Hola a todos!

In my latest milestone, I hit 20 months of missionary service! This past week was awesome. We received three different areas because another missionary had finished his mission a little early. We are now covering Mogollon, Tonto Basin and Ponderosa. Each of these areas have its perks but one of my favorites is going down to Tonto Basin. It is surrounded by mountains, and they have a small branch down there as well.

Recently I have been studying about obedience and listened to a talk by President Thomas Monson called “Obedience Brings Blessings.” He told a summertime story of when he was 8 years old and had a buddy named Danny with whom he explored the canyons. The dry summer was a fire risk and young Tommy was specifically instructed not to use the family matches nor do anything that would create a fire danger.  One evening, young Tommy and his friend disobeyed and found some matches and went to the canyon to build a fire in the middle of a large, dried-out grass field. They decided to clear a ring of grass so the fire would not spread from the center. They tried to pull the grass but that attempt proved too hard. So instead they decided they could burn a ring of grass around the center and carefully keep control of the fire while they were burning the circle. The flames whipped by the wind were soon out of control and the controlled fire began to spread. Discovering the fire danger, the neighbors all came out of their homes and began slapping the flames with their blankets. Luckily the fire was extinguished, and Tommy was scolded for his disobedience. He learned a valuable lesson that day. Sometimes we must be obedient even if we don’t understand exactly why. Obedience brings protection and other blessings.

I know for myself that when I am obedient, I feel blessed and protected and I feel joy. For example, waking up at 6:30am is a rule for us missionaries. It’s not always easy to keep that rule. I have been striving to wake up on time and as a result, this obedience lights the fire within me, meaning I become more receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Often I am directed by the Spirit on what to do and say to those learning the Gospel.

On another note, we had some members give us a referral of a man named Lance. We were so happy that a few of the members are sharing referrals because that really helps us have people to teach who already have connections with the members of the Church.  One thing I appreciate about the Mogollon ward is that they like to gather on Wednesday nights for Book of Mormon study. Already, Lance has questions pertaining to the Plan of Salvation, which we will be going over with him Wednesday night after our weekly group study.

It has been a blessing seeing these miracles on my mission by striving to be obedient as much as I can throughout my mission. I am blessed with energy because our days are long, and much is expected from us. I have enjoyed every difficult and easy moment. Missions are hard—sometimes you will hate being out and sometimes you love being out. God is a God of miracles! He loves each of you. I love you all and have a great Memorial Day! ✌️ ❤️ 🖖 

Elder Baldwin