Written by
Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.
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| Elder Avery is on the ladder (Peru Lima West Mission) |
Before I start complaining about how many more baptisms I'd like to see, I need to remember people like
Joseph Fielding Smith and
Gordan B. Hinkley. They had zero and one baptism in their whole mission. My
mission president's wife baptized 16 people in 18 months, while most good
elders in her mission baptized 2 or 3 people their whole mission. President explained this to us in our training a few months back. I realize numbers of
baptisms are not the whole reason we are here, but it is measurable, so it's hard to not think about that.
President also told us about a fireside (devotional meeting) he assisted years ago, and the only thing he remembered from the talk was ''God loves a champion.'' President explained to us that we can be normal, or we can be amazing. He told us that he hopes none of us left our houses thinking that we were going to be normal missionaries or normal people in general. Some people are born with this drive, but the majority of people who have this drive develop it during their lives.
I think one of my favorite examples if this is
Caleb. That guy was 85 years old, but as he entered the promised land he said that he felt as strong as he was when he had
first entered 40 years earlier. Of all the land in Palestine, he found a
mountain that was still inhabited by many cities and said, ''
Give me this mountain!'' Sure enough, that 85 year old and his small army defeated the previous occupants of the mountain. The thing is, some people just have a drive and desire to be champions, and sometimes we need to dig for it inside of ourselves. But I'm convinced that anyone can be a champion if they want to be.
Jesus said that
we are the light of the world and that we are the yeast in bread. In other words, He told us, ''I want my disciples to be champions!''
Well, that's my spiritual thought for the week. I just want to let everyone know that I love you guys and I'm grateful for the overwhelming love and support I feel from home. We're doing our best here to get the ball rolling and see that
stone cut without hands come rolling down the mountain. Have a great week! :)
Love, Elder Jake Avery
Our Course Towards Home (November 3, 2014)
Setting Goals (November 17, 2014)
The Stone Cut out of the Mountain by Gordan B. Hinkley
