Mission Miracle from Elder Christopher Cantlon

February 15, 2009

I feel impressed to began my email with Moroni 7:36-37. “Have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.”

I am grateful for the promises made in these verses. I am grateful that we are always surrounded by heavenly beings and we always have the promise of having the Holy Ghost to be with us as long as man shall be upon the face of the earth. I know miracles continue to happen and that Heavenly Father loves us and as we turn to Him that we will come to understand His will.

This has been the week of miracles for us.

Thursday I went on a short exchange with Elder Grant. We went to the hospital to visit Corina. Before entering we had to put on white robes. Corina is 40 years old and has a very special light about her. We sang „Be still my Soul” This song has become one of my favourite songs and I feel impressed to include the lyrics. After singing to her we asked her if she would like a blessing and she thought that it would be a great idea. Elder Grant administered the blessing and it was beautiful. It was very humbling being in white doctor's robes and laying our hands upon her head and administering to her at the Savior would administer unto her. It was a very amazing experience and something that I will always cherish. Corina was unable to come to church because she is still in the hospital. She had a dream that she needs to break up with her boyfriend and that the Orthodox is not true. She knows the Book of Mormon is true but she is not sure if the church is true. She is praying about being baptized March 8th. She is a great woman

Saturday we had Priesthood session for all the priesthood holders in Bucuresti. There were about 20 men that attended but it was a great meeting and I was impressed by all three of the speakers. I would like to share what a member of the District Presidency shared.

He spoke of communism and how the people wanted their freedom and liberty. He said that the people here did not understand nor do they understand what liberty means. He said the people wanted their freedom from communism and they gained it but he said that freedom does not mean giving up something it means putting our trust into something. He read the 13th article of faith. „We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

He said that liberty is seeking and putting trust into things that are virtuous, lovely and of good report. He said that liberty is becoming honest, true, chase and benevolent. He said it is our freedom to seek after these things. He said simply giving something up does not mean you have liberty. He gave the example I can give up my friends because they are not good friends. Or he said that I can seek after that which is good and pure and it is their decision if they want to follow. They can use their liberty to also follow that which is pure and good.

He also compared the people of Israel and traveling for 40 years to the amount of time Romania was under communism. Romania was under communism dominion for just over 40 years. He drew a connection to the people of Israel and said it was the children that ultimately realized they were traveling in circles and sought after that which was good and pure. He said that you are the children that also realized things need to be changed. He said you can wait for your children to make a difference or you can make a difference now. It was so amazing. I have not been that spiritually fed in a priesthood meeting in Romania I believe in my whole mission.

Another miracle involved a girl that we met on the train to Craiova. We had Elena S. (a member) help us and they became instant friends. It was very humbling taking her to the church. It was humbling how we met her on a train to Craiova and we were not planning on going there. It shows me the Lord knows all things. After Anda we had a lesson with Riad. He is an Assyrian man that was a former investigator that had a baptismal date in December. We set up with him and asked us if he could meet us at the Hilton hotel. We met him there and said he has a great desire to change and wants to meet us more often. He said that he wants to be baptized June 1st. I consider that a miracle from the Lord. We talked about the God head how Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages but are one in purpose and unity. We testified that Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bone which is glorified and perfected and that we can become like Him someday if we do our part. He is a great man and we are meeting wit him again on Wednesday.

Church was another miracle. We have been averaging about 60-70 people at church each Sunday since I have been in Bucuresti and on Sunday we had almost 100 people... 94 to be exact. We had almost 10 people that had not been to church in almost 15 years. Some did not even know there was a chapel. It is my goal to speak to everyone on Sunday and use their name and see how they are doing. It is very difficult but I know how much it means to them and I spoke to at least 7 people that have not been to church in 14 years. We also had 10 investigators at church. The sisters had a beautiful family show up from the blocs. I taught them in the investigators class. We had two people show up who we contacted last week in front of the church. We had a mother bring one of her daughters who is not a member and her child. It was amazing.

A member of our District Presidency stood up at the end of Priesthood and said Fratele D. was paralyzed this past week. He then asked, “Who is coming with me this week to visit him?” It was amazing as one man put up his hand and said I will go with you. He said how many of our brethren are not here. He said who is not here who was not here last week. I think maybe out of the twenty Priesthood holders present only 2 knew. Most of the missionaries and I knew everyone that was not there. He said “What is a quorum.” He said a quorum is united. He said the amount of people in a quorum does not matter. He said there can only be two members and they will still be a quorum. He said what matters is whether or not they are united. He said why did the Lord tell the apostles to love one another. He said because he knew if they did not they would not be a quorum. I had never even thought about that. He said we are not here to read from a book. We are to love those around us and bring them back to church. He said we are not united right now. He said you need to be doing your home teaching, he said you need to know who is not here and go and get them because that is what the Lord has commanded us to do, to love another. He said we show our love by going out and getting them. I had goosebumps on my arms. All of the missionaries were ready to stand up and clap. We all have been waiting for this for a very long time. I came to realize that we should take the time in Priesthood and talk about those that are not present and make sure those that are not present get a call or a visit and talk about those that are less active. That is what we do for district meeting and that is what should be happening through out the church. We must be applying the things we study and learn in order to help the brethren that are not coming to church. I was spiritually fed and felt like the things I learned in that meeting would bring miracles for the people here.