"God gives us each a bunch of gifts and it is up to us to act upon them." -Elder Wadley

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. In the closing book the prophet Moroni speaks about spiritual gifts. This is what I wrote Elder Wadley about this week. It is nice that I can share the things that I am learning with him. In my study, I found this really great quote about spiritual gifts from Marvin J. Ashton (it is kind of long):

"One of the great tragedies of life, it seems to me, is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents or gifts. When, in disgust or discouragement, we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade-point average, wealth, power, position, or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable.

From D&C 46:11–12, we have this truth: “For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.”

God has given each of us one or more special talents. It is up to each of us to search for and build upon the gifts which God has given. We must remember that each of us is made in the image of God, that there are no unimportant persons. Everyone matters to God and to his fellowmen.

Taken at random, let me mention a few gifts that are not always evident or noteworthy but that are very important. Among these may be your gifts—gifts not so evident but nevertheless real and valuable.

Let us review some of these less-conspicuous gifts: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep ; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost.

We must remember that to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God. It is our right and responsibility to accept our gifts and to share them. God’s gifts and powers are available to all of us."

I thought about what spiritual gifts that Jayden possesses and I shared with him what I thought they were.
It is sometimes hard to pick out what your own gifts are. Each of us are responsible to discover what our spiritual strengths are, and to share these talents and gifts with others to bring them the light of Christ.
Here is his e-mail this week:

Hey there mom! This week has been a little weird and hard. In regard to the work this has been the hardest area of my whole mission. The ward here doesn't really have the desire to work with us or help us. We are trying to get them to come and help us and be part of missionary work but its as if they just don't want to. I have had a couple of other little problems and whatnot so it has been hard. We are still working and trying to find people and we are slowly getting there but still on the hunt i guess you could say. It has also been a really good learning experience for me though. I have actually been reflecting on some stuff this past week. And i have been reading my patriarchal blessing and trying to pick out the promises and spiritual gifts and learn more and try to develop them more while i am here. So kinda funny that you mention that because that is exactly something that i have been trying to do lately. Because it is true that God gives us each a bunch of gifts and it is up to us to act upon them.

Other than that this week has been good. Hermana Calderón sent me two boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts for a birthday package and they got here right as we started our fast on Saturday haha! They were really good though! 

Also what i have seen this week is that even though we have had kinda a hard time God is always blessing us! We haven't had a whole lot of luck with new people this last little bit and God put a guy and his family in our path. He is from Cali (Colombia) and all of his family are members! He knows the missionaries and everything and is a really awesome guy! We are going to try and visit him a little more often so he can progress towards being baptized! 

The week has been pretty normal and hot haha but good! I am liking it more and more here in Cartago. 

I love you guys!

Elder Wadley

No photos this week.
This is an old one, and if I don't post some type of photo then blogger defaults my own face (profile picture) for social media.

To contrast Elder Wadley to Elder Wadley (his younger brother) this week, it is just nice to have a coherent missionary e-mail update.