"The Music of the Gospel"

June 13, 2015

Hello family!

This week we weren´t quite as busy. We were still busy, but it was más tranquilo. I even wrote in my journal a few times this week. It´s really hard to find time to do that here.

We´ve started to get up early in the mornings in order to run a little bit. That´s been good.

We finally got the general conference Liahona. I´ve really enjoyed reading the talks.

I read the talk "The Music of the Gospel" again. I really like that one. It made me think about being a missionary. There are missionaries that learn the steps of being a missionary but never hear the music (the spirit). Those are the missionaries that don´t want to work, or that want to go home because "dancing without music is awkward and unfulfilling." Those who learn the steps but never learn to hear the music "will over time become uncomfortable with the dance and will either quit dancing or, almost as bad, keep dancing only because of the pressure they feel from others who are dancing around them." 

The other thing I took out of that talk is how we teach the gospel. "The challenge for all of us who seek to teach the gospel is to expand the curriculum beyond just the dance steps." Our investigators need to hear the music too. Some of our investigators never hear the music. Becuase of that, some don´t even try the dance. Others try the dance but then get uncomfortable and stop. So how can we teach them to hear the music too?

First of all, we need to be able to hear the music ourselves. We must have the spirit. We must be worthy and clean.

Then, we must teach the steps. We must do that "by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, by love unfeigned, and by kindness." These are the attributes that invite the spirit. When we have these attributes, then they can hear the music.  

I don´t think I answered any of your questions that you guys asked me last week. Mom asked some questions about the picture of the boxes for changes. Those boxes were had Books of Mormon, pamphlets, DVDs, and varios other missionary articles. There were also so packages from moms. All the packages come to the ofice and we distribute them every 6 weeks at the change meetings. So yes, here in the office I´ll get my packages a lot quicker. The big garage is the garage of the chapel that you can see in the mormon message about the El Salvador temple dedication. That´s where we have the change meeting.

O is going to move soon. Since I´m in charge of the referrals, I´ll make sure that the missionaries where he is going teach him. K is going to get baptized soon.

I attached some pictures so you could get an idea of what our area looks like.

Well, I love you all!

Elder Hilton