The baptism of Giselle Cardenas AquirreMy dear family,
Thank you so much for your past letter. I always think of the Mom and Dad when I read Mormon and Ether. With Moroni and his efforts with the Lamanites, I always think of Dad: It doesn´t matter if you have success or not, the Lord has called you to serve and thus you serve. There is very powerful doctrine within those books of scripture.
Before I forget, I have been taking out quite a bit of money from the checking account to purchase some things here in the mission. I´m not going to ruin the surprise but if you are wondering or have a question, here´s the answer.
First off, I this past week was absolutely amazing. We had our first baptism and I had the opportunity to baptize Giselle Cardenas Aquirre. The Cardenas family is a part member family with the parents who were inactive but their three daughters never had much contact with the Church. The mother and Giselle are stellar examples and through them, the family is becoming united under the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Giselle was baptized on Sunday after an amazing stake conference broadcasted from Salt Lake. Elder Christiansen, the Second Counselor in the Primary, Elder Bednar, and President Eyring spoke addressing I believe all of Mexico. Oh my goodness, it was awesome! Elder Bednar spoke of revelation and shared a scripture about as we live the Gospel through obedience to the commandments and keeping of convenants, we are enlightened by the Spirit, slowly, daily, but surely. He spoke about how we don´t recognize it but this type of revelation is very common. He shared a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants about Oliver Cowdry when he had desires to assist the prophet Joseph Smith in the translation of the Book of Mormon. This school teacher did not feel like he had a great revelation but this is the response of the Lord in DC 6:14-15
14. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast ainquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.
15. Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy amind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been benlightened by the cSpirit of truth;
The Lord told Oliver that his mind had been enlightened by the Lord through his prayers of faith. Enlightened. He had received revelation but didn´t even recognize it. Elder Bednar´s message, don´t fret if every moment is a great revelation. Through obedience to the Gospel you will be guided and directed. Sooo awesome! President Eyring spoke about claiming the heritage of the ancestors of this land through obedience to the Gospel. As well, sooo awesome!
But back to Giselle. She was baptized and was so emotional to have this direction in her live. It was so funny because she was so nervous the days before but it was such a privilege to see the Gospel in action con her. Elaine and Oliver came to the service as well as another investigator.
We have our baptism scheduled for I believe this Sunday for Elaine and Oliver.
We are helping them to stop smoking and drinking coffee. We have an appointment to marry them this Saturday. It is with this that I have been taking out money from the account. We have quite a few expenses with refreshments for baptisms, marriages, flyers / pamphlets for classes and baptisms, as well as the rides to and from Cuaulta and to help our investigators get to church. It is with these things that I have been taking from the account. Let me know if there are worries or questions about it. Nonetheless, we are very excited. The work is just beginning to explode here in Amilcingo. The ward is feeling more and more of the power of the work. We can´t wait.
Here are some photos of my first week as well as the baptism on Sunday. ¨how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that preach the Gospel¨.
Love,
Elder Russell
The heal of a new missionary. Walking in the paths of righteousness!