This was honestly a great week and so full of joy!! First off CONGRATS MICHAEL GLENN BARBER!!!!.. can't believe you're a dentist... you're awesome! I can't wait for y'all and Mindy and Tales all to be in Utah again.. the Barber Gang will all be back together!! YAHOO!!!
Monday: We went to go contact a referral we got a for a man named Derby... you can imagine how surprised we were when a young man opens the door and says, "Hi sisters!!".. it turns out that Derby is actually a member and lives with two other members that are RETURNED MISSIONARIES! They havent' been to church in three years because of work but we're helping them get back... they asked their bosses the next day for Sundays off and Marvin and Derby are getting every other Sunday off. I'm so excited!! Then we helped the Bustos that night to move into their new trailer...I really will always care for them a ton... but they're just so comfortable with life they're not willing tow open their eyes to whatelse they need. Alejandra also told us that she's pregnant.. Jose Luis doesn't know yet but now he will marry her. It's so crazy how Satan is using complacency to keep people from listening to us.. they're lives are good enough so why should they change.. listen to us. What they don't understand is how much BETTER they can be! It was funny though because when Alejandra was telling us she was pregnant we said.. oh wow your 6th child and she said no my 8th!! we were like.. what?? where are your other two.. she laughed and said "Hermana Klayman y Barbie!" Man how I wish she got it! Before we left that night Jose Luis asked me to say a closing prayer in their new house and bless them and their new changes in life.
Tuesday: was interviews and training which I always LOVE.. it's fun to see President and Sister Smith and hear their trainings. We had trainings on how to include members more in the conversion process so that after baptism converts are stronger. My interview with President Smith was AWESOME as usual.. he is amazing. and for once instead of me crying in an interview.. he cried!! :) He talked about when the day comes when he stands in the presence of his Savior and it brought him to tears.. he really is an amazing man. You know you really are on the downhill when he starts bringing up that your going home in your interview... TIME JUST STOP!! After interviews and training we went to get the oil changed at a Pep Boys.. and I am for sure a weird sister missionary.. i asked the guys at Pep Boys to turn off the TV because it was talking about not such good things so i could read my scriptures.. yep it happened! ha ha
We got ahold of Juan Garcia again after two months.. he's still confused but we're going to try to teach him again... We had a lesson with a new family we met.. Miriam and Luis... they are super smart and really get the message of the Restoration. It was super embaressing though because during the openning prayer their little girl was on the couch next to me playing with a loud music toy so i couldn't hear the prayer at all. So I was sitting their and all of a sudden heard just silence... I said Amen and looked up to Hermana Kleinman and then just staring at me... then Hermana Kleinman just asked if i had fallen asleep and they all started laughing at me. At night we taught Juan Carlos and Mayela the ten commandments, tithing, and fasting... then we found out it was Juan Carlos' birthday so we ate little mexican cake things with them and sang. We also planned her program and got permission for Juan Carlos to speak at Mayela's baptism... they were sooo excited!
Wednesday: the best day of tracting EVER!! fun stories to let you know how tracting goes down here... we meet people from all over the world and from all different religions.. even their own made up religions... So we were trying to contact a less active who wasn't there so we knocked around his house. We knock on this door and waited then heard someone knocking at us through their window... it was an old lady.. she read our tags then turned around and walked away... her daughter came to the door a little later and was super sweet but her mom was in the background tell her to tell us we already have a church and to go away. The daughter yelled back.. "They're christians, mom" and the mom yelled back in spanish "no they aren't they're mormons" ha ha so i talked back to her in spanish and she was a little shocked... it was funny! then right after that we went to contact an african american man that was sitting outside his garage.. we started talking to him and he told us that he had gone to a lot of churches and that their were a lot of Bible but the one that was most correct was the King James version but even that one was mission things... we were super excited... so we started teaching him about prophets and he told us that his mom was a prophet... and then out walked his mom! We introduced ourselves as Sister Barber and Sister Kleinman then she introduced herself as Sister Jones... we finished contacting her son and were walking away when she stopped us to talk. She starts wobbling and bowing down as she telling us that she has been called and anointed by God adn that she has been prophesied about in the Bible in the books of Isaiah and Jerimiah.. that she is the Daughter of Zion talked about in those books. She proceeds to show us her palm and clams she has a star of David and a Z in the creases in her hand.. I couldn't see it. Then she told us that at night the stars spell out ZION above her house with a question mark because she can ask God anything she wants.. then some airplanes flew by and she yelled in the middle of her sentence "THERE GOES MY HATERS.".. She then tells us that all the destruction that is happening in the world she prophesied about a couple months before... she then saw a pass-a-long card we had with a picture of Jesus on it and started telling us that Jesus is black and if we didn't stop preaching about the wrong Jesus Christ we were going to Hell.. so at that point we told her to have a nice day and walked away and she called after us all down the street calling out scriptures and telling us we are going to Hell... it was sooo funny!!
Thursday: We taught Ariel that night about the interview questions for his baptismal interview. It is so cool how sincere he is. He pulled out a notebook to take notes on the questions so he could study and pass his interview... but as we went on he realize he already knew all the answers and was super excited to get baptized. We taught Luis and watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and talked about the importance of following Christ example then set another date with him for the 9th of May to be baptized with Lisbeth.
Friday: We taught a couple lesson but the people were just too confortable to really listen again... this whole week i just kept thinking of the quote that says the gospel of Jesus Christ is here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.. we just have to cause a need for these people so they'll actually listen. We had dinner with Manuela and actually talked to Leo again and he promised to come see Luis' baptisms which is a huge step for us and him again. That night we gave Mayela one of those necklaces that you sent me mom.. she loved it!! thanks!! And Hno. Marrero picked up Mayela and Ariel for their baptismal interviews.. they of course passed!! and they seemed soooo happy!!! I couldnt' wait for Sunday.. it felt like waiting for Christmas!
Saturday: we did a lot of service... we went to visit a less active family and showed up right as they were moving all their stuff to a storage unit because they had lost their house and were going to live in a hotel for a week till they can figure otu what they are going to do.. so sad. We also went and bought Ariel a white shirt and tie.. he was sooooooo excited!! He tried it on for us and we said "Lord I would follow thee" with him and had a prayer... honestly I almost cried because the spirit was so strong. Ariel really has changed his whole life to follow his savior...there is no greater feeling then being able to be apart of helping someone come to know their Savior and feel his love and cleansing power!
At night we finished all the lessons with Lisbeth Toro so we will spend next week gettign her readdy for her baptismal interview... she is so cute!
Sunday: the GREATEST day!! Mayela, Juan Carlos, Ariel and the Toro's all showed up at church. Mayela was wearing her necklace and Ariel his white shirt and tie. Juan Carlos bore his testimony during testimony meeting about the importance of this church in his life and how big of a miracle this day was for him and his family... The baptismal service was absolutely beautiful and Juan Carlos did an awesome job on his talk on the Holy Ghost.. he was super nervous though! After the baptism we went in to help Mayela get ready and asked her how she felt and she just kept saying soooo good.. then said so grateful. After second of my mission is worth it when you see people change their lives like that!! I LOVE IT HERE!! There really is no greater joy!
Thank you for all your prayers and support!! love y'all and miss you!!
con carino,
Hermana Katie Barber
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You should teach GIVING, not tithing.
ReplyDeleteThe first time tithe is mentioned in the Bible is Abraham's tithe of pagan spoils of war, and Abraham kept NOTHING for himself. This was NOT an act of worship. Biblical historians agree that it was custom in Abraham's day to give the king a tenth of the war spoils. Furthermore, Abraham made a vow that he would keep none of it. Genesis 14:8-24
The next mention of a tithe is Jacob's VOW to tithe. Jacob set the conditions, not God. Nowhere in The Word does it tell us that Jacob actually tithed. Genesis 28:10-22
Next is The Lord's Tithe. God gave His definition as a tenth of crops and animals which came from God's hand, not man's income. God NEVER commanded anyone to tithe on anything that man made or earned. Leviticus 27:30-33.
The ordinances (instructions, or laws) for The Lord's Tithe are in Numbers 18. God gave strict orders to take His tithe to the Levites. God NEVER changed that command. Anyone who takes God's tithe to anyone other than the Levites is being disobedient to God's Word.
There are others tithes in the Bible such as the Festival Tithe and the Tithe for the Poor. It is The Lord's Tithe that churches pattern their teaching after.
Church leaders ignore God's definition of His tithe, and ignore God's ordinances for His tithe. They change the words to fit their pocket book. This is nothing but manipulation of God's Word. They are false teachers.
The Bible CLEARLY SHOWS that the tithe ENDED at the cross in the Book of Hebrews. In the first nine verses of Hebrews 7 the words tenth or tithes appears SEVEN TIMES. The ONLY place in the Bible, after Calvary, that tithing appears is in Hebrews 7.
In Hebrews 7:5 we are told that Levi (the Levites) took the tithes under the law. In Hebrews 7:12 we are told that when the priesthood changes, the law will change. Hebrews 7:18 is telling us that Numbers 18 was disannulled. Numbers 18 established the Levitical priesthood, and part of that establishing included tithing. When the Levitical priesthood ended (at Calvary, or at least in the year 70AD when the temple was destroyed), all laws that established that priesthood were canceled. If Numbers 18 wasn't canceled, we would still be under the Levitical priesthood.
Those who argue they didn't have money or income then are really ignorant of what the scriptures say. They had money and wages, even in Genesis. The farmers had income from barter exchanges, and they had markets to buy and sell as proven in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
Those who argue Malachi 3:8, robbing God, need to start with verse 7. God is talking about His ordinances in Numbers 18 which we learned were disannulled according to Hebrews 7:18. Also, if you start with Malachi 1, you will see that God is speaking to the priests, not the people. The priests robbed God of the tithe (Nehemiah 13) and the priests robbed God of the offerings (Malachi 1).