Perfeccionaos en el

The entire Dominican Republic is sick! Each week we see another family fall with the chikunguya and it is insane. I have never seen something so widespread and so nasty all at the same time. As a result, we have been doing a lot of service trying to help all of the sick investigators, less actives, and members in our area. We also only had around 40 people at church on Sunday. That's less than half of what we usually have because everyone is sick. So we pass by, do laundry, cook meals, fetch water, clean houses, buy crackers...whatever we can to try and help with this crazy plague here.
 

We had a couple incredible lessons this week. The first was with Erika and Deyvi. We dropped by to share an encouraging message because the entire family is sick. At first only Erika was there (the others were still in bed) and she mentioned how Deyvi wants to get married but she's still not ready. I felt prompted to share a very personal story and how when I chose to forgive the freedom that I felt from that. The spirit was really strong and I think it left her thinking. Afterward the rest of the family came out as well and we shared D&C 122:7. Erika was near tears and they all applied it to their situation and how they were feeling in that moment. They asked for a blessing and so we called the elders. The priesthood blessings were incredible. When Elder Bowles went to give Erika her blessing he asked is she wanted to ask anything else. She said, "What the spirit tells you." I immediately thought of her dilemma about the marriage and said a prayer that she could receive an answer right then. Elder Bowles didn't know their circumstances but in the blessing he talked about forgiveness and trusting others. The spirit was so strong as the Lord counseled her on what to do as a mother and wife and how to use the atonement and her faith to forgive. The Lord answered our prayers in that very moment and I felt like that was what she needed to hear. I am so grateful for the priesthood in my life and the wonderful things we receive from it. What a marvelous blessing we have in this church and in these times! Afterward Hermana Ruiz commented that she had prayed for the same thing silently. It was such an incredible miracle to watch our prayers answered. We have passed by almost every day to help them with different things and now they are all doing much better healthwise. I am sure that they will also start seeing the spiritual miracles more abundantly soon. We are teaching one of their sons, Yordi, and he will be baptized next week.
 

We also taught Victor on Saturday and had a great experience. We talked about the atonement and how to apply it in our lives. I used an object lesson with grape soda, water, and clorox. (This is going to be a bit hard to explain with an email...but bear with me. Just so you know...when you put bleach in grape soda it turns white). I had 2 cups with grape soda in them. I explained how sometimes we want to try and fix our own sins by just doing good things. I put water in one of the cups and showed that it gets a little bit lighter because it is diluted but still stays dark and stained. Then I showed what happens when we let Christ work in our lives and I put the clorox in the cup. If we sin again (put more grape soda in) He still purifies us, if we let Him. Then Victor asked about the other people that can help us like the missionaries. So we took the "purified" person and gave a little liquid to the other cup with soda in it. It only lightened the color. We explained that we can help others but only Christ purifies because even though we look perfect, we still have sin in us. We explained how sometimes we are nervous or want to be better before we take the necessary steps to repentance and how we must let Christ in to do ANYTHING. At last, Victor said he understood. He is the kind of person that wants to be almost perfect before he takes the sacrament or participates in other church things. This time he said that he understood that those are precisely the things that will purify us and it isn't the other way around. It was such a wonderfully spiritual lesson and a good reminder to me as well of the love of my Savior.
 

I invite you all to do the same as we invited Victor. Put Moroni 10:32-33 in practice. Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness. It is only through His grace and sacrifice that we can be perfected but it is after all we can do. We must love the lord with all our might, mind, and strength and keep the covenants that we have made. Through these actions we allow the atonement of Christ to take place in our lives. We allow Him to cleanse us. Sometimes that is scary. Sometimes we feel that we are not ready. Nevertheless the invitation is there for everyone. He does not make exceptions. Through Him we can be perfected again and again and again. If He expects us to forgive up to 70 x 7 times, doesn't it make sense that He being perfect will forgive us even more than that? I know that He loves us and He is here with us in this world and in this work.

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Ewell