Life is grand! The temple this morning was awesome. I am loving my mission so much and cannot really describe the joy that I feel serving the Lord. It is like every tiny bit of joy is magnified and just fills me up.
Here's the week:
March 5, 2012
Good Preparation Day. We got done all of the normal stuff, and actually didn’t have to wash our car because this morning after soccer we went to the garage to help some Sisters get new chairs for their apartment, and when we got back, a group of other Sisters had washed our car. It was in desperate need because last week we didn’t exactly have a preparation day due to transfers…so that was a huge blessing. God bless the Sister Missionaries…they even gave us an air freshener because they said that our car smelled weird even though Elder M. and I tried to explain that the car smells like "man" and not everything has to smell like some sort of flower to still smell nice…they didn’t buy it haha.
Musings: How did Christ love everyone, even those difficult to love. How did He do that? He loved everyone despite their annoying habits and their lack of kindness. He didn’t just love them in spite of those things either, it is like He was able to love them, not even seeing those weaknesses and only seeing their strengths. What a good example…the BEST example.
March 6, 2012
Today was ZLC. President's piece was terrific. It was about the Atonement again. Some of the points that he made that I thought were especially interesting were that Christ went into Satan’s realm and attacked him on the offense and did not merely sit there and let the Atonement happen to Him…He attacked. Often times we let life come to us instead of us charging and attacking life and the problems that come our way. The only way to get stronger is to face something head on, not merely endure it.
Some other things that the Spirit told me while we were listening was that the opportunity to serve God is the opportunity to become like Him…through nothing else can we attain all of the Godly attributes one day needed to be considered in the same category as Heavenly Father. Success comes from gaining charity as a motivator for all we do without thought or expectation of reward or recognition and without complaining.Good stuff, right?
March 7, 2012
The real highlight of today was a talk we had with Senior missionary Elder O. That man is one of the best men I know, I love him to death. After a long day of knocking a lot of doors without too much to show for it, we sat and talked with him about his ranch and farm back in Utah and what he likes to do and how life is on a ranch.It sounds awesome. I think I liked the sound of it for a few reasons. One, because I have never really experienced anything like that and a real day of hard manual labor and it something I have longed for recently, and the other is because here in Los Angeles everything is so concrete and there is so little green that it made me remember that there are places like that! Places without sirens and sidewalks. Places that are left exactly the way God created them and intended them to be. I think post-mission I will do a lot more with nature and appreciating it and such. It is kinda like how I have been on a fruit and veggie kick lately because for the first ¾ of my mission the only things I was ever given to eat that were green were salsa and serrano peppers haha.
March 8, 2012
Today helped in the way of manual labor. It happens twice a year and it was our turn for temple service. Who knew I could enjoy pulling weeds, raking leaves, and diving into dumpsters full of prickly palm fronds? I wouldn’t have guessed it, but it was so fun to play in the dirt and help make the Lord's house even more beautiful than it already is. That took up the majority of the day, but this afternoon we taught Sister J. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and did it at the Visitor’s center and the temple steps…There are 5 temple steps and there are 5 steps of the Gospel…convenient right?
March 10, 2012
Today was one of those days that tested our will power and our endurance. We ended up knocking a lot of doors without a lot to show for it. We knocked and walked and knocked and walked some more, and we tried visiting a few 5-5-5 people who weren’t home and then we were walking to try and visit some members to save miles and gas so we walked for a good 20 minutes and then asked someone to make sure we were gin the right way cuz sometimes the roads and directions can get kinda confusing and he gave us directions that sent us in the opposite direction than the one we wanted to go in. And to make matters worse, it was not too far from the beach and in Santa Monica and the closer you are to the ocean, the less effective the street contacts are. Everyone is so preoccupied with getting to the spot where they can sit and do nothing that they walk right by what really matters.
We had dinner with Sister G. tonight and she is just the greatest. She was asking us about our day and we told her that we knocked a lot of doors with little success and she gave us her pep talk about not getting discouraged and how on the days that it is hardest to keep going, when we do keep going, that is when we, but more importantly our families, receive the biggest and most rewarding blessings.
She talked about how Los Angeles is a wicked city and how our generation was sent to the earth at this time because we could battle the wickedness and the darkness that the Adversary brings to it, and we in particular were sent to one of the most wicked places in the world at a time when the world is more wicked than it has ever been because only we can combat such darkness and evil at this time. She is a great motivator.
It is not about laying down when times are tough…can you imagine if I never even swung the bat in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded? The game is on the line and choosing not to swing at all means I won't get a hit even before the first pitch is thrown. I am going to not only swing, but I refuse to strike out. These last two and a half months of my mission I am more experienced and skilled at talking with people about the gospel than at any other time in my entire life and mission and I will use those skills that I have honed for the last 21 months to make these last few the very best and the hardest I have ever worked in my entire life. I cannot afford to sit down or lose focus. I am sure that as the Savior faced His final few days before the Atonement was completed were no cake walk and if I am to represent Him officially for the next little while then I must go through a tiny fraction of what He did. It is not supposed to be easy, but it is worth it. Pay the price and earn the prize…I will not slow down.
March 11, 2012
I kind of have a lot to write about today because, spiritually I learned quite a bit. Today our lesson in Priesthood meeting was about perfect love casting out all fear. It was based on a talk by Elder Perry and there were three main points. Be bold in your declaration of the Christ. Be a righteous example. Go out of your way to bring up the church. Can you believe that!? It was straight up revelation and an answer to my prayers about how to improve. It really pumped me up and I realized something as the teacher was explaining the importance of each of the points.
All too often people think that they can pick one of those and work on it and call it good. They think: "I don’t think I need to go out of my way to bring up the church if I am being such a righteous example because people will see my example and know what I believe"…false. These three focuses are essential…all of them. If you don’t speak up about why you are being a righteous example or what drives you to live in such a way then no one will know for sure and it is rare that they will ask, but it is common that they will wonder.
Think about if the Savior had chosen to be a righteous example and nothing else. Yes, His life would have been a great one, but had it been quietly lived, it would not have affected nearly as many people. If He passively lived life and never declared His divinity or organized a church with the priesthood or anything His mortal Ministry would have been about as far reaching as those lucky enough to see Him do his thing. In order to fulfill His messianic mission to its fullest, it was required of the Savior to master all three of those points. So, too, it is with us as missionaries and even as normal church members.
It is not enough to just live life hoping someone will notice that we are following Christ. We must boldly declare what we know and that will lead us directly lead us to the church and lead others to the truth.We can humbly exclaim “watch how I am living, this is why I am living this way, and you can see the same results if you apply these teachings of Christ of whom I testify and know lives.” All three build on one another.
Something else I came to realize today is that the Atonement is personal. Yes, we have all heard that the Atonement of Jesus Christ includes us. He died for your sins and my sins…but rarely do we think of it in the light of "what if I was the only one to choose agency and God’s plan? If 99.99999% of Heavenly Father’s children chose the wrong plan, and I chose agency and to come to earth and be tested, an Atonement would still need to be made, and more importantly an Atonement would still BE made. If I was the only one that needed saving from sin, Christ still would have come to earth to die for my sins and my mistakes to get me back to my Father in Heaven. If I was the only one! He would have died…just for me if that is how it played out."
A lot of the time we hear and think about the Atonement as so all encompassing and widespread that we are merely included in it rather than we are the reason individually for it. He loves me. Individually and personally. He loves you the same way.
We ended up doing quite a bit of tracting and talking with people on the street and it turned out to be one of those things where the Lord is testing your drive and stamina and how many you are willing to knock before something happens not at all in the way you would expect it to. So we knocked a good 3 blocks, both sides of the street with minimal luck when we decide to go to a members apartment complex a few houses down and try and get in. So we walked there and couldn't get in because they weren’t home and the gate to the complex was locked.
So, we both turned around ready to head back to the car and try somewhere else and we see this lady walking up the sidewalk a few yards from us and she stopped and looked at us and we looked at her and she said “Are you Jesus people?” If ever there was a description that was short and sweet and still accurate to describe us, "Jesus people" has got to be up there as one of the very best. We said we were and asked her if she was a "Jesus Person" and she talked about how she was raised agnostic, but then she chose Judaism and has recently accepted Jesus Christ and is looking for truth. FINALLY!
Her name is S. and she is one of the most genuine people I have met in a long time. She told us that she wants to follow God and Christ and wants truth and is very in tune with the Spirit based on some past stories she recounted and said that if God wants her to be a Mormon and the Book of Mormon is true, she’s got nothing against it. So, we gave her a Book of Mormon and she is gonna read it and pray and just wants the truth.What a perfect book for finding truth right!? The Lord was testing our patience and then sent someone right to our feet.
March 12, 2012
Today went really well. We had a lesson with Sister S. who is on the 5-5-5 and taught her about the first half of the Plan of Salvation. She is really going through a tough time. We talked about how this life is a time of struggle and hardship and that it is all for our benefit and that God loves her even when times are tough. He gives her tough times because he knows she can not only handle it but grow and improve as a result.
It was a powerful lesson and she wasn’t the only one teary-eyed. Brother T. came with us, too, so we could go in. The day before he informed us that he had been praying to find more ways to serve and he let us know that if we ever need him during the day and we let him know the day before, he can take his lunch break to come teaching with us…So the very next day we took him up on his offer. What an example. If that man is not going to heaven we are all in trouble! Not only was he desiring to know of the Lord what more he could do to serve, but he acted on his prompting to make that time available to us to use him to help us teach, and then when instantly called upon, he followed through and sacrificed time, one of the hardest things to sacrifice, to serve the Lord.
So that is it for now. I love you Guys! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Molinaro
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