Elder Mattias Malzl: March 23, 2015

This week we had a lot of miracles. The work is going great. We have amazing future baptisms lined up. But it has been so draining!

My highlight this week was that we have these two amazingly progressing investigators. There are both 23-24 years old. They are married and have a 2-year daughter. They are an amazing couple. It shocked me that they were even married because nobody is married here. But we have taught them about the restoration and the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon. They feel like the Book of Mormon is true and they want the restored gospel in their life. They came to church for the first time yesterday. What an experience for them that was! Leo came with us to Elders Quorum and he was great in participating! After we brought them to the Gospel Principles class and we learned about our life in the Spirit World and how we can live as a family together forever. The teacher started sharing his testimony and the spirit was so strong! I looked over at our investigator and she started tearing up and then started crying. She told us that she is so happy to know that she can have an eternal family. Tonight we are visiting them, and we are teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will be setting a baptismal date tonight. I hope they accept.

The other day my companion and I were talking about teenagers. There seems to be a pattern with almonst all teenagers. They come to point in their life where they feel like they don’t need certain things, or these things are not true. But, because our Father in Heaven loves us so much, he allows for trials in our life. These trials are an act of our faith. Something I have learned with trials is, that no matter what, we will be tried. Satan will try to knock us down. That’s why we need to have our testimony built upon a rock. Like it talks about in 3rd Nephi Chapter 14. If we build our testimony upon Jesus Christ and his gospel (his rock), the adversary will have no power over us. Many teenagers are at a point in their lives where they don’t feel like they need their house built upon a rock. They feel better with her house built upon the sand. But like it says in 3rd Nephi, "Y desendio la lluvia, y vinieron los torrentes, y soplaron los vientos, y dieron con ímpetu contra aquella casa; y cayo, y grande fue su caida."

3^rd Nephi 14: 24-27:

24 Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock—

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand—

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

Sorry, if that sounds harsh, but the adversary will eventually break down the house that is built on the sand. But that’s okay. That is the moment where their eyes will be opened to the open arms of the Savior. Because God loves us, he gave us the agency to decide for ourselves what we want. But if we chose the wrong road, we will fall. Because he loves us, he will ALWAYS GUIDE HIS SHEEP HOME. And that is when they find out for themselves that these things are things of importance that they were missing.

Love you all,

Elder Mattias Malzl