Pondering and learning from the Scriptures

Hey, Hello How's it going?

So this week has been a slow week for missionary work, struggling to find new investigators; however, Toni Barker, one of our investigators thanked us for making a difference in her life and in her children's life. She was so surprised at how eager her children were to say the family prayer before bed time. That made me happy

 

One thing that my companion had said to me that changed my view on things was that people won't get baptized unless you love them and be patient with them. That humbled me because i know i need to be better in being patient with other people's decision to be baptized. I'm so eager to help people to be baptized that i sometimes forget that these people that i talk to are human and they need love. so i definitely have come to a look in the mirror and decided to apply more love and compassion to those i serve. 

So i started the New Testament and finally finished the first gospel of Matthew one particular night i could not sleep. The last two verses in that chapter just rocked my world and made me bust into tears.

 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo i am with you always, even unto the end of the world" - (Matthew 28:19-20)

So i read all of the things that Jesus has done and this is the point when the Savior is resurrected from the dead and speaks to the apostles one last time before his ascension to heaven. When i finished the book i just thought and remembered all the examples he has set for me and the love that he shared and expressed on to his friends and the miracles he has done and to get to that point where he finally dies and goes to heaven i remembered that he lives. He has given me the power and the authority to share this sacred duty in saving the world and helping families be together for all eternity. 

 

Elder Quijada

Loving my mission in Seymour!

So in the past week, we had Zone P-day and that was fun. The work here in Seymour is steadily growing. i know that this place will soon be a thriving community and i hope that someday there will be a stake here. i know that it will be far and it will be a long process but just as a redwood tree or an oak tree came to be, it all started from a tiny seed.

 i can honestly now say that im Loving Seymour and it took a while for me to change my attitude and how i took it in perspective. just as i loved my last area in Guthrie, Oklahoma, i'm falling in love with the work with members and the investigators here. i'm happy to have made strong relationships and bonds with the members here and i really do feel the love that the Lord has for them. 

sometimes i feel a little trunky and i do start missing the life of a normal human. but that won't stop me from wanting to serve the Lord. i have never been happier in my life than out here; this beats any other experience i have. 

And i'm so glad that i'm a Mormon, and i owe it all to my mother who has brought me in the gospel. this gospel is literally a pocket full of sunshine. 

i dare everyone to just look at what this restored gospel has to offer and watch where it will take you. 

Love,
Elder Quijada

Welcome to my first blog post as a missionary!

Note:  This is the first installment of Elder Peter Quijada's missioinary blog. It will be updated each time he sends a new blog post. Thanks for reading ... and don't forget to write him!

Here's a pic of me the night before I transferred from Guthrie, Okla., to Seymour, Texas. From left, Elders Tracy (my Guthrie companion) Morris and Balch, along with Guthrie Ward member Dakoda Rollins. This was taken at the Rollins' home. 

So this past week was cool. We had elder foster quorum of the 70 come and talk to us on tuesday and he gave use some very key points on sincere prayers. He talked about what to do when we felt inadequate and how to over come it. I thought it was an amazing experience. so in the past couple days I really have applied all my heart and soul in my prayers and praying all my heart might mind and strength sincerely, and so, far i really feel blessed from my efforts. and from these prayers my questions have been answered. 

     And I felt reassured that me feeling like I'm not the best missionary I can be is just a tool of the adversary trying to lure me away from performing 100%. I know that God loves me and as long as I stay diligent and obedient and remember what I've been taught and apply them I'll be just fine.

So now i want to share some of the miracles that has taken placed in the past couple of days. on Friday i was on exchanges with Elder Paxman he serves in Vernon, Texas, which is about 50 miles away from Seymour, another small town. i was praying that morning and i was asking the Lord for more spiritual experiences. just randomly in the car he turned to me and asked me "how have you been doing with recording your spiritual experiences and miracles?" 

Unfortunately, i have not been doing that at all. he later replied saying something along the lines of well the Lord will give you more if you record them because it shows how much you cherish and appreciate the ones he gives you. i turned  to him and said that you know i asked the Lord for more spiritual experiences and out of nowhere you just say that? we were both jaw dropped because he replied saying i didnt know why i should say that but was just prompted to. so that was definitely a confirmation from my Father in Heaven being mindful of my prayers. 

Another cool miracle i want to share is that Anthony Carter an investigator for a long time has accepted a baptismal date. The background on this guy was that he was abut to be dropped and showed no interest in the gospel. the was before i met him. we were going to see him one day with the intentions of dropping him. when i met him we started talking about the plan of salvation and he and i just immersed ourselves in a conversation about the gospel and he just lit up and started to ask more questions and liked what he was hearing. 

He grew very very interested in what we were talking about. after the lesson my companion told me that that was weird and that he never saw Anthony get so interested with the gospel before. This past Sunday we were having a lesson about the Book of Mormon and that we were the one and only true  church and Branch President was there. it was such a very powerful and spiritual lesson that he felt the spirit so strongly and liked our teachings and the church. we testified and shared many scriptures and i can just say that it was extremely powerful. we taught with power and authority. 

We invited him to baptism at the end of the lesson, he said previously that he didn't want to be part of a church at the moment and stated it again. so we were driving him home and he asked us at what day we had set for baptism, we replied oct 17 and he said "can you give me more scriptures about baptism because if this is something i want to do i want to learn more and i will definitely read the Book of Mormon." 

So in the end he accepted the invitation while we were on his doorstep. this just goes to show that miracles do happen and that i believe that i was sent here for a reason and that i needed to meet Anthony Carter and that the Lord loves him and gave him another window of opportunity to be part of the covenant and that he has been prepared by the Lord and prepared my companion and i to meet him and it was all in the timing of the Lord. 

So i really am starting to love my are. it is really growing on me and i think that small places like these are ready to be harvested and that it just takes the right type of attitude to really see miracles or notice the ones that are happening here.

****Please write me! Send mail to me at 1101 Plainview Road, Seymour, Texas, 76380

Love,

Elder Quijada