Sister Herrera's Adventures in Mexico : 7 months

Hola familia and amigos!

So for the first news of the week: I'm officially dreaming in Spanish! Glorious moment! The bad news is my Spanish is heavily influenced by my many different companions and roommates, for example, poblano, Chihuahua, Argentina, chilanga (Estado de Mexico) etc. I don't think anyone is going to understand me when I go home.

And that is what I want to talk about this week, what is understanding? And how does it relate to the Gospel? I have come to see a great difference between our investigators who want to learn about the Gospel and the investigators who want to understand the Gospel. During a lesson this week, we were teaching a teenager and his mom. They have been trying to work up the nerve to go to church with us and the teenager expressed some concern about following the word of wisdom. No matter what we said, he just didn't feel like it was necessary. As I sat in thought this came to mind and I would like to share with you all. There is a difference between learning about the Gospel and understanding the Gospel and I'll explain why.

1. To know: The Gospel is easy to comprehend. Like the prophet Jacob said: "For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after the manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men." (2 Nephi 31:2) Here is the promise that if we listen we will know the Gospel, it is not difficult.

2. To understand: I think the step to understand isn't just listening but it is the involvement of sacrifice, which means from the Bible to make something or someone holy, and through sacrifice we can obtain the blessings from our Heavenly Father. When we sacrifice, we understand that Heavenly Father has all power and that He loves us with a perfect love. Through this testimony we trust in him.

The question that we asked the teenager was ¨Do you want to learn about the Gospel or do you want to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ?¨ His answer was to stand up, pull out a bottle of vodka and take a shot. Now this was sad but it confirmed what I know to be true, that when we follow the words of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and "choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong" we are making sacrfices and becoming more like Jesus Christ. That is our mission here on the earth and I know the blessings are just too precious to lose.

I know that when we strive to do our best we truly feel the love and support from our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. In Luke 9:56 it says "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Now the Question for you all is this ¨Do you want to learn the Gospel or do you want to understand the Gospel?¨

Love you all and Happy Valentine's Day!

Hermana Herrera