Hermana Naegle

Not much happened this week. we did go on divisions and it went really well.I went to teach Rodolfo and Eduardo. Eduardo asked me what the qualifications are for baptism and I explained to him the process. He wants to become and Elder without being a missionary.. I'm not sure he quite understands what being an ''elder'' means and I thought it was pretty funny. But we gave him a baptismal date and its for the 21 of June! and then we saw him in the little store by our house Saturday night and he was so happy to see us and told us they were coming to church the next day and.. they didn't. super bummer they said it had something to do with water I didn't quite catch it they were talking to my companion over the phone, I'll have to ask her about that....

Well the church is true. This past week I was reading in Helaman 5. in this chapter Nephi and Lehi are put in prison and a bunch of Lamanites and Nephite dissenters are persecuting them when a cloud of darkness comes and the earth starts shaking. one Nephite dissenter, Aminadab, looks back at Nephi and Lehi and they are glowing and talking with angels and Aminadab calls to the others and tells them to look and they all look and Aminada tells them that they're talking with the angels of God. The Lamanites and dissenters ask him how can they have the cloud of darkness removed from them and  Aminadab says: 

''41 And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shalldo this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.

 42 And it came to pass that they all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed.

 43 And it came to pass that when they cast their eyes about, and saw that the cloud of darkness was dispersed from overshadowing them, behold, they saw that they were encircled about, yea every soul, by a pillar of fire.

 44 And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire,yet it did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.

 45 And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as ifwith fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words.

 46 And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying:

 47 Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.                              

There are some points I would like top point out in these verses:

1. when we are in sin we are literally in a cloud of darkness, our ability to see spiritually is harmed and we can't understand.

2. when we repent with Faith in Christ the cloud of darkness is removed

3. and we are cleansed by the Holy Ghost by fire- notice how the fire doesn't harm them, its intense and brilliant but it does no harm- this is how our Lord is. He's intense and powerful but He will not harm you. He will help you. 

4. When they repented they could speak forth marvelous word- in sin are understanding is diminished but in righteousness we can speak forth marvelous words- we can help others, we can understand more.

5. a pleasant voice that did speak peace unto their souls- the lord loves us. We bring the condemnation and the feelings of guilt and hurt and pain unto ourselves when we sin, because when we sin we shut out the presence of God in our lives, He doesn't give us these feelings we give them to ourselves- But when we repent we can receive this peace, the Lord is able to help us. he will dissipate the darkness through the power of his infinite Atonement and re-enter into our lives. He will bring us peace hope and JOY! Ammon, one of the repentant sons of Mosiah felt this incredible joy that only the truly humble and penitent can feel (Alma 21:17) and he was an incredible sinner before- He was trying to destroy the Church of God, but through the marvelous power of the Atonement he was able to repent and feel the love of God and He was able to convert thousands of horrible wicked Lamanites to the truth so much so that they buried their swords into the earth and covenanted with their God that they would never use them again. 

Those who say that the Lord will save us without repentance are wrong. The Lord has come to save it is true, but he has not come to save us IN our sins he has come to save us FROM them and to do that we must forsake them (Helaman 5:10-11) and cry unto the Lord in prayer humbly seeking what it is we must do to receive this repentance and then actually doing it. When Christ suffered He didn't take away our responsibility. We still have our moral agency. We must do our part. We're the ones who sinned, we're the ones who must repent and accept the Atonement in our lives. this Gospel is an active Gospel, full of action and demonstrations of our faith and desires. We can't bum around on the couch all day waiting for God to forgive us. We have to show Him that we are worthy of forgiveness and that means we hit our knees and pray, we attend church, all of church, we read the scriptures, we talk to our leaders, we are active. We are obedient to all of His commandments - Tithing, Fast Sunday, Sabbath Day Holy, etc. 

and the promise is that in place of pain, hurt, sadness, and despair we will receive healing, joy and hope!

I love you all!

Hna. Naegle