This week went by really quickly again.  The language is getting a lot better still and I haven’t hit any walls within the past two weeks, so that’s a good sign.  Honestly, none of the credit goes to me, but to God, literally.  I would not be able to do this without him and his mercy.  A lot of this week for me has been centered on pressing forward with faith.  It has been tough from a testimony point of view and I really don’t know why.  I was fine all the way up till last Sundays devotional.  Something in my mind just went off and started causing me to doubt, about a lot of things.  I had to do a lot of soul searching and diligent study.  I got my answer yesterday.  We were learning the first vision in the language and a couple hours after we were going to teach one of our investigators.  I memorized it quicker than everyone else, but I also remembered it, not just letting it be while I went and studied other things.  

That night we were planning on teaching the rest of the Restoration and talking about the first vision.  When we got in there we asked her how her reading in the Book of Mormon was going and she said it was great and she asked us about the power that God gave Nephi to humble his brothers.  She asked if we had that same power and we told her that we have Gods power, but he won’t be asking us to shock anyone anytime soon.  We only get 15 minutes to teach and our lessons don’t usually go as planned, which isn’t a bad thing because the Holy Ghost will direct you in the path that you are so supposed to teach.  Anyway, we were talking for a while and I was thinking in my mind that maybe we weren’t going to be able to teach our lesson, but, my companion segwayed priesthood power into the start of our lesson and in my mind I was just thinking that this actually might happen.  After he was done, I shared with her James 1:5 and told her that Joseph Smith wanted to know if there was a true church on earth, so we went into a grove of trees and prayed.  I got to recite the first vision and our investigator and I started to tear up.  

My point to this story is that there was a reason that I learned the first vision so quickly, it was because God wanted me to share with her what that meant, because she was ready for it.  The Holy Ghost brings remembrance to all things. (John 14:26) It literally testified to me that everything really does happen for a reason and we do not get a witness till after the trial of our faith.  My testimony has been strengthened by a simple task, Faith.  Faith leads to action and action leads to blessings. If any of you are struggling with anything always remember that you need to press forward with faith with a perfect brightness of hope in Jesus Christ. (2 Nephi 31:20)

Also, for this week we got to watch the Christmas devotional and Craig Zwick of the seventy came and spoke to us.  We also had Lexi Walker come and sing for us and it was amazing! Everyone should look her up and she where she has performed and what she has done.  Everyone send me letters if you can or email me! Let me know how you are doing! Remember to not let anything from the outside world shake your faith, all of us have the potential of greatness and the adversary knows that! So keep pressing forward and fighting on! Some answers I had to wait 5 years for and it was worth the wait! He knows what you need and he does answer our prayers, his arms are open for all of us!

Elder Andrew Porcelli