First Sabbath of 2010 - Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010

What a beautiful Sunday morning -- not a cloud in the sky. This is an amazing world we live in whether we are in Utah or Argentina. It is great to be alive!!

Elder Kroff has something he wants to share in this journal entry, and it will make this Sunday's entry more special and meaningful.

One of the many things that I have learned while serving here in Argentina is that the Holy Ghost is real. Working closely with the missionaries and the mission president has allowed me to see first hand the influence the Holy Ghost can have in our lives if we live worthily and seek His guidance. I have learned that if we will follow the small promptings, doors will be opened and lives will be blessed.

Yesterday, I began by following my usual morning ritual. I went onto the balcony to soak up some vitamin D. While outside I like to listen to Mormon Radio on the iPhone. I usually listen to the last conference addresses. I checked the menu and found out the January Ensign was now available for listening. I usually pick and choose the articles as my fancy strikes me. I decided (felt impressed) to listen to them in order. I started with the first one, which was President Uchtdorf’s talk titled “Hold On a Little Longer”. It was good and gave me food for thought for the day. This morning (Sunday) I followed my promptings from yesterday and listened to the second article, which talks about the new Gospel Principle manual, and how it should be used. The article mentions that the Relief Society and Priesthood classes should follow the lessons in the order written. The Gospel Principle class should, however, give the lesson according to the needs of the investigators and new members in the class. It will change each week according to who is in class and what they are ready or needing to receive.

I quickly realized that would mean I wouldn’t know what to teach until Sunday morning probably after the opening prayer in the Sunday School class! I had spent the week as usual by reading and studying lesson #1 in Spanish and English and looking up all the scriptures so I would be familiar with them. The thought of scrapping my preparation and teaching a lesson on the spur of the moment gave me a moment of panic but then came a calm reassuring feeling that everything would be all right.

I didn’t have enough faith to just wait for Sunday School to start to find out if I could actually do this. Immediately after returning inside I went to my book and randomly opened it up to practice giving a lesson cold turkey. I quickly realized that it would be quite an easy thing to do. I have been teaching the class the last several years and I have given each lesson at least twice and some of them three times. After satisfying the doubting Thomas in me I was ready to go to church and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

I entered the chapel and began greeting the members as they entered. A less active member came in that I had only seen one time since we started attending in Tigre. I greeted him warmly and he proceeded to tell me that his wife had died last week. I expressed my condolences and asked if he were staying for the bloc. He assured me he was. Now if I hadn’t followed the promptings Saturday and Sunday, I would have gone right ahead and taught lesson #1 during Sunday School as I had prepared. But now because of what I had read, I went to my seat and started searching through the lessons to find one that taught about life after death. I quickly found it, said a quick prayer and settled back to enjoy fast and testimony meeting.

At the beginning of the Sunday School class, the ward mission leader dutifully wrote on the board the name of lesson #1 in our new manual as we had discussed last week. I went to the board and erased it and wrote lesson #41 “The Spirit World in the Next Life.” He looked at me quizzically and I told him I would explain after the song and prayer.

When the time came to start teaching, I explained how the brethren have asked that lessons in this class not be given in any particular order but according to the needs of the members of the class. Since we had a member in the class who lost his wife this last week we will be discussing life after death in honor of his deceased wife.

I asked the member if this would be all right and he emphatically nodded his head in agreement. The lesson went well and I had a good feeling about being obedient to the brethren and following their counsel.

It is going to be interesting these coming weeks as I try to be in tune with the needs of the class members. Now, my lesson preparation will not be focused on a particular lesson but on preparing myself to be worthy to receive inspiration of the Holy Ghost. I realize that during the week I need to keep studying the Book of Moron daily, studying past conferences, and the current issue of the Ensign. Then, when Sunday comes, I will be prepared to let the Holy Ghost guide me.

I (Julie) am so grateful to have such a wonderful missionary companion. He is the best! He has been "in tune" his whole life and is such an example to me, our children, and everyone for that matter. He is a great missionary and servant of our Father in Heaven.

We are so grateful to be on this mission and the time is passing too quickly. We hope when we leave that we will feel satisfied that we have made a worthwhile contribution to "La Gran Misión Buenos Aires Norte."

It has been a peaceful afternoon, and a time to regroup after a busy week. We love Sundays.