Week 32 - Eternal marriage

So many people live together outside of marriage.  This is a stumbling block for many in accepting the gospel.  We teach that marriage is ordained of God.  God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. See The Family: A proclamation to the world.  We claim marriage can be eternal when performed by those authorized by the Lord and that our family relationships can continue beyond the grave.  There are so many blessings we receive when we follow the Lord's commandments.

We invited a contact to church this week.   We also invited another sister from the branch.  When they got there we found both were cousins!

Two recent converts I taught accepted callings in the church.  Our church has no paid ministry so teaching and church operation fall to the members.  One is a secretary working with the young women's organization.  The other is a secretary for the elder's quorum.  It is awesome seeing them progress and become involved!

Saturday we were given permission to play basketball in the Illapel community basketball championship.  This was setup by the elders there.   They asked for more players and we accepted. We played in the communal stadium.  There were five teams of five.  I played with Elder Frampton who's going to walk onto the BYU basketball team next week.  I also played with another athletic elder, Elder Miller, who will be playing BYU football.  They dominated.  Our team was rounded out with an investigator, another Chilean and myself.   Our team ended up winning!

After, we went to dinner and then played another basketball game.  This time with people we were teaching.   It was a fun game.  We let them win and then taught a lesson.

Transfers happen this week.  I may be moved to another location.  Other than the first few weeks learning some Spanish in Santiago, I've just served in Salamanca.  I feel like I might be transferred. The people of Salamanca are wonderful.  If I go, I'll miss those I'm teaching and helping. But, I'd also like to see other parts of Chile and look forward to new challenges.  I really like my companion Elder Eyre.  Either way I'll be happy and sad.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

I'm currently studying the New Testament.