Saying Goodbye To President Bautista And Eternal Families

President Bautista

Tortillas for the week 35
Elder Jeffery R. Holland said: “It is the plain and very sobering truth that before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significant step in our lives.” That is so true especially now that I am a missionary. I have never had so many hardships in my life but I know I will have huge spiritual moments because I am doing the Lord’s will and being obedient. I’m also learning we all can conquer our fears and our doubts but as we do this we should never let our guard down because Satan is the great deceiver, and wants to fill our hearts with doubt and fear. He attacks the hardest and with more force after something amazing happens in life like receiving a mission call, receiving the priesthood, receiving the gift of the endowment, preparing to leave on your mission or temple marriage which brings me to my email this week. This week, no these past few months have been truly hard, Satan has gotten in the way of so many things but the Lord always gave me hope. We had our last multi zone meeting with President Bautista and this was one of those moments of hope. As he walked in I saw something different about him, he was happy as ever like he usually is but he was missing a light, or you could say what Elder Holland would say “the profound evidence of God’s hand upon this chosen leader.” He didn’t have that light. He gave an amazing last talk but it didn’t have the authority which he usually speaks with, the Lord was showing me that President Bautista is no longer our mission President. His time is done and he has fulfilled his calling serving as the mission president of the Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission. When he talked about the new mission president, President Smith, he said he wants to come running, I felt the spirit testify that President Smith is now the Lord’s chosen servant to lead this mission. I could feel the authority the he will hold, the power he will speak by and the power that will guide him as he guides us. Don’t misunderstand I truly love President Bautista, he is an amazing mission president and he taught me many great things. His final charge to us was, “Elders and Hermanas be obedient. Obedience is the key to opening the doors to those who are waiting to hear the truthfulness of the restored gospel. Through your obedience you will receive revelation and be directed by the spirit. You will be a successful missionary through obedience.” He also said, “Elders and Hermanas do things differently, do things that no missionary has ever done before. If want to have success be obedient and do things differently.” After he talked to us we had testimony meeting. When one of the assistants announced would have the opportunity to share our testimonies my heart jumped and I got all nervous and was like what am I going say to all these missionaries. Peace overcame me and I knew what I needed to say but my heart was still beating faster and faster. When the assistant finished sharing his testimony my heart was ready to burst out of my chest, I then counted down to calm myself and stood up and walked right up to the pulpit and as I opened my mouth I could hardly talk. This is the testimony I shared, “Elders y Hermanas I know that Christ lives. I know that He is the living Son of God. This is God’s church, this is His work. We are a part of the army of Helaman, the 2000 stripling warriors. It is our responsibility to share the gospel message. Let us be missionaries the Lord expects” The feeling I had after I finished sharing my testimony is something I can’t explain, all I can say is it was amazing. It was a great experience being able to listen to the missionaries share their testimonies. After the testimony meeting we had lunch and I got to talk to Elder Dickson, Elder Navarro, and my “dad” (trainer) Elder Bonilla. It was so good to talk to them and see others, but what was so cool was that I had like a 30 minute conversation with Elder Bonilla and I understood him and he understood me. I was so happy. I can see he has progressed and is such a good missionary.

Elder Dickson

Elder Navarro

Elder Bonilla

So yesterday I taught Sunday school, the youth Sunday school class. I taught from the For the Strength of Youth. We talked about family, and as we were talking about family I realized that I have one family in 2 different countries, here in Guatemala, they are my family, and I have a family in the states. That is just so sweet. Anyway I ended with a video from the Doctrine and Covenants videos. The message is about people going home to Christ. As I watched I felt an overwhelming love for my family back in the states and no matter what happens, no matter who goes astray, they will be my family and that we will one day walk up the stairs to God’s kingdom, hand in hand and all embrace our Angel of Simple Faith who we miss so dearly, Grammy we will come home. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ offers the most beautiful thing in the world, familias para siempre: Eternal families. As members of Christ’s church we are called to rescue families and individuals. In the past three months the mission has turned the focus to find families and teach families so they too can go home and live with our so loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. Through His Atonement we will all have the opportunity of being resurrected so that families can be together forever, so that families will never separate. I give you my solemn witness that families are forever, if we keep our covenants with the Lord nothing will ever separate a family, death may separate us for a while but not forever. Satan knows how important families are to our Heavenly Father’s plan. He will make every effort to destroy the family; he will not succeed through our faith and obedience. God wants us to succeed and to come home again to live as Eternal Families. I know that President Smith and his wife, Sister Smith have been called by divine revelation to be are our new mission presidents and will guide us on how to bring more families back to our loving Father in Heaven. 

Time To Cut Wood-Guatemalan Style

What I love about Mom is that she tells me who has received their mission calls and what I love about Dad is that he challenged me to do something and I am doing it.

This Is The Place-To Cut Wood

Big Leaf

Duck Man

With Love, Ducks Forever, 

Elder Mcilmoil  
June 23, 2014

Camp Fire With The Kids

Scripture of the week: Alma 34:41
 

“It’s not over until it’s over.” Elder Jeffery R. Holland

“Face your doubts. Master your fears. Cast not away therefore your confidence. Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.” Elder Jeffery R. Holland

“Brethren [and sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!” Joseph Smith Jr.

“If I obey with exactness I get to walk in the footsteps of Christ” Elder John D.Mcilmoil

“Strangely enough the key to freedom is obedience” President Boyd K. Packer. 

Bring It Elder

Just Chillin'