agency.....

Hello my amazing family, It was great to hear about your weeks and I am happy to know all is well. All is well here in Liberia (San Roque) starting off October. I cant believe in this month 2 years ago I saw all your beautiful faces and that soon we will be reunited. Dont worry, I am not trunky and I am still working hard. It was a rough week but it was amazing just like all the others. The biggest lesson I learned this week was that sometimes the fact that people have their agency is FRUSTRATING! Sometimes you want to shake the people and just make them believe. Obviously that is not part of God´s plan. Our agency is so important, its important that we have it, but more important that we USE it and use it to follow the savior. The scriptures teach us that there really only is 2 roads, only 2 ways that are offered to us in this mortal life. We can CHOOSE to follow Jesus or Satan. If we dont follow Satan we automatically follow Jesus, if we follow Satan we automatically reject Jesus. We cannot serve two masters. I feel like in the mission we share with the people during hte week and we have super powerful moments where we are filled with the spirit, and sunday is game time. This sunday we had amazing plans, like all of the sundays, to have investigators in church. On saturday EVERYONE of them gave us the yes answer and they were all waiting for us to go get them and go with them. Sunday morning comes around and they all called me and told me they werent going to go. I got so frustrated, because mainly I knew that they were missing the greatest thing of their lives. I am not here in the mission to prove that I am right or to fight about the truth of the Gospel. I am here to fight for what I believe in and for sharing it with the people I meet. I have found the best of the best in the gospel and its the thing that has made me better, its what I want and what the Lord wants for the rest of his children. Sadly, many of them use their agency to not follow Jesus Christ and prefer to stay on their own path. It is hard, and its taken me 23 and a half months to try and get over it. I still havent. Its just because I know that they are missing the GREATEST thing that can happen to them. Its the only way out and the only way up! But the hardest lesson I have had to learn and continue learning is that at the end of the day, everyone has their agency, and as missionaries it is our job to teach them to use their agency to choose the best. Thanks for your birthday wishes this week. I had a great birthday. It was a strange feeling, I felt it was my day, I woke up feeling like YES my day. But something came over me that told me this was just a regular day, I was serving the Lord and even though it was a great day, it was His day. I felt good knowing that I Used my special day in the service of the Lord. I felt that he had blessed me to get through and to have a great day even though it was hard. Even though my umbrella broke and I had to walk under the rain on my birthday, I felt so SO unbelievably happy knowing that I was doing this on the Lords errand. Like Hermana Wilkinson always says and when we are on the Lord´s errand, we are never alone. I know I am not alone. 3000 miles away from my only comfort zone, my only source of support and comfort, I know that the Lord is watching and protecting me. I know he is aware of me and my circumstances, I know that He KNOWS me, He doesnt merely know who I am but he Knows me on a personal basis. He knows where I have been he has walked with me and seen what I have seen. I love Him and I am happy to serve him. I love all of you and I am so thankful for all your support! Thanks for your birthday wishes and I wish you all the best this week. Elder Falor