This week I was showering and got hit by revelation (a great time to receive revelation) and have been reflecting on it for the past week. It came in the form of the parable found in Mathew 25:14-30.
"¶For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
For the first time I really understood this parable. I essentially realized something that I have known for a while, the Lord calls each of us with the talents and flaws that we each have because he wants us to use those talents in our work. If we burry our talents because we don't believe they can help us, we must begin to be creative and use our minds, not burry our talents putting them out of sight. How does that apply to missionary work? Today I'm with Elder Hendrix in Vigo for a Zone Pday and Zone conference tomorrow, and he has magnified this principle. One of his talents is being able to solve a Rubic's Cube and he has begun using it to teach the Restoration on the bus and in the street. He shows a completed Rubic's cube representing the Church of Jesus Christ just as He established it. He then scrambles the cube representing the fragmentation of the Church of Christ and great apostasy. He is able to show that there are many different versions of the Doctrine of Christ that aren't correct but with the knowledge and power that comes from revelation and ordination the cube can be exactly the same as it did before. So be who you are because the Lord called you to be there and your strengths will be magnified and work to overcome your weaknesses.
Other than that is week has been pretty good! We got to go see the new chapel which was a wonderful experience. It is the first chapel in Galicia and the Spirit that was there as we entered the Sacrament Room was beautiful. I am grateful for the faithful Galician saints who have fought and gone through much to get to where they are today, still with struggles but growing and getting stronger. (Besides the wonderful Spirit, the chapel is awesome with its Samsung tablet on the wall that controls all the lights, heating, and even automatically fills the baptismal font! Not to mention the white board that rises out of the wall to the side of the pulpit, and the surround sound system throughout the entire building. It's pretty amazing!) We are also working with Iris and Jose Antonio for their baptisms this weekend! We had to postpone the baptism of Cauini but please pray that she can find a job that permits her to come to church.
I love you all!
Elder Gustafson
 |
| Reunion selfie with Elder Hendrix |
No comments:
Post a Comment