Last Week

Yesterday I was reflecting in my personal study and had a spiritual experience.  I was studying Doctrine and Covenants, Section 97, Verse 8, which reads…
“Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.”

I wrote down in my study journal and asked myself, “Is my heart honest and broken?  Is my spirit contrite? Am I willing to observe the covenants I’ve made with God by sacrifice?  Yes, every sacrifice needful to keep my covenants completely?”

Then I asked myself, “what sacrifices have I made to keep my covenants?” Multiple sacrifices that I have made came to my remembrance.  Then I felt prompted to re-study the talk, “Becoming a Consecrated Missionary”, by Tad R. Callister.  A talk that talks much about sacrifices to make in order to become a Consecrated Missionary.  I felt peace and guidance as I read it, knowing that I have strived to do all I can in my mission, to do what is right and to fulfill my duty.  Towards the end of the talk, Callister says,
“I do not think the Lord expects immediate perfection of us, but I do believe he expects immediate progress, and with that progress comes consecration.”  With these words came peace to my soul.  I have strived to make all the progress I could and that has made me a consecrated missionary.  Then I asked myself, what more can I sacrifice for this last week and here on out in order to complete more fully my covenants. And the Spirit spoke to me and told me what I must do.  The joy of the Gospel!  Becoming more and more like the Savior until that perfect day!  When His merciful Atonement covers us after all that we could have done.

The Marcone Family are doing well.  Yamila, the mom and the gospel leader of the family, is still praying for answers.  She’s tied between her old church that she feels the need to continue attending and our church where she feels like everything is true.  She’s reading a lot of the Book of Mormon and attended church again yesterday with her two little ones.  We continue praying and working for and with her family.

Love you a ton fam and friends!

Elder Orme

Vamos Familia Marcone!

Hello fam and friends! I’m doing well here with two weeks left in the mission.  I want to spend some time talking about the Marcone family!

It’s amazing!  Now that the family has come to a knowledge of more truth, more gospel, the fulness of the Gospel, they can’t deny it.  Yamila has been on a very spiritual journey, God has been guiding her and preparing her for a long time for us to finally meet them and share the restored Gospel with them.  She grew up in the Catholic church, but their family wasn’t active.  Later in her adult years she started searching for God.  She found him in good little Christian churches.  But later she fell away from the churches for a time.  She began to feel lost and empty.  She realized that it was because she wasn’t searching for God anymore, she had put him aside.  She began attending churches again.  The family had been moving to different places, trying to find their place in life and do it right.  They followed the Spirit, found each other for example, Alexis and Yamila, a fantastic couple, they love each other very deeply, and followed the guidance of the Spirit to get married. They have two beautiful children now.

They were found by members of this little church that they have been going to now for about a year.  They have liked the church.  But then they met us!  Two missionaries equipped with the fulness of the Gospel!  All the truth,  Truth that penetrates the hearts of all sincere and humble truth-seekers.  Slowly, they began listening to us, more and more until we’ve had some great discussions now.  Alexis is wild, but Yamila is his tamer and his compass.  He trusts and confides in Yamila before anybody else.  So she will help guide him.  Both are preparing themselves for baptism, along with their 9 year-old daughter.  Even though they were involved with this other church before, they see it as a preparatory for the new church they found that contains all the truth!  They are so willing to make changes in their lives because they feel the Spirit telling them that all this stuff from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christ’s church, fills them with sweet spiritual joy, peace, and understanding.

 Since we first met Alexis, he was very talkative and had a lot of doubts and would just throw them in the air and so it was hard to have an organized and simple discussion.  But now he has become much more tame, calm, receptive and a listener since he came to church last week.  He was intrigued by the Ezra Taft Benson book, so he read some of that during the week, and he never reads!!!  We had a beautiful lesson last time of the first half of the Plan of Salvation with the family.

What a beautiful family they are!!! God found it expedient to guide us to this family of gold!  To find them in their lives in the precise moment when they were ready for the fulness of the Gospel!  What a joy it is to be a part of their journey!

I hope all is well with you all!  Trust in God, follow the Spirit!  Do what you feel is right and God will guide you.  Prayers please for the Marcone Family and for us to find more families just like them!

Love Elder Orme

Marcone Family

The whole Marcone family came to church yesterday!  Alexis, Yamila and the two kids Esmeralda and Benjamin. Alexis didn’t go fishing like he said he might.  Thank heavens.  They had a good time in church.  After sacrament meeting, we lost Alexis for a moment (it’s a tight building with lots of people).  Where’d you go!!??  We found him outside smoking.  After telling me about some errands he was going to have to do during the week concerning his car, he finished his cigarette and I asked, “Are you ready?  The next meeting is about to start.”  “Yup, let’s go.”  And in the 3rd hour he participated a lot in the Priesthood meeting.  We have taught him that smoking isn’t good (of course he knows that already), next visit with them will be a deep lesson of the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom (God’s health law).  For sure we hope they will continue progressing!!  And prepare for their baptismal goal for the end of November.

I have learned this week from my studies and life experience how the gift of agency is a grand gift of learning and having faith.  Many times I have waited for some urge, sharp, or clear nudge of the Spirit to tell me what to do.  But God has given us agency, the ability to act and make decisions on our own.  Richard G Scott said something like this, “If we were always told what to do after praying about a decision to make, we would develop into very weak beings.  Strength and learning is found, which is part of God’s gift and plan for us, when we make our own decisions based on knowledge already received.”  If something is wrong when we think it is right, God will let us know before it gets bad.  But it’s up to us to act nothing more, not simply wait.  And while we act, the Spirit will have power to guide us.  I’ve made a personal goal this week to act with the knowledge that I’ve already attained, confident that the Lord has given me what I need to know for now, confident that as I move forward, things will happen.  I will act and not be acted upon.  I invite you all to the same.  Have confidence that God has already given you what you need to know, simply act with whatever you think is best, and the Lord will add upon your knowledge and guide you.  Be sure to pray, read the scriptures, and to keep all the other commandments so you can be worthy of the Spirit. Then your “confidence will wax strong in the presence of God.”

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Orme