El Valor de Una Alma

From: Heath Tenney
Sent: Monday, December 9, 2013 11:31 AM
 
Subject: El Valor de Una Alma

¡Hola Familia!

I can't believe it is already Monday again. It terrifies me how fast time is passing. This week was great. So many amazing things happened. 

1st of all, my birthday was great. The best gift of all was the day before when we had so much success. All of our appointments worked out, and we had a member who was with us who is preparing for her mission and she brought the spirit so much. Members are everything to this work. Ah. It was such a good day. Then on my actual birthday we went to a parilla libre, which is pretty much all you can eat meat. Initially it seemed like a really great idea... but after my thoughts changed. haha. I ate so many weird meats. Here it is normal to eat all these strange parts, but I told myself I would try a little of everything. I won't grose you out with the details... but wow, I ate some strange things. But some of it was really good and somewhat normal. The members here are so so kind. Everyone wished me a happy birthday and some called and sang (or attempted to sing) happy birthday in English. Then one wonderful hermana made me a cake that had my name...sort of... So "Tenney" would be pronouned "Tay-Nay" here, so I always tell people "Tennis" with out the S. Haha. But most of the people just end up calling me"Elder Tennis"which is great too. So the cake said "Elder Tennis". Ah, I love these people so much.

So the miracles of the week. Well, a few. Last night, Our landlord knocked on our door (we learned she is a less active member) but she gave us a pie, and then told us, "I have a favor to ask. My son wants to make a deal with me if he gets good grades, and his rewards that he wants are these: 1, he wants to go with you two to church every week. and 2, he wants to go with you to teach people. hahaha. It was like a dream, PIE and a new investigator knocking on our door. And the pie was delicious. 

This week we also met with Omar more. His schedule is crazy, he gets back from work at 7 in the morning, then sleeps (sometimes, or goes to another job on some days). He had told us he wasn't going to go to stake conference because it was far away and he didn't have time. I really didn't feel this huge desire to pressure him to come, because really it is asking so much of him to sacrifice. But as he told us the financial problems his family has and other problems, the spirit prompted us to invite him again. We read the scripture that talks about seeking first the kingdom of God, and we promised him that miracles would happen in his life if he puts God first. After several seconds of thinking, he looked up and said "I need to go...". We pulled out a piece of paper and made a contract with him, where he committed to come. It was so amazing to see the spirit work on him. 

Then Sunday came, all the members were to meet at the church at 830 to go together in a bus to stake conference. We passed by an hour before to verify that everything was still good, and he was getting ready. We got to the church at 8:30 and him and his family were not there. The bus was full of members, it was 90 degrees, with no air conditioning, but everyone waited for him. No one said one word of complaint. 10 minutes passed...still not there...7 more... and we told them, we should probably just go now. So we headed off, and right as we were pulling away, they pulled up to the church. So Hermano G ran to the front of the bus and told the driver to turn around, we had to go around the block to turn around, and we were hopign they wouldn't leave before we got back. We pulled up, and Elder Hamilton and I were at the back of the bus, but I could only see Hermano G, in his suit sprinting down the road to stop their car, and he did. I almost started to cry just seeing that. He doesn't even know this investigator yet, but he turned the whole bus around, sprinted down the road to catch him, and everyone on the bus waited in the 90 degree bus for one family... one. They got on, and we left. With a few more adventures later on, he enjoyed the conference. I know the Lord will bless them. 

That image just sticks to my mind... seeing a man sprinting down the road in his suit, in 90 degree weather, so that a man who he doesn't even know can go to church. That is the work of salvation. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ coming alive. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it means so much to me. It made me think about what the worth of a soul is to Heavenly Father. Is a soul worth a bus full of people sweating for 20 minutes waiting? Is it worth a man sprinting down the road and sweating in his suit? Is it worth getting up in the middle of stake conference to go get our investigator that left? It is worth so much more. The scripture that says, "remember, the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." That scripture means so much more to me now, because great is such an understatement. 

I am so grateful for the souls that Heavenly Father trusts me to teach and to serve. I don't understand how great the worth of a soul is, but I pray I can feel it one day. I just know that whatever sacrifice we have to make, whatever fear we have to conquer, or whatever obstacle we have to overcome to help and save a soul is worth is. so worth it. There is no such thing as a sacrifice that isn't worth it when we are sacrificing for the good of others, even the good of ONE. 

I love this work so much. I love seeing it come alive within the members. They inspire me. 

I wish I could tell you about all the miracles of this week, but I don't have time once again. So go and live your own miracles of helping souls this week! 

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Heath Tenney