Rainbows Come After Rain

February 29, 2016

"And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." Genesis 9:8-17

I am grateful for rainbows in gray skies. This week has been full of rainbows in gray skies. This week we have been working to talk with everyone. Our mission President challenged each missionary to talk with 25 new people each day it has been a blessing to be able to focus on the people as opposed to getting tasks done. At the same time it is sad to see so many people who really just don't care that God exists. But there are rainbows in the midst of the gray clouds, Lucy is one. We went and taught Lucy this Friday and when we got there she was very discouraged with the way that she had been treated by a member and different family and work problems that she is going through. As we began talking, we talked of faith and that we receive no testimony until after the trials of our faith. She changed completely as she began to be taught by the Spirit that this was a time of trial but to keep pressing through and that she would receive a testimony as she did what she needed to do. And it worked. The next day we had a Family Home Evening with Lucy, Manuel, and another investigator and a family. We talked about revelation. We watched one of the Pattern of Light videos by Elder Bednar and discussed how we personally could receive revelation. It was great! Later as we accompanied Lucy to the street she expressed to us that she had received an answer and that she had a testimony that truly this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for Lucy that has been a rainbow for us this week. After our lesson with her on Friday we left her house and saw one of the most beautiful rainbows. We all love rainbows they are a beautiful phenomenon but do we remember why we have rainbows? They are a sign from God that never again will he send a flood as he did with Noah. We have another promise from the Lord that the gospel will never again be taken off the earth. I am grateful for the ability to see rainbows after hours of work and thought and prayer. The Lord is good to us in Talavera.

This week we have continued to work with Manuel. I don't remember if I've told you this before or not but Manuel is teaching the Self Sufficiency class on Saturday mornings. It is a blessing that we get to go and support him and to learn from him and his vast knowledge about how to improve yourself personally. I have no doubt that the progress that he is making will lead to visible results in the near future.
Remember that rainbows only come after rain, testimony only comes after the trial of your faith, and miracles come only after all that we can do. Have an excellent week!

Love,
Elder Gustafson

Lunch with members and missionaries

  

Zone Conference