This past week was crazy. I loved talking to my family. How I loved talking to my sister in SPANISH! That was crazy. I have missed her so much and how blessed I was to be able to speak to her in Honduras. How I enjoyed the crazy fireworks that went off Christmas Eve and after and the lovely fly that committed suicide by crash landing into my glasses. And for the Princess Diaries 2 that was playing during a lesson. Julie Andrews was a huge temptation for me. Hahahha.
My entire life Ive dreamed of my own White Christmas. One with snow and with just beauty all around. This past week, I received my white christmas, but in a different form:
Hna Irene had her own set of struggles this week. She had her interview with the Zone Leaders before her baptism and they said that she had some past sins that required another interview from our Mission President. We were told about this on Christmas Eve, and her baptism was scheduled for the next day. How would President make it to us in time AND on Christmas Day? We called President and told him of her circumstances and he let us know that he would gladly interview her on Christmas Day via telephone. The next day, she was interviewed and cleared for baptism. As she spoke to President Willard, she asked him if she could ever be forgiven for her sins she committed in the past. How blessed President was to let her know that, yes, she was able to be forgiven. Later Christmas Day she was carried by 4 worthy men of the Priesthood into the waters of baptism and was made clean again. I was able to speak on baptism and the importance of becoming as children, meek, humble, and happy as we come to Christ. Hna Irene became a child yet again as she made this covenant with Christ. I also got to accompany Hna Thorley as she sang I know that my redeemer lives. How beautiful was this white Christmas. I know that the angels were with Hna Irene as she was baptized. She was so happy. It was my dream come true. The next day we visited her to see how she was doing and she told us that she slept perfectly and her headache was gone. What a beautiful example she is to me! The day before her confirmation she had a fever and we humbly told her that if she didnt feel well, we could postpone her confirmation. But yet again, Hna Irene showed us what it means to have faith and she promised us that she would be there on Sunday. And she was. I had the pleasure of confirming her a member of the church and what a miracle she is to me. Miracles do happen, my friends.
This week, I want to share with you something that happened with Hna Irene just yesterday. She gets in a lot of pain when taken in taxi to the church so my companion and I volunteered to walk her to church. It takes about 45 minutes each way and it is so humid here in Bolivia. We were running late and so we had to run as fast as we could to get her there. By the time we got there, we were hot messes. It was nasty. But she got there. On the way home, I was blessed with the joy of carrying 2 watermelons home. As I carried them in the hot sun, I had such a great experience with the Lord. I had to decide how I was going to feel. As I looked at happy Hna Irene and my experiences here in Bolivia, I gained so much joy in the journey.
President Monson said the following:
This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.
My dear family, this year seems kind of scary. I feel deeply overwhelmed by what may come in the next 365 days. But I know that I can decide to enjoy right now. I really love the song ¨There is Sunshine in my Sould TODAY.¨ But sometimes I feel like changing the words to ¨There was sunshine in my soul yesterday but today isnt the best¨ or ¨There WILL be sunshine in my soul tomorrow but today Im not feeling it.¨ False. Lets change that. Lets find ways to enjoy today. This January 1st, Im going to start a 365 days of gratitude section in my misson binder. Each day I am going to wake up and look up things to be grateful for. And at the end of each day, I am going to write down at least one thing. Maybe more. But I want to simply show myself that each day is a gift. Maybe I wont have the time to write in my journal each day, but I will be able to write a sentence of gratitude.
In this talk by President Monson, he quotes Professor Harold Hill who said “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”
My dear family, that definitely is a symptom of many of us. We get so excited about tomorrow that we forget about today. Let us wake up each day and sing the lovely words
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine
When the peaceful happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
May we find Jesus smiling face each day of 2014 and beyond.
Con amor,
Elder Risueño
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