Week 31.... Representatives of Christ!!!

Where's Waldo?...I mean Elder Boyer

This week was a really tough week for Elder Miller and I. For some reason everything just kept turning against us. The adversary wanted so bad to bring us down. Every day we had a different problem in the branch, or in the area, that would get us down. The adversary was trying super hard this week to get us down. We have prayed harder than we have ever prayed this week. We did a fast that we could make it through these constant attacks from the adversary. I think we finally made it through. I know there are still going to be temptations, but we were able to resolve all the problems and get the branch back to running smoothly. We know the adversary is trying to destroy us because he is scared. There is so much potential in this branch, and we are about at the point where we are going to see another big increase. It is so amazing to be here in Los Sauces right now.

Ya, we had a hard week, but I just kept thinking of the scripture in Ether....

          "You don't receive a testimony until after the trial of your Faith." 

 Satan, right now, is working hard to destroy our branch. Everyone here is really fragile. They are all new at this, so it is really easy for them to get tempted and to fall into his temptations. Elder Miller and I have been working hard and praying a lot for this branch. Every day this week we received revelation on what we could do to help this branch stay strong, and continue to work through the temptations of Satan. 

 We came up with a plan called SANCTIFYING THE BRANCH. We have 3 things we are going to teach all the members here and help them gain a testimony of these 3 things. We know if they do these things, they will have the Faith to overcome the temptations of the adversary:

1) We are going to help people to FEAST UPON THE WORDS OF CHRIST (2 Nephi 31:20). 

2) We are going to give everyone a calling. As we receive callings we become sanctified and we begin to progress in the Gospel.

3) Keep the Sabbath Day Holy (D&C 59). 

We know that if we can’t help these people here in the branch to understand these 3 topics they will be able to strengthen their testimonies and be able to stay strong in the church, even after we leave. They will be able to overcome all the trials they are going to have. Even though it was a bad week for us, we were still able to get over all the bad times and still have great success on Sunday. 

We got a confirmed YES from our investigator!! Francisca will be baptized on the 16th of May. We are super excited about that. We hope that you can all pray for her as she continues to prepare for this day. I love serving here in Los Sauces. I hope you all know we are praying for you and ask you all to pray for this branch as they struggle and grind through the temptations of the world. That they may overcome the greatest liar of mankind and be firm in the Faith and change the lives around them. Thanks for all your love and support.

For my Spiritual thought this week I wanted to share the Sacrament Prayer. I was really hit strong this week when I started to read the Sacrament Prayer.

 “O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen”

 In the prayer, it says "To take upon them the name of thy son" But what does it mean to take upon them the name of thy Son? I hope you can all take some time this week, like I have, to study the topic. What does it mean to take the Name of Christ upon ourselves? I related it to a story that happened to me. So this week, we were in a conference for the youth. Our youth was going to have a ward party in another ward, so we were going to take a cab to the next church.  Elder Miller and I get in the cab, and the guy asks me where we want to go. I tell him, "Terminal 11", so he takes my money and we start to go. He takes us about 3 blocks and drops us off at the main Terminal in Angol. He Says, "there is the Terminal”. I tell him, "But I said Terminal 11". He then gets all upset and begins to yell at me. He tells me that he is not deaf, he can hear fine and he heard “Terminal”. I asked him if we could get our money back and he rudely said NO and kicked us out of the car. At this point Elder Miller and I were furious. We started talking to each other about how if we weren't missionaries, we would have done something. We would have given that guy a piece of our mind. He just jipped us of a couple bucks... so we would have given it to him. But since we had the name tag we didn't do it. I then started to think; It shouldn't matter if we are missionaries or not. We are all members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are all representatives of Christ. For me, taking upon the name of the Savior, is doing all that you can in every situation to be a true representative of Him. No matter where you are, who you are with, and what you are doing. Strive to be a TRUE REPRESENTATIVE of CHRIST! I testify that is what taking upon the name of Christ really means.