Week 47

These past two weeks have flown. We are extremely busy, but everything is great. We have a baptism this Saturday! Her name is Fabiola Canuillan! She is 17 years old and a future missionary. I´m extremely excited about her baptism. We are also working closely with the Familia Santibañez. The oldest son, Matías, is having some trouble getting to church, but the mom (Andrea) and the younger brother (Cristian) are progressing a lot. Cristian was able to see his first baptism this past Saturday and he loved it. Keep them all in your prayers. Yesterday, we went to Concepción for a meeting with President Martinez. It went really well. It helped me realize the way I can continue to progress. I have noticed that, once I made the big changes in my life, that I became comfortable. I felt like I didn´t need to change anymore and was blinded from the small things in my life that I can still change. I´ve felt like I´ve hit a wall and like I haven´t been progressing. I realized yesterday that there are many small things that I can change to overcome that barrier. Alma 37:6-7 says that small things bring great things to pass, but it can be applied in the reverse as well. Small things can keep us from achieving great things. Romans says that we are coherederos (I´m not sure how to say that in English, so use Google Translate) with Christ. That means that we can be exhalted like Him. If that is our potential, we can´t be anything less. I think that, if we can keep our potential (the potential that God knows we have) in our minds, that we will not only notice the small things that we are doing to keep us from growing, but that we will run from them and do everything possible to leave them behind. We can be exactly like Joseph of Egypt and run from those things that have the potential to hinder us. As we do that, we will feel more of the eternal love that Christ has for us, feel the potential that God has ascribed to us, and we will achieve a happiness only available to those that apply the Atonement in their lives everyday. How can we begin? We can repent. What is repentence? It´s a process of change that lasts a lifetime. It´s something we have to do everyday. As we understand the Atonement, we will understand that it has no limit. There is nothing that we have done that can´t be covered by the Atonement. Now is the time to begin. I know that the Atonement is real. There is not a person in this universe that can convince me otherwise. I have felt its power and the glory of the Man that brought it to pass. I know it not only applies to me, but applies to all. It was an eternal and universal sacrifice that cannot be contained, nor will it ever be. Everyone, come unto Christ and feel His love. Leave behind your worries, your pains, you weaknesses, your sadness, and your burdens and He will lift you up. 

Elder Reynolds