in Ibiza! The Branch is doing super well and are giving SOOO MANY
REFERENCES, never in my mission have I received so many references in
my mission. Last week we received 6 references and the branch council
set a goal of giving us 10 references as a whole in the next 2 weeks!
We have a baptism this weekend for Fiorela, I'll tell you more about
her later and I possibly have the worst ingrown nail I've ever had in
my life haha, SO PAINFUL!
So we started off the week going to Zone Focus in Palma and all our
flights went well! We learned about how we see baptism and how the
Lord wants us to look at baptism, that as missionaries we are helping
people come closer to Christ and that baptism is something they do! We
should rejoice because that person has been baptized, not because we
personally had a baptism. Baptism shouldn't be looked at as a personal
achievement. And the mission set the goal this week to invite someone
to be baptized 15 times throughout the week! Elder Perri and I were
able to invite 15 times and thanks to this goal more people are go
into be able to return to their Heavenly Father! How amazing
missionary work is, to see people taking these steps in their life!
Later in the week we met with our investigator, Fiorela. I believe I
explained a little but she has been passing through a really hard time
this past year after the passing away of her father and she has been
investigating for 1 year. And all of a sudden she came to church last
week and things have completely changed! Elder Perri was sooo
surprised and pretty much we just are going over all the lessons again
and just need to have the interview and baptize her haha. President
Dayton, the mission president, will be flying out with his wife to see
the baptism!
So this week I've had a super bad ingrown nail! But the bad part about
that is that I really can't rest it because we're always running from
one part of town to another trying to cover all our visits and so it
got worse and worse and worse as the week went on. At the beginning
Elder Perri just told me to cut it out but I didn't listen....until
Sunday morning not being able to put up with the pain soaked it and
cut it out! BUT now it's infected.....so we're going to see what
happens with my toe. Haha, but I've been thinking a lot about it and I
realized that an ingrown toenail is like a sin....
To explain at first it starts off small, the nail begins to ache and
hurt (or in other words we make a small mistake) but put off cutting
it out(REPENTANCE) because it's an uncomfortable process. As we go on
we think that it would be easier to just put it off continue on with
life, but as life goes on we realize that it just gets more
uncomfortable and even painful step by step, day by day. We
contemplate cutting it out but are scared because of how much it will
hurt. We think maybe if I put a bandaid and ointment on it(good deeds)
everything will be fine and we eventually will be able to avoid the
painful process of cutting out the nail. As time goes by we see that
the nail continues growing, progressively getting worse despite our
efforts of bandaging and putting on ointment it can't replace the act
of cutting out this nail that progressively is wedging itself deeper
and deeper into the flesh. Until we reach to the moment where we can't
move anymore, it is not even bearable to take one more step on the
foot. Family and friends, sin is just like this. As we put off our
repentance, rationalizing our behavior, the sin becomes more and more
serious. It affects us more and more as we put it off. An ingrown nail
hurts, but spiritual wounds pierce much more deep and can only be
cured through our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. I know that
repentance is not comfortable but I promise that the pain that is felt
cutting out the nail, or repenting, will be far less than that of the
consequences of continuing in the sin. I invite you to think about
your lives and examine if you have any ingrown nails in your own
personal life, and if you do, be brave enough to cut it out. As you do
so, you will feel the love of the Savior healing your soul and this
burden be let go. I know that it's not easy, but it's completely
necessary. I know that the Savior can heal our spiritual wounds, that
through him we can be whole again. I know that he loves us so much and
his greatest desire is to live with us again and for us to enjoy all
the blessings he has waiting for us. I love you all family and friends
with all my heart! I hope you can really reflect on this little
message and apply it in your lives. Have a great week :)
Con mucho amor y cariño,
-Elder Miller
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