Hello Family and Friends,
This week my companion and I studied about charity, the pure
love of Christ. This is an attribute of Christ that I want to work on for the
rest of my mission and so on. Well, we were studying Moroni 7 and in verses
46-48 it says the following,
"46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not
charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto
charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— 47 But acharity is the pure blove of Christ, and it endureth cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at
the last day, it shall be well with him. 48 Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, apray unto the Father with all the energy of
heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all
who are true bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye
may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is;
that we may have this hope; that we may be dpurified even as he is pure. Amen."
Friday morning we were walking to a member's house for lunch
when a Father, Mother, and teenage boy approached us. They told us that they
were recent converts and had moved to our area a month ago. They mentioned that
they had 8 children! We got their address and marked an appointment for 3:00pm
the next day during the general conference break. After the first session of
general conference we got together the High Priest responsible for our Ward and
we went looking for this families house. We walked for about 20 minutes and we
did not find their residence. We called them and found out that
their house was located about a hour away on the outskirts of our area. In
Brazil bikes or cars are out of the question so we had to make the hike on
foot. At the end of the walk we had to climb a hill that just about killed me
and then we arrived at their humble abode all sweaty and out of air.
This family of ten is living in a house about the size of
our apartment. We got to know all of them and their story. We expressed our
excitement for having a Family of ten with seven priesthood holders in our
small ward. The high priest that was with us asked after the prayer, "Is
there any thing we can do to help you all." We already knew but we had to
ask, do you need food? They told us that they had been living on chocolate milk powder for
the last few days. The Father was having trouble finding steady work. I saw the
desperation in their eyes and it cut me to the core. I knew a little bit of how
they were feeling as we were fasting and after that long walk in the sun I felt as
if I were starving too. Without delay we went back to our apartment and
gathered shoes, white shirts, ties, pants to give them. After that we went to the
market and bought food to last them about 2 weeks. We called other Brothers
from the ward to help transport everything to their house but no one could seem
to help us at that moment. So we found a guy that was willing to help for 15 reals
which was a great blessing. We transported everything to their
house. They were absolutely speechless when we arrived with all the
food and clothing. Grateful is not a strong enough word to describe what they
were feeling.
It was about 9:20pm when all was accomplished and we were
beat. I took a shower and collapsed on my bed. We offered a prayer of
thankfulness for being able to help out this family and then my body shutdown
for the night. The next day we arrived at the chapel for the Sunday morning
session of conference and the whole Family was there! They were all dressed in
church clothes and looking good. Even the Mother got a nice skirt from one of
the other sisters. I sat down on the bench with that closed throat feeling I
get when on the verge of crying. About a million thoughts passed through my
head. The only thing I can say is that I love this gospel, I love Christ. I want
to have the pure love of Christ in life. It is not easy but it is totally worth
it. I learned a great lesson this week about love. While conference was going
on we were out in the street putting into practice this eternal principle.
I have so much to improve on in my life. I fail a lot. Sometimes I look at
people with my natural eyes and not with my spiritual ones. I hope that in
these last few months of my mission I can learn to love like our Savior.
He is love and it is our duty to learn from him.
Lots of Love,
Elder Miller
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