Dare to be Bold

It has been a really good week for us here in San Bernardo. Those that we are teaching are really progressing and making major strides! We are teaching an investigator named junior who is progressing very fast. He has now come to church two times and absolutely loves it! He is a really deep thinker and loves what we teach him,  What I love about him most is that he rolls up to church each Sunday with shades on and wears them during sacrament meeting! hahaha

This past Friday we had a very spiritual lesson with a new investigator that we found this past Monday. When we contacted her, we went into her house and saw that she had pictures on her walls of photos from our church! As we continued talking with her, we found out that all of her children were baptized! She left to the south of Chile for a bit, so we are looking forward to teaching her more when she returns. On Saturday, we had service and laid cement, for a patio, for a family in our ward. As it was drying, Elder Vargas drew his name in the cement in BIG letters.  hahaha.

On Tuesday, we had our District and Zone Meeting and we also had our interviews with President. They were great. My interview with President William was fantastic. I really enjoy every chance to talk with him, each change.

The past two changes(12 weeks) I’ve had a goal to read all of The New Testament. This past week I was reading in the book of Acts. As I was reading I was amazed by the power and authority that the Apostles taught. To me, there is a drastic manner in which they taught and acted when Jesus was on the earth performing miracles and ministering to the people in comparison to after His death. I believe that one factor was motivation. After seeing the death of their Savior and His resurrection, I believe they firmly wanted to teach and deliver His message. More than anything, however, I believe it was to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In the book of John, chapter 16, verse 7 it says, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you”

The gift of the comforter(Holy Ghost) gave the Apostles so much more power as they taught.  Fast forward into the book of Acts in chapter 2 where it explains this.  In this chapter the spirit is “poured” on the people they are teaching. As they receive this feeling they are amazed and marveled. As other people mock the multitude, Peter, to me, speaks with the confidence and boldness that they Savior had.

V.14 “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:”

V.17 “O…it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all the flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophecy”

As I read this, Peter did exactly as Jesus would have done. He stood up and testified boldly of the spirit! From reading the New Testament, I can see the drastic change in Peter through his words and testimony to the doubters.

Dare to be bold, just as Peter was.

Elder Hendrix