Zone Conference...and the rest

¿Comó estan?

Here in Colombia, life is moving along. Each day, and every moment, there is something new. On Wednesday, we had intercambios here in Barranca. I went to the area of Elder Gamarra, up in the northern parts of the city, which went really well. We went around doing good, and preaching the gospel. Also stopped for a bit of water, because it was hot. Then we continued teaching. This continued for much time. Wow. That sounds terrible. That night we traveled to Bucaramanga for zone conference.

We had a two day zone conference on Thursday and Friday. This zone conference was literally a spiritual feast.

The assistants shared a scripture from the parable of the vineyard in Jacob 5:48. They then shared about how often some exterior and relatively unimportant things can be branches that, while in themselves aren´t bad, can outgrow and sap strength from the roots of a strong testimony. They then shared with us a manner in which we can make sure that we have strong testimonies. They then challenged us to read the scripture that so often we leave for our investigators, 3 Nephi 11, to meditate in the words of that chapter, and to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. There are three roots that compose a strong testimony. The Book of Mormon. The Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.

As I read that chapter that night, I thought and felt as if I was there. As if I heard a voice from on high, testifying of Christ. As if I saw Him. Touched His hands and His feet. As if I listened to His mandate to be baptized to to baptize, to comply with His doctrine. To have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and then to remain firm in this commitment.

I prayed. I asked. I found. I felt. The promise of Moroni 10:4-5 is true. All who sincerely ask will receive an answer. I know. I have received it. If he talked to me, I know he will talk to you.

The next day was equally spiritual, with a ton of practices focused on helping people commit to baptism, verification of commitments, inviting people to pray, and resolving concerns. All of this was mixed with thoughts of inspiration from President and Sister Hacking. After everyone did the 3 Nephi 11 challenge the night before, President Hacking asked three missionaries to come and write "The Book of Mormon" on a piece of paper. One wrote with a three hundred dollar fountain pen. Another with a hundred dollar ballpoint. The last, with a twenty five cent BIC pen. The writing implements were all very different, about as varied as the missionaries in attendance, but each one wrote the same words, just as each of us bear the same testimony to the world.

As an afterthought, I will also include that it wasn´t all meetings. A game that is growing in popularity in the mission is Ninja. For those who don´t know, it is a very active game that is played in a group. Each person is ninja and the object is to eliminate all the rest by hitting them in the hand. Each person can make one attack in their turn and then has to remain in that position until their next turn unless someone attacks, in which case they can dodge. When you lose both hands, you´re out. It´s really a lot of fun. I´ll see if I can´t get you all the pictures.

We finally got back to the house late Friday night. The next day, on Saturday, it was back to work. We visited several less actives, one of which was painting his house and didn´t have time to talk to us. The other was better, and wants to go to church this Sunday.

GASP. I almost forgot. But how....!? Yeah, this weekend is GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited that this email can´t contain my excitement. Everyone has to watch conference and then tell me about their favorite talks. I still don´t know if I´ll get to watch in Spanish or English, but whichever, it will still be awesome. I have seriously never been so excited for a conference in my life.

Well, that´s about it. I haven´t done anything interesting today. Just cleaned up the house a little. But other than that, nothing interesting.

Well, love you all a lot. Hope you´re all doing well and will write me when you have the time...=D

Con mucho cariño,

Elder Gabe Rallison

PS... Spencer turns 20 tomorrow. =D Saludos a él.