Hello everyone and Happy Martín Luther King Day! Yes I am currently at
Burger King fulfilling the undying Jenkins family tradition.
Exactly a year ago today, a priesthood holder called of God put his
hands on my head and set me apart as a full-time missionary. Honestly,
that moment changed the entire trajectory of my life. And in 2 days, I
will have been in Spain for a year! I can't say it has flown by, but
so much has happened, so much has changed, so much has been learned,
and it's still only the beginning!
This week I learned a powerful lesson about the power of the
scriptures. When I first got here, there was a family of three and the
husband and his child both had just gotten baptized but in the last
moment the wife decided not too. We spent the first couple of visits
focusing on trying to understand what barrier she was facing or how we
could help her, but as we did it seemed as if she was just closing up
even more. We decided to take the magnifying glass off of her and
focusing on helping the family be more unified and self sufficient
spiritually. When the new year came around, we sat down and all made
goals for the new year and some of their goals were to each read the
scriptures personally for some time during the day, and to set a time
when they could gather as a family and read together. I remembered
those minutes of reading as a family being so powerful in my own home
and so I was able to bear testimony and this motivated them even more.
As the weeks went by, all we did was keep following up with the goals
and let them tell us what they had been learning.
Well last week, the wife called us and told us she wanted us to come
by so we could all talk, but we couldn't end up coming for various
reasons for an entire week. We decided in our weekly planning to
exercise a little bit of faith and plan as if she was going to be
baptized that next week. We finally got to go over to her house on
Wednesday and as we sat down as a family to talk, she quickly said,
"alright, before we say the prayer, I'm getting baptized." Her husband
just about fell out of his chair (apparently he didn't even know
either) and I about did a spit take with my water. She said she was
just sitting in church the week before and all of the sudden he said
it just came to her, baptism, and from that moment forward she knew
that she had to do it. Then her reading of the scriptures just kept
confirming her feeling until finally when she told us she was ready to
do it the soonest possible moment. That Friday, we had the baptismal
service and it was absolutely incredible. I know that it was the habit
of reading the scriptures alone and in her family that opened the
gates to the personal revelation she needed in her life.
I have definitely see the difference that a consistent study of the
scriptures has made in my life. I can remember wondering how I was
going to study for 2 hours straight every single morning, and now I
wonder how I can possibly fit everything I want to study into 2 hours.
It is evident to me that a consistent discipleship in any spiritual
principle results in consistent blessings from God.
In other news, the spanish sales have started and I have no clue why I
ever bought anything from America ever. I wish I would have just
accepted all the hand me downs From my siblings and then saved all the
money to spend here. Just to help you understand, Inamerica I would
spend 65 dollars and come out with a pair of hollister jeans and a
migraine. Here, you can buy an entire Spanish suit for 50 euros and it
doesn't have holes in it when you buy it. If Spain had carpet and
chikfila, I'd totally be down to stay forever.
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Jenkins
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