2/25/19: Lluvia de bendiciones

Heyo!

Sorry for no email last week, we had to drive down to NY for a temple trip so we were pretty busy the whole time. It's been a BOMB past 2 weeks.

We had 2 baptisms, the latest one being Yudid Ortega! She is a 9 year old of this family we have been teaching. The parents can't get baptized yet, but they really wanted Yudid to do it. She was super pumped, and made sure the water was the perfect temperature before getting in. It was hilarious, because about 20 people showed up for the baptism but they brought enough food for the entire Branch of Danbury. Needless to say everyone got their fair share. 

We are working with the Rosario family a ton and actually had dinner with them and our Branch President on Friday. Whitest dinner I've had in a while, which was awesome. The family loved it and made quick friends with the Newbolds. It was sweet cause on Sunday we were talking to the wife a little bit about the difference they have felt and seen at home, and she said her husband is a completely different person. She loves the changes they are seeing. The husband, Luis, is the MAN. He is absolutely hilarious and just lights up the room, so he's the most popular guy at church. Everyone loves him and he loves them. He stood up after sacrament meeting and tapped me to tell me that after he's baptized he wants to get up front and talk in sacrament. I was like alright that can be arranged my man! He's the best.

We had to make a trip down to Queens this week for a medical appt for my comp, so while we were sitting in there I was reading this book that one of the Senior couples gave me. It's called "Believing Christ". If you haven't read it, please do! It's amazing. I wanted to share a few things I learned from it today.

The entire purpose of the book is to help us understand what truly having faith in Christ means. We as members of the church seem to have strong testimonies of specific laws or beliefs that are unique in the restored gospel, but I know from personal experience that I didn't truly understand what Christ meant to me until I was out here. 

The author, Stephen Robinson, brings up an interesting point. He says that he has seen (I have as well) countless members of the church beat themselves up after making a mistake, saying that they're not good enough, that God doesn't love them, that everyone else is better or more qualified for Christ's Atonement than themselves. We say constantly that we "believe in Christ". We believe he is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. But that is only a half of having faith in Him. The other half is believing that He can heal us completely, perfectly, TODAY. 

"Until we accept the real possibility of our own exaltation in the kingdom of God, we do not yet have faith in Christ; we do not yet believe." 

We can't solely believe that Christ can help other people and heal them from their afflictions and wrong doings. It is necessary and requisite that we believe He can heal us as individuals, and that He can eventually make us perfect even as He is perfect. 

Genuine faith in Christ is "Active acceptance of His power and not just passive belief in His identity." 

As we truly accept Christ, our lives completely change. We no longer have a negative outlook on our fallen state, but we rejoice in the joyous good news of the gospel, which teaches us that we can be perfected in Christ, just as the Book of Mormon promises us. 

Love you all!