We had transfers this week, and the dangerous duo of Elder Guerra and Elder Bernal continues! Another six weeks in Villa de Seris and I am so pumped. This is Elder Guerras last 6 weeks in the mission, and in the mission we say that he is going "to die" in terms of being a missionary, and since i am his last companion,I am going to "kill him!"OOOOOOO how shall i do it?? Ooohhhh I know.....
The sad part is I had to say goodbye to Elder Evans, my old companion and my best friend in the mission. He is headed to his home in Chicago, so be sure to say hi on facebook, his name is Kaleb Evans and he would love some welcome home letters!!!
We met again with Ramon Cruz, the man who we find after our whole "guided by the spirit" experience, and it was another incredible lesson. The problem with Ramon is that he works on Sundays, so its tough for him to come to church with us. BUT, after reading from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7, 3 Nefi 13-15), he started to cry. He said to us during the lesson, "I will no longer be waiting for God to guide me, or looking for where to go. I have found it here with you two." Then, when he said the pray before we left, he said, "God, thank you for sending me these two muchachos (heehee). I will no longer look, I will no longer ask, I know this is where you want me to be." The spirit was very very strong, and I know that Ramon is ready to receive the Gospel. Pray for him so he can arrange something with his work schedule!! Because honestly, you cant really ask for a better investigator...
On a funny note, this week a learned a hilarious fact. In Spanish, (or at least here in hermosillo), the way to say handcuffs is "esposa", which is the same word for wife. When you tie somebody down, you say "Esposale, esposale!!" which means "Handcuff him, handcuff him!" but it can also mean "Wife him up, wife him up!!" Nothing against having a wife of course, but come one, the irony in that is too much to bear..... lol
This week in my studies, I had an epiphany. I have always asked myself, "What is the balance between confidence, and humility? How can one be perfectly confidence, yet not prideful, or cocky?" For me, it has always been a tough battle. It seems that in sports, you must to be confident, but that kind of self confidence often leads us to arrogance. So I have always looked for the way balance the two, but i haven't arrived at an answer, until this week.
The only way for us to achieve this equilibrium is to put our trust 100% in God. When we trust in God, we do not attribute our own success to ourselves. We realize that we only achieve what we do, because He gave us the ability to do so. When we take praise in our achievements, the credit is not rendered to ourselves, but to Him that made it possible. This keeps us humble.
The source of our confidence must be external, because first, on our own we can never match the capabilities of God. And second, it allows us to place our trust in Him, The Almighty, the most trustworthy and reliable being that will never let us down, while also avoiding the trap of selfish our self-centered feelings. This allows to us to become powerful and confident instruments, while also being humble servants at the same time. As Nephi says:
"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." (2 Nephi 4:36)
I know, that if we can come to put all of our trust and confidence in the Lord, he will give us back all of it and more, and we will never forget where our strength lies.
Have a great week!
Elder Bernal
Inspiration for the week:
"God´s opportunities begin at man´s extremities."
- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
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