All Star Week in Belo Horizonte

This week was so rad.  We had a few Regional and General Authorities visit our mission and stakes in Belo Horizonte.  Among them were: Elder Aidukaitis, First Quorum of the 70; Elder Maynes, Presidency of the 70; and Elder Holland, Apostle.  It was way fun, and I learned a lot.

On Saturday night we had a "mission tour" with Elder Maynes.  It was incredibly inspirational.  It was probably the best day of my mission until now.  He started out talking about how every good investigator is equal to Joseph Smith. They have a question.  They feel that there is something missing in their life.  They feel like there should be more to what they already know.  The difference is that when Joseph Smith went to "ask of God" there weren't any missionaries or members of The Church of Jesus Christ on Earth.  God and Jesus Christ had to personally answer his question, acting as the first missionary companionship in this dispensation. In that moment my eyes were opened to the greatness of our calling to invite others to come unto Christ.  If this work is so important that God the Father and Jesus Christ had to descend to start their work on this planet, our obligation to continue the work is pretty important as well. 

Elder Maynes also talked about the vastness of the works of God.  He has created worlds without number for his sons and daughters (Moses 1:31-39).  He has also created Kingdoms of glory and other kingdoms for after this life (Doctrine and Covenants 88:21-24).  Elder Maynes wanted us to think about "What connects worlds to kingdoms of Glory?" The answer is the doctrine of Christ.  If we invite others to come unto Christ, we are helping others to one day enter into one kingdom of glory.  If they are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end, they will inherit the celestial kingdom.

Sunday morning was stake conference with Elder Aidukaitis.  He is from Brazil, and he is so funny.  He's crazy in a good way.  He invited all the investigators in the conference to stand up and then invited all of them to be baptized.  It was so sick.  One of our investigators, who was on the front row, accepted the invitation.  She'll be baptized on Saturday!!  After he talked to every group in the congregation: young men about serving a mission, young women about marrying in the temple or serving a mission, adults about uniting their families more often.  It was way fun. 

We didn’t get to meet elder Holland, but I’m very content with the spiritual experiences that we had this past weekend. 

I love this work and my family.

Elder Marsh