I knelt to pray when day was done
And prayed, “O Lord, bless everyone;
Lift from each saddened heart the pain,
And let the sick be well again.”
And then I woke another day
And carelessly went on my way;
The whole day long, I did not try
To wipe a tear from any eye.
I did not try to share the load
Of any brother on the road;
I did not even go to see
The sick man, just next door to me.
Yet, once again, when day was done,
I prayed, “O Lord, bless everyone.”
But as I prayed, into my ear
There came a voice that whispered clear:
“Pause now, my son, before you pray;
Whom have you tried to bless today?
God’s sweetest blessings always go
By hands that serve Him here below.”
And then I hid my face and cried,
“Forgive me, God, I have not tried.
Let me but live another day,
And I will live the way I pray.”
“Who have I tried to bless today?” Clearly being here serving a mission and bringing people unto Christ is great, but what in particular do I decide to do, aside from being a missionary, to bless someone? I think back to times before the mission where I could've done more and chose not to out of pure selfishness. I can remember times where I prayed for others to be blessed, but where I did nothing to bless them. I've been pondering a bit more about this recently. When we ask people what blessings they want from the Lord or what they ask us to put into prayers, the most common responses are: Health, Family, Peace in the Home/ World Peace, Help to find Jobs, or Just to give thanks. All of these are great and wonderful things and they are things that are common, but prayer doesn't work just by asking. In the poem above we can learn that the man would pray, but never did anything. When the end of the day came and he was preparing to go to bed he heard the Lord explain that he could've been the blessing in his own prayer. Oftentimes we are so reliant on the Lord that we forget that we have a part to play. I love the word Oração in Portuguese because you can split it into two parts: Ora = To Pray / Ação = To Act. We all must pray, but not some repeated prayer. We should pray with all sincerity in our heart and have a conversation with him telling what we are grateful for and to ask for his help, but if we truly want answers or his help we have to act. We need to try, and only after we try will we receive what we need. I love at the very end of the poem he asks for one more day, so that he can live the way he prays. The fact that we wake up everyday is a miracle for we know not the time when we will depart this life, so we should all strive to live the way we pray and to try to be the blessing in someone else's life. So whom have you tried to bless today?
City in the Mountains
Two weeks ago we went to a city that we take care of called Rio Branco do Sul (Southern White River). It was my first time there and let me say, I have mixed feelings about it. It is a small city literally in the mountains, they are not hills they are mountains! There is not a single flat part in the entire area. It is either you are climbing or descending roads that are 45⁰ angles or worse. There are roads that literally look like they just end at a cliff, but turns out it's just a very steep descent. A lot of the roads have stairs that people have made because of how steep it is. I do think the area has a ton of potential and the people there are all nice and open. We are just now starting to open up the city a little more. I'll keep you guys updated on how that all goes.São Lourenço 
Had the opportunity to do a split with Elder Farrar in São Lourenço. It's a nice area with all kinds of people. We talked to this one guy on the road mid-day and at night he gave us avocados. We also talked with many people in areas that Elder Farrar didn't even recognize. In the end it was a fun and chill day. We got food at the end of the day and had some great Churros with doce de leite.
Random
- We got a new house! It's so clean and big
- We made Pastels one night and it was awesome. 
- Got bit in the ankle by a dog, but was saved by my boots
- Got stuck for 3 hours in a tiny city because no uber nor buses were picking us up
- Had the best juice in my life from a family from Fortaleza Ceará
Large Grasshopper!
No comments:
Post a Comment