Week #68 The Sacrament

Hello again! 

We had a good week here in Innsbruck. It is getting colder but we knew this was coming. I am trying to be better at wearing more layers. Thar probably could have helped me out a lot last winter. It has rained a lot but we just keep moving along and trying to be positive. Sometimes "the sunshine in the soul" is the only sunshine we can get...

We met a cool family last Tuesday night. They are the Potemkin family. They moved here from Russia awhile back and they knew about the Church before they got here. By the time the missionaries met them, they already knew the Word of Wisdom and were trying to live it. They are having another son being baptized on Sunday and the father was ordained a priest last Sunday. It is cool to see this wonderful family move forward in the Gospel. 

We also met Daniela again this week. She was the member who left for many years but she came back when the missionaries stopped her on the street last transfer. She is very cool and she is very spiritual. She loves the scriptures and she comes to Institute every week. She knows a lot so I sometimes forget she had not been to church in awhile. 

We did the Ausstellung again this week. We were able to hand out a few Books of Mormon but no contact with any of those people. Sometimes it is just a baby step at a time. It is cool to be out there and trying to be visible. Lots of people stare when we bring it out. Not like they weren't staring a lot before then...

Our finding street

Yeah a lot of this week was finding but we learned to do hard things and sometimes the Lord blesses us in other ways. For example, we were in Sunday school the other day and a visitor walked in. He spoke no German or English. Only Romanian. We used Google translate with him and he said he wanted to repent and pray better. He asked for a Romanian Bible (which we sadly did not have) but we were able to get him something else. We ran back to our storage and looked through our supplies. The first Book of Mormon I see is Romanian. The next Restoration pamphlet I see is also in Romanian. The closet itself is not overflowing with supplies so that was quite a miracle. We met in another room and we talked about the Restoration. Somehow we were able to understand each other well through Google Translate. He took the book home and he said he would pray with all of his heart. Way cool to witness. Hopefully we will see him again on Sunday. I mean, it would have been cool to see a miracle on the street but I think sometimes we have to do hard things, be patient, and then the Lord will bless us in beautiful ways.  

We are still working with Marina but it is not easy. She is super busy and has no time to meet or come to church. We will try again next week so we will be praying that she will be willing to meet sometime. We talk a bit through text though and she said she did not understand why we have to be associated with church. Can't we just believe on our own? Of course we can personally believe in Christ but church only adds to our worship of Him. I told her that through ordinances and covenants coupled with the Atonement, we obtain salvation. I also said that the Church is organized to make sure we get all necessary ordinances and covenants and that we stay true to them. 

We had a discussion the next day in district council on the question on "Why should someone be baptized again?". My mind was still on the conversation with Marina and that is when I received an impression that the sacrament is one of the key reasons why people are baptized again. I am sure that God is proud of all of His Children who are trying to follow Him the best they can but the baptismal covenant is renewed through the Sacrament. We experience a new sense of spiritual cleanliness when we take the sacrament. No other baptism can do that. We make the covenant with God through the correct ordinance and that allows us to have His Spirit to be with us. Although we are not perfect, we can take the Sacrament knowing we can start again and continue to progress. I have been thinking a lot about that and I am probably going to study that a lot this week. My invitation is to take the time to appreciate God's mercy during the sacrament. Remember how precious second chances can be sometimes and how willing Christ is to give us that second chance. 

I am really grateful for the truths of the Gospel this week. It is hard sometimes when people mock my testimony or take it as a grain of salt but when I remind myself of how different I would be without the Gospel, I keep pressing forward, trying to be a part of the change in the lives of others. 

Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Evans 

Below are pictures from our P-day activity this week!