We laughed and he chopped off all my hair.
--Just kidding; not all of it.
I suppose every missionary gets this experience at least once on his or her mission.
Great thing was, it actually turned out good! I was pleased!
As I share the gospel in Hindi here and continue to speak in other languages as well, people are blown away and surprised. The power of the Lord is reaching all the open hearts he places in our path.
Often I have heard: "Your Hindi is so good. Many Hindi people don't even know Hindi this good!"
I testify that in whatever our calling is under the Lord, He magnifies us in our weakness as we turn to Him and never stop continuing FORWARD. All are promised the reward who never stop walking forward.
This week, I experienced the most pain of my whole mission so far. I witnessed people making choices that might spiritually destroy them. In the place of the Savior, as we walk with Him and love as He would love and work in His service for the children of God, we will face the kinds of pain He did.
But it will be swallowed up in the Joy of Christ if we are firmly attaching ourselves to Him, relentlessly! Daily.
The Lord is changing me.
Read the words of the Lord's true living Prophet upon the earth:
Ponder the Path of Thy Feet
“I am certain we left our Father with an overwhelming desire to return to Him, that we might gain the exaltation He planned for us and which we ourselves so much wanted. Although we are left to find and follow that path which will lead us back to our Father in Heaven, He did not send us here without direction and guidance. Rather, He has given us the tools we need, and He will assist us as we seek His help and strive to do all in our power to endure to the end and gain eternal life.
“To help guide us we have the words of God and of His Son found in our holy scriptures. We have the counsel and teachings of God’s prophets. Of paramount importance, we have been provided with a perfect example to follow—even the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—and we have been instructed to follow that example. …
“As we examine the path Jesus walked, we will see that it took Him through many of the same challenges we ourselves will face in life. …
“… Jesus walked the path of disappointment. …
“Jesus walked the path of temptation. …
“Jesus walked the path of pain. …
“Each of us will walk the path of disappointment, perhaps because of an opportunity lost, a power misused, a loved one’s choices, or a choice we ourselves make. The path of temptation too will be the path of each. …
“Likewise shall we walk the path of pain. We, as servants, can expect no more than the Master, who left mortality only after great pain and suffering.
“While we will find on our path bitter sorrow, we can also find great happiness.
“We, with Jesus, can walk the path of obedience. …
“We, like Jesus, can walk the path of service. …
“Jesus walked the path of prayer. …
“As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives by learning His words, by following His teachings, and by walking in His path, He has promised to share with us the eternal life that He died to gain. There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives. Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can.”
I am yielding to Heavenly Father's changes He sees fit to inflict upon me. I am being put through the hottest fires. And in this is my joy and my opportunity to rise with Him. I am choosing to weld myself unto my destiny: To become all Heavenly Father desires of me--greater things than the world has power to know; even one who is ready to be put through the fires of eternally refining flame and sanctification unto transformation. The Lord has created a path for us... and this path can make us all we have potential to be--even, to be a being that has no limit to potential in any degree.
This week's read << Click here and read the chapter please | Take time to meditate. Many times you will be wrestling with problems, the solution of which can be spiritually discerned.9
Don’t get so busy that you don’t have time to meditate. Take the time. The most important testimony does not come by sight, but by the inner witness. Christ may be nearer than we have knowledge. “I am in your midst, but you do not see me. The Holy Ghost bears the sure witness. Mine eyes are upon you. The day cometh when ye shall know that I am.”
I know the Second Coming of the Savior is now upon us and time is not lengthened out. I testify that we have today to get ready and not tomorrow. We must seize the moment of now to lay everything on the line for Christ.
We are to be completely given over to Christ in every aspect of our lives, starting with moment "now."
This week, we have witnessed miracles greater than the parting of the Red Sea.
We had to get to appointments in the day, but it was pouring rain so hard and thick. Our main problem was that my companion had accidentally left his umbrella at a home we visited the day before. We humbly prayed that the Lord would open the way before us; and according to our faith and obedience in exactness, He would. We looked out over the vast valleys and palm trees and saw only rain for miles and only thick dark clouds for what would be projected to last hours and hours, and we were needing to leave the flat in just under an hour. But the Lord is master of the elements.
We reached the time when we needed to leave our flat, and the Lord parted the way before us! He gave us a window! The rain around us stopped! We walked out and looked up in the sky, and in awe and pure amazement, we saw that there were thick dark clouds everywhere in every direction, except for one big line across the sky. This big long opening was a straight and unwavering line direct to the house we needed to go. We took pictures and were thanking Heavenly Father humbly and joyfully. He made a opening that was clear and blue, directly going to the house that had Elder Singh's umbrella! We got the umbrella and we thanked Heavenly Father and continued on in His work, saving souls and parting their Red Sea problems and worries and needs.
I know that the Lord is real and lives and loves and knows you; He Understands. That is the most reassuring truth. I don't know it because I witnessed a true miracle of godly proportions, but I know it because the Holy Ghost has quietly whispered it to my heart from my personal prayers with my personal, loving Heavenly Father in quiet moments where my hungry, yearning heart has sought Him. It is only by personal revelation from the Spirit that we know anything true and eternal. These things are more powerful than any outward miracle.
We come to earth and are welded to earthly things--trials break us from those, and weld us back to our eternal divinity and power, IF we look to, follow, act on, and love Christ by learning to access and use His Atonement.
The world has enough people like the world.
Choose to be like the Celestial Destinations you are aiming for with Christ and Heavenly Father. This is the only thing that won't leave you hollow and empty inside.
Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. _joshua j marine quote
I testify of Christ and His ability to lift us up if we but lift our eyes to Him.
Choose Him today.
Tomorrows are finished.
Are we prepared to meet Him? There is nothing now to obscure His view of us; and there will be nothing to obscure our view of Him, very soon. I know that. Meeting Him will be fully pleasing if we have first done those things that make Him as familiar to us as we are to Him. Serve Him. Become like Him. Feel closer to Him. With Christ's help we can reach our divine potential in our choices; this day.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
_Elder Howard
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