Mi-sion es consagrada - June 28, 2016

Hello there!

Well, Elijah, I can tell you that whatever you saw there was NOT what the majority of the DR looks like. (We saw an episode of Island Life on HGTV that was filmed in the Dominican Republic.) XD We are definitely teaching all dem peeps this week; we had 29 lessons (and that was with Monday night taken up by Elder Sm*** saying goodbyes and not teaching lessons)!

That is a great goal, Em! I know you will feel the Spirit strongly every time you read if you always start and end with a prayer. The Lord will open your mind, and I'll come back to find out that you've become smarter than me. ;)

I really like the President Packer quote as well. (I sent him this quote "If all you know is what you see with your natural eyes and hear with your natural ears, then you will not know very much.")  Really is a slap in the face to the prideful, but the truth hurts. Maybe I needed another slap to the face. XD Pride is ALWAYS something that can be worked on and humbled. 

As for my time with Elder Sm****, I was indeed able to help him out with Spanish. We went HARD on pronunciation, and his pronunciation and understanding of subjunctive are much better than they were. I am super grateful the Lord let the Spirit work in him so he could remember and adapt better to the rules and vocab of the language. My new comp is Elder R*****. He is from the capitol of Guatemala, is an only child of 19 years of age, and has 5 months in the mission. More on him later.

I did, at the request of President Corbitt, a study of Alma 26 this week. It was really edfying and motivating, and a couple of things stood out. Firstly, in verse 27 we learn that it is only after every effort and every breath we've used, and when we are about to give up for exhaustion and dismay, that the Lord gives us the success we so need and desire. It is then, when our strengths abandon us, that the miracles flow and the consolation is strongest. I was also connecting it with the George Albert Smith quote you sent me about how we are not here to pass the hours of this life to move on to some celestial sphere to do nothing, but rather that we are preparing ourselves for positions we'll fill in the hereafter. I applied it to the mission. I am not here to while away my mission and then go running back to the world, but I am rather here to develop the strength (through giving every effort) and testimony (through teaching others) to be able to take on whatever assignments the Lord has for me for the rest of my life. The minute, day-by-day decisions here have lifelong effects. Thus, I can't ever "let myself slip" into laziness, tiredness, or into giving excuses. There is no reason why I'm not helping thousands to come to the knowledge of the truth save myself and my weaknesses. I am really nothing. If we apply the same principles to any other missionary in any other mission, and if all the missionaries in that mission apply those principles, the Lord will provide them with the same success and miracles that we are seeing here in the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East mission. 

A little saying that has become the "theme," more or less, of the mission this month is "Mi-sión es consagrada", which is a play on the word Misión, since Zion is Sión in Spanish. Basically, it says "My mission, my Zion, is consecrated." The mission is really our Zion--we are planting the stakes of Zion´s tent and fortifying them here in the DR. Thus, just as Zion cannot be edified save on the higher law of consecration, so too missionarywork cannot be carried out to utmost effectiveness save it be by consecration too. Now that the whole mission is obedient (getting out the door late is the worst thing you'll here about here), we are working towards total consecration. That is, not sitting around talking Star Wars at lunch with my Zone Leaders. That is, not spending our time in the street talking about stuff back home between appointments. That is some missionaries keeping fewer photos of home or of girlfriends. That is other missionaries not taking pics of new movie posters that are coming out. As we seek to focus all thoughts on the missionary work, I know the Lord will continue to show forth miracles among us here.

Until next week, 

Élder Rowe