Anyways off of that. This week we had a lot of good and bad. I´ll start off with the good then go to the bad.
This week we were blessed with another big miracle. We had prayed a
lot about being able to teach someone and on Sunday last week we met
someone who wanted to be baptized from the other ward. I don´t know
where he came from but he really turned a bad week into a really good
week. It was really interesting to be sitting in Sunday School and then
the other bishop from the other ward came in and told us that someone
wanted to talk about Baptism with us. We immediately jumped up from our
seats and ran out to meet him. He was 18 years old which made us even
more excited because our goal in the mission is to convert at least 100
men who can hold the Melchezideck Priesthood. So it was a blessing for
us and mostly a blessing for him. We had his interview on Wednsday and
Baptized him after the same day. His friend who just opened his mission
call that night did the ordinance. We told his friend after that he
could count this as his first mission Baptism.
That was a great first half of the week. But the second half we had
a hard time getting commitments with people. We would talk to people
and make a lot of contacts, but they were being malis. Which means they
act nice but then they don´t want to see us after. It was really hard.
To top all that off we had none of our recent converts come to church
yesterday. Which made me and Elder Goodwin a little frustrated. Also the
fact that our Sisters in our District like to lie to us. They give us
times for interviews but then they change it at the last second to
another time so it screws up with our schedule. Most of the Sisters in
our district are leaving also this transfer so they are being fubecas.
Which means lazy and bad missionaries. Us and the Elders in Santa Rita
have been getting all the Baptisms for our district.
Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask,
Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be
more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the
truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just
flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of
pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal
font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this
a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that
missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was
easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is
our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us
when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries
and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane.
Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two
toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere
near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and
sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators,
to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this
price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor
that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued
faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort,
something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face,
bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can
pass, let it pass,”16 then
little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us.
If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are
not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander
asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly
than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are
rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a
byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known,
the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall
and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about
your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through
Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through
Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
I testify that the living God is our Eternal Father and that Jesus
Christ is His living and Only Begotten Son in the flesh. I testify that
this Jesus, who was slain and hanged on a tree,17was
the chief Apostle then and is the chief Apostle now, the Great High
Priest, the chief cornerstone of His Church in this last and greatest of
all dispensations. I testify that He lives, that the whole triumph of
the gospel is that He lives, and because He does, so will we.
On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a
gardener. Well, she did—the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who
endured Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the
lily of the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life.
I declare Him to be the Savior of the world, the Bishop and Shepherd of
our souls, the Bright and Morning Star. I know that our garments can be
washed white only in the blood of that Lamb, slain from the foundation
of the world. I know that we are lifted up unto life because He was
lifted up unto death, that He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows,
and with His stripes we are healed. I bear witness that He was wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that He was a man
of sorrows acquainted with grief because upon Him were laid the
transgressions of us all.18
I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the
brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to
the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound.19 I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world.
Heh this changed the size of my writing. Let this talk touch you. This
talk helps me everyday. The Mission will never be easy. So don´t think
that it will be. Just because I am in the Mission that gets the most
Baptisms in the world doesn´t mean that it is easy for me. It is hard
and it will always be hard. Just like it said, Salvation was NEVER easy!
I know that there are those out there that might read this and think
that my mission is easy because we just baptized over 200 people this
past month. I know it´s not easy for you as well. This is an experience
that will change our lives and the lives of our investigators. We need
to show them that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the
Light that they are looking for in the world. We will have hard times.
But we need to keep on moving strong, and keep moving stronger. That is
our job. This is also directed to those that are at home as well. Always
find a chance to teach people in your life. If you have served a
mission then you should never stop doing what you did on the mission.
Just like Christ said to Peter, in John 21:15-17
15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
We are in this until the end. Everyone. I´m not trying to get into
anyones faces or anything but we need to follow and teach the word of
Christ until the end of time. I know that these things are important. I
know that we will always have trials in our life that will test this
subject. But it is our job to Feed His Sheep. I know that these things
are true and I end this as my Testimony. I exort all of you to read and
share this with others. I feel it is important to all to here this in
the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love you all and pray for you all everyday. Keep following the Lord.
This is your missionary in Brasil saying, Tchau. Until the next letter!
Elder Jacklin
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