Milk Bath, Cows In The Road, Freee Groceries And Bible Bashing (Not Really)

"¡Qué la que hay, mi corazón!"???

So, remember last week when the senior couple came and fixed our lights and our shower, and gave us warm water? Yeah, so our amigo Melvin (he's literally the best member and the best person I've ever met, besides my grandma and Leighton). He's so funny; he kept telling us, "We need to wash our windows because the people from San Juan are going to come and inspect our house." They came and said nothing about the windows, so this is where it's funny. They said nothing about the windows, but Melvin comes over on Tuesday and he goes (he knows English because he grew up in Brooklyn), so he says, "How was your inspection, boys?" (We planned earlier to tell him they told us the windows were dirty. We are not lying; we just wanted to make him feel good for being "right"). So we go, "Good, the only thing they said was that our windows were a little dirty." Melvin turns and looks at Elder Christensen and says in the most insulting and disappointed tone of voice I've ever heard, he goes, "You bonehead!" Then he goes, "What did they say about the fans?" And we go, "They did say we need covers." He looks to the ceiling and goes in Spanish, "Oh, Señor, ¿qué puedo hacer más con estos chicos? Están tan indefensos y nunca aprenden," which is, "Oh, Lord, what more can I do with these boys? They're so helpless and never learn." It was so funny; we made him so happy for being right. Then when he was leaving, he was like, "So what day are we going to take to clean those windows?" And we go, "That's the next elder's problem." And he is like, "Oh, Señor, ¿qué puedo hacer más con estos chicos?" IT WAS SO FUNNY.

When I was doing laundry this week, I opened the washer (which is outside), and then there was a spider, a big boy, and I had to fight it with a paper towel until I squished it and it died... It was a disaster cleaning spider guts out of the washer.

Some guy named Jonathan agreed to a Book of Mormon. So we asked him if we could come drop it off, and he said, "Yeah, sure." So we drove 30 minutes south in our area to bring it to him, and he never gave us his address and stopped answering, so that was cool. At least I got to see the jungle and listen to music (Rivers and Robots), and so that was neatido!

On Wednesday, we had no water, so I had to take a shower out of a milk jug. So I'm like, "Okay, this is cool. It'll be dope and sick and a good story for my homecoming talk." Lol, just kidding, but seriously, I get the milk out of our storage room, and I picked the one that wasn't cleaned all the way, apparently. So I open it up, and I'm naked at this point in our shower, ready to dump water on myself, and I pour it, and it's the most sour smell of milk I have ever smelled in my entire life. And I had to bathe in it. Lol, luckily, I didn't smell like rotten milk all day, but man, that shower sucked.

We were teaching some guy named Armando. He wasn't interested; he just wanted to Bible bash. It was a train wreck. We kept trying to leave, and he kept at it, and he just said he doesn't believe God would call prophets today, but he believes God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said he's not interested, also clearly doesn't know the Bible and its lack of truthfulness. He doesn't know where it came from, doesn't know how much it contradicts itself. So many times, John 1:18 says, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." And then in the New Testament, it says Genesis 32:30, "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." Like, what? That doesn't even make any sense. All I know is I am here to love, and that's all I can do, and all we did do. It's just so frustrating because they're like the Jews and so into the law (the Bible) that when the higher law (more word comes, aka the Book of Mormon), they don't listen. This is why we've got to be careful and not get too comfortable because God can change the law and bring the higher law at any time, so we cannot get perverted in our ways.

 Milagro, Elder Christensen, and I just sat down to eat rice and beans, and then this lady we were teaching (we taught her like 2 weeks ago about the Restoration, and she said she'd let us know. They never let you know. But we just get this call out of the blue) and she goes, "Hey, I am heading to Walmart in Hatillo. Can you guys bring me one of those books you were telling me about?" We just finished cooking lunch and hadn't even prayed over it yet. Got up and left. We didn't care about the food and just ran out the door and gave her a Book of Mormon... Then she hasn't answered since, but still a dope miracle!

Saturday, we woke up and the cows got out. They were blocking the road. It was absolutely hilarious because we live in Island Farmville, Hatillo (well, we live in Arecibo, but Hatillo is in our area, so we are there a lot).

Our recent convert called us Friday and was like, "Yo, you guys at the church still?" And we were like, "Yeah, what's up?" She made us come to the store because she had "fruits for us." Then we couldn't find her, and so we went in and found her, and she was shopping for all this random food, and she's like, "Do you guys want this?" And we're like, "No, we're fine," expecting just the fruits. And then she checked out and was like, "Alright, I got my cheese. The rest is for you," and gave us all this food. We were like, "What just happened?" She literally spent like 60 bucks on groceries for us. It was sick. We would've felt worse, but she always says she gets too much money from the...

We need you to pray for Zulma and Maribel. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and they both just need to keep our commitments, and they'll start progressing. God won't take her agency, but she needs to feel the truth and the Spirit. Please pray for those two and our amiga Wanda.

Wanda referred herself this week, so we called her and taught Lesson 3, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit was so strong. Then she was crying and told us about her surgery she has coming up. So we felt the Spirit to offer a priesthood blessing, and she accepted. So we are going to do that sometime this week, and hopefully, that's the seed she needed. She also said she reads our little librito all the time, so we don't know if that's a pamphlet like the Law of Chastity one or the Book of Mormon, but we're gonna teach the Restauracion after our blessing. The Spirit is strong with her; hopefully, she's ready.

Apparently, I sleep talk a lot, so these are just the stories I hear after it happened, and it happens from Elder Christensen. So I woke up Sunday morning at like 1 am, and I go, "I can't see." And he wakes up and goes, "Of course, you can't. The lights are off." Then I say, "I can see a light," and he said, "No, you don't. Close your eyes and go to bed, you bum." Bahaha, and I woke up and had no idea of this. Then last night, apparently, I was speed blabbering in my sleep. Poor kid, I sleep talk a lot. It's so weird, lol.

I want a Dear John letter. Teenage girls on this list, please send me a Dear John letter. Letters (in Mission):

Urb. Jardines de Caparra

500 Calle Marginal Norte

Bayamon PR 00959

Puerto Rico

Yo McCartney and Alyssa, please listen to Backseat Lovers for me. Thanks, love you.

I finished the Book of Mosiah yesterday, which is so good. Mosiah, Benjamin, Alma, Abinadi, Alma the Younger. Oh man, it's such a good book. The last chapter stood out to me a lot. You should go read it.

16 Now I say unto you, that because all men are not just, it is not expedient that ye should have a king or kings to rule over you.

17 For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!

18 Yea, remember King Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage.

It got me thinking about agency and why Mosiah wanted them not to be under the law of kings, which is because the iniquity of kings and them having all control causes us to lose agency. Our agency is essential to God's plan. Agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without agency, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we are "free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27).

In our premortal life, we had moral agency. One purpose of Earth life is to show what choices we will make (2 Nephi 2:15–16). If we were forced to choose the right, we would not be able to show what we would choose for ourselves. Also, we are happier doing things when we have made our own choices.

Agency was one of the principal issues to arise in the premortal Council in Heaven. It was one of the main causes of the conflict between the followers of Christ and the followers of Satan.

The Lord has said that all people are responsible for their own motives, attitudes, desires, and actions. Even though we are free to choose our course of action, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. The consequences, whether good or bad, follow as a natural result of any choice we make (Galatians 6:7; Revelation 22:12).

I love verse 17 because it explains that when you follow a king (someone who makes all the decisions for the land as a ruler), then you're losing your agency. This can be applied in our day because our government is acting like kings, not like judges. From 2 Nephi 2:2 we learn: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

12 Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the justice of God.

22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men care, that they might have joy.

26 And the aMessiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great aMediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

What we learn from this is that God wants us to choose, and also, men fall into iniquity when they don't have agency to choose. This explains it perfectly because what we learn in Mosiah is that when we are subject to kings, they cause us to fall into iniquity because we have no choice to choose and choose righteously. Which got me thinking about the First Vision and why it happened when it did. Why 1820? By 1820, the world was ready for the "restitution of all things" spoken of by Peter and "all [God's] holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21).

The long story short is that the year 0 was when the Savior was born, 30 AD was when the Savior became a grown man, and nothing is known about his first 30 years. In 33 AD, he established a church, the perfect church, and he was crucified, leaving the church to be run by the apostles. At that point, the apostles' job was to strengthen the church. In 42 AD, Peter went to Rome and established the church there, appointing a bishop named Linus. This is where the lineage of the Catholics goes. In 43 AD, Paul discovered that the church had already apostatized, just a year after Peter established it. As a result of this apostasy, Paul established a deacon named Linus as well. The deacon Linus was the authorized leader, not Bishop Linus. In 64 AD, when Nero was in charge in Rome, he had the deacon Linus killed. When Linus was killed, the authorized linus with the keys was lost.

In 70 AD, the Roman Tenth Legion came down through the Valley of Armageddon under the direction of the general and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. From 70 AD to 1948, the Jewish people had no home and were spread throughout the world. Around 78 AD, Bishop Linus (at that time it was called the Church of Rome) received a letter stating that they were a universal church, and that is when they became the Roman Catholic Church. They changed the name to Roman Catholic. In 96 AD, John the Revelator vanished to the Isle of Patmos. The apostles were killed except for John, and they couldn't finish establishing the church. From 96 to 101 AD, the book of Revelation was written, and John disappeared until later-day revelation. No one knew what happened. In 101 AD, the apostasy was complete.

In 320 AD, Constantine came into power and held the first council in Nicaea. They created the Nicene Creed, which is accepted by most Christians as the definition of God. The Roman Catholic Church became the Church of State, and this marked the beginning of the reign of popes. In 785 AD, Empress Irene held another council in Nicaea, where the canonization of saints took place and idolization entered into the Catholic Church.

In 900 AD, there was a woman pope (the Catholic Church denies this, but the Lutherans have evidence). The pope became pregnant, and she is known as Pope Joanna. In 1100 AD, there were three popes, and they broke off into three different European churches, excommunicating each other and going to war to prove who is pope. In 1200 AD, two significant events took place: the advent of the printing press, which had a major impact on Europe, and Pope Innocent III, who was known as the boss pope, initiated the sale of indulgences to make money.

In 1300 AD, a revolution called the Renaissance began in Europe. The Europeans' culture turned upside down, and they started to ask more questions and find out what's going on. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, along with a group of people who knew the earth wasn't flat, discovered the New World. In 1515 AD, Martin Luther, who had access to ancient documents, saw the indulgences and realized it went against the writings of the Savior. He developed 95 questions, which he nailed to the door of the cathedral, leading to his excommunication in 1523.

In 1534, King Henry VIII wanted a divorce and created the Church of England, also known as the Apostolic Church. In 1540 AD, the Reformation started, and John Calvin in Switzerland and France established an organization called the Huguenots. In 1560, John Knox started the Puritans, acknowledging that they were on the right track. In 1575 AD, an event called the Bartholomew Day Massacre took place in France, where the Catholics rose up and destroyed the Presbyterians.

In 1620, the Puritans came to America, fed up with the lack of freedoms. This marked the beginning of the United States of America. From 1620 to 1776, the nation was born, and in 1776, a letter was written to the king, declaring the desire for independence. The Revolutionary War began and lasted six years until 1781 when the war ended. In 1785, a meeting was held in Philadelphia, where it was discovered that the Articles of Confederation weren't working. In 1787, the Constitution was finished, and religious freedom became available.

In 1805, Joseph Smith, the prophet, was born in upstate New York. In 1812, the War of 1812 was fought, resulting in a definitive win for the United States. In 1820, Joseph Smith read James 1:5, seeking guidance on which church to join. The Lord and Jesus Christ appeared to him, and the restoration began. In 1830, the true church was established again. The pattern office was closed that day.

Why was it restored in 1820? Why didn't the Lord appear to the people in 1515 to Martin Luther? How long would he have survived if he saw the Lord? 1820 is the only time that the gospel and the church could have been restored. They had to go to Salt Lake City and leave the United States so they could survive because religious freedom wasn't fully established yet.

In 1817, the birth of someone named Karl Marx happened, which is interesting as the Lord raised up His prophet while the enemy raised up the communists at the same time. We are born in this dispensation because we were somebody before we got here. Joseph Smith said, "If I were to tell you who I am, you'd slay me for blasphemy." The Lord knows what He's doing, and His timing is everything. If we knew who we were before this life, it would scare us. We don't have the right to be of the world; we know too much. We need to bring up Zion because the gospel has been restored. No one between 96 and 1820 could authoritatively say "Thus saith the Lord" because they didn't speak with Him. This is the true church, and we are here for a reason. The priesthood is here from God. The only thing that limits our power of priesthood is the sanctity of our lives. Live pure, be safe, be worthy.