time with our missionary friends. Nonetheless, we decided to do our duty and attend the meetings to set a good example for the struggling members of our assigned ward. So we left our friends watching the game in our apartment and headed across town to our stake conference. It was hard for Mary Ann, but as always, we were spiritually blessed for our efforts. Elder Kevin Duncan, our area president presided, and he taught us for a good part of the meeting. He told us the parable of the two sons, the one who said he would go and did not and the other who said he would not go, but then went. He then changed the parable to add a third son who said he would go and went with full purpose of heart. He asked us all to raise our hands and commit to always be the third son or daughter.  How grateful I was for having made the right choice to fulfill my duty yesterday.  There were very few members of that struggling stake in attendance, and the streets around the chapel were filled with people and vendors as some big celebration and concert was going on "in the world."  I know that when we do as we have covenanted to do, we are always blessed, even if in ways we don't recognize. May God bless you for your righteous desires and choices."

I concluded the convesation with this final thought:

"As I have thought about Elder Duncan's parable of the Third Son this morning, I have realized that the third son in the parable is Jesus Christ.  He was the son who said, "Here am I, send me."  An then He came and did always that which pleases His Father.  And even when faced with the overwhelming agony of the suffering He was called to bear, which caused Him to cry out saying, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," He said, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done."  Elder Duncan was really asking each of us to covenant to be like Him."

May we all be the Third Son--always willing to go and do the will of Our Father, and always keeping the covenants we make with Him.