Another great week here in Chiapa de Corszo! It was a great week filled with hard work and learning. Yesterday our church services were amazing, especially sacrament meeting. Only one investigator came to sacrament meeting yesterday. However, that one investigator traveled from an hour and a half away to do so. Her name is Hermana Flor de Maria. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met! She is an investigator who has one of the strongest testimonies ever. She knows the gospel is true and has such a desire to be baptized. However, the person she is living with, the father of her three sons is an alcoholic. They are not married so she is deciding if she will either marry him or get separated in order to be baptized. Anyways, she woke up at 6 am and left her little town in the mountains with two of her little boys to come to church here in Chiapa de Corzo. She arrived at the chapel at 7:40 and waited outside until 9 when the doors opened and the services started.
While we were in Sacrament meeting a brother who spoke gave a beautiful talk that reminded me a lot of Hermana Flor. He told a story about a parable of oranges. The story talks about 2 employees who were working for the same company. One of the employees had been working for the company for 5 years and the other for only 6 months. The employee who had been working for 6 months suddenly was given a promotion and got moved up. The other employee of course was very frustrated and wanted to know why the employee of 6 months got moved up when he had been working in the same company for 5 years and didn't get a promotion. He went to his boss to ask for an explanation. He walked in his bosses office and explained exactly how he felt. "I understand your concern" his boss said. "However, I would like you to run an errand for me quickly and then afterwards I will explain. The employee agreed so the boss gave him some money and explained the errand. "I would like you to buy oranges that my wife asked me to get that she is going to need for a party tonight." So the employee went to the store, bought the oranges and brought them to his boss. As he arrived at his office his boss asked him, "What class of oranges did you buy?" The employee shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know I just bought what was there." "How much did they cost?" his boss asked. "I'm not sure," the employee replied, "But you gave me 50 dollars and the change left over is 30 dollars so they must have been 20." "Alright, thank you" his boss said. "Now take a seat and pay very close attention." The boss then called the other employee in and asked him to run the same errand. As he returned the boss asked him, "What class of oranges did you buy me?" "Well," said the employee, "There were many options to choose from and they all looked very good, but I remembered you telling me your wife needed them for a party tonight, so I called her and aksed her what she was going to use them for. She told me she was going to use them to make juice so I asked the worker selling oranges which oranges would make the best juice and he said the valentina brand because they are the sweetest and most juicy. So that is the kind I bought. "Very good," his boss replied. "And how much did they cost?" "Well that was the second problem," the employee said. "I didn't know how many you needed, so I called your wife back and asked her how many people would be attending the party and she said there would be 30, so I asked the worker how many oranges would be needed to make enough juice for 30 people and he said I would need 15. The oranges are usually $1.50 per orange but because I would be buying several I asked if he could give me a discount. He agreed and gave them to me for a dollar each so it only cost me 15 dollars. The boss looked at the other employee sitting in the chair. "Now I understand," said the employee.
I love this story because it has a lot of comparison to life and the gospel. We can either just go through the motions to get the job done because we are supposed to do it, or we can give it all we've got. Hermana Flor is a great example of someone who has a pure desire and gives it all she has for this gospel.
I love you all so much and I am very grateful for each one of you. Thank you for all you do for me, for your love and support. Have a great week!
Love, Hermana Peine
 |
 |
Missionary Shoes |
No comments:
Post a Comment