Saved by Grace

Maayong hapon sa akong mga abyan!

This was a GREAT. WEEK. What a great opportunity to be a missionary.

We had a baptism this week! Angel Y-------, the grandchild of Sister P------- we baptized in March, was finally baptized! She is great. She was SO SO SO excited to get baptized and has been waiting for a long time. She has actually been an investigator for a long time, but was lost when the Elders were pulled out of one of the proselyting areas that we are now covering. We were able to recontact her and start teaching her again. On our first visit with her back in February, we found her house and then taught them. When we were talking about their religion, her friend said, "I'm Baptist" and then Angel said, "I'm Mormon!" quickly following it up with a, "ah, well I guess not QUITE yet..." She is great. The baptismal service was wonderful, and it was just great.

This week was full of a lot of learning for me. I finally decided to finish the book that you sent me, Mom, titled "Believing Christ" I think my procrastination of actually reading this book must have been part of God's plan for me because it couldn't have been more timely. I shared last week about Elder Holland's talk about TRYING and being found "spotless before God at the last day," and I thought about how HARD it must be to be spotless. I guess I didn't quite understand the concept of grace last week. This book described the principle of grace so clearly. I have only recently started to understand the doctrine of Grace in the LDS context. I had always kind of ignored the idea of grace, thinking it to be more of a Baptist doctrine that provided a "free ticket" to heaven if we just "received Christ." I have recently come to understand that it is nothing like that. We don't get a free ticket to heaven just by believing, but through this grace we can become perfect. WE ourselves won't become perfect, but because of the covenant relationship we have with Christ, we can be CONSIDERED perfect when we face our God at judgment because of our flawless partner which has paid for those imperfections we have. In the book, it explained how Christ knows that we will not be able to keep all of the commandments all of the time, but that he expects us to TRY. He ASKS for us to be obedient exactly obedient all the time, but doesn't EXPECT that we will be able to meet that commitment all at once. 

When I think of all the mistakes I have made and am currently making, it makes me realized how BADLY I need that saving grace in my life. It also made me more fully understand this work that I am a part of. I am beginning to understand exactly WHY I need to help people to be baptized. If only I had learned and understood that doctrine more fully a bit earlier, you know? What an important thing for missionaries to understand. If you don't yet understand grace or haven't even begun to understand it, you are missing a BIG piece of the puzzle. I hope to learn even MORE about it in an effort to believe Christ's promises a little bit more.

As I have tried to come closer to Christ, I have started having so many feelings of inadequacy, disappointment, and many other things that make me feel like I can NEVER make it closer to him. Perhaps Satan was trying to hinder my progress and keep me from coming closer - I have no idea! But as I started reading the scriptures, I came across a classic verse that I have read MANY times, but had not yet understood it in this context; Ether 12:27.

--

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

--

So, apparently those feelings of inadequacy I had were NOT from an enemy, but rather from a caring friend that wants me to be better. Those feelings I had were not a sign of me distancing myself from Christ, but rather of me drawing nearer to him. I guess we sometimes think that coming unto Christ is like getting a big old giant warm hug from a good friend, but I guess once a solid relationship has been built with Christ, been neglected, and then picked up again, He makes sure to let us know what we have neglected in our absence. It's not because He doesn't love us, but rather that He DOES love us and wants to make sure we make the right choices and become what the Father needs to accomplish his plans. What an interesting thing. So perhaps when we feel inadequate despite our best efforts to draw nearer to Christ, that is his way of telling us we are doing what he wants. I hope that all of my "weak things become strong."

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Welton