Just a Little Change of Name

So we have been teaching Ivonne Molina for quite some time now. If you don´t remember who that is, she had a lot of fear of her mom and just couldn´t make it to church. Well, she made it this Sunday. She has amazing faith right now and NO fear of her mother. She wants to do what is right for her 3 sons. Tristan, Johan y Diego. Tristan is 8 and we will be teaching him now so he can be baptized with his mom. Johan and Diego are twins (not identical) and they are great. Diego is pure love and perfectly adorable. Ivonne is just amazing because she is always reading the Book of Mormon and she teaches us what she learned from her reading every time we go over. We always learn from her. And now that she has been to church, her testimony will be even more amazing and I can´t wait to teach her again to learn what she has to say.

Well in Sacrament meeting, Tristan took my name tag and put it on his white shirt. His mom saw and almost cried. She loves the idea of him serving a mission. I said, "Unico un cambio del nombre....." He smiled and gave mine back only to take Elder Sanchez´s and said, "Mejor." That was really awesome because he has had his grandma whispering things in his ear against us and the church. He has now made up his own mind and loves the church. It´s true that everything in the Kingdom of God has it´s place and the place to truly gain a testimony about the truth of this church is there in the chapel.

I thought about this recently, "Just a little change of name". That´s what I thought it was before the mission.  I didn´t understand the meaning or purpose behind the title "Elder" until the M.T.C. and more so since I have been out here.  People always get confused that we all have the same first name and they don´t understand that it changes back after the mission, but during these 2 years of service, our whole lives change.  Why not our names?  We devote our lives to the Lord.  Why not our names?  "Elder is just a title in our church that means missionary."  This is a understatement that is told all over the world when people ask about that common first name for 19-21 year olds of our church.  It is not "Just" a title in the church.  It is a position of authority and service.  It means that we are giving a tithe of the life that God has given to us thus far.  2 years and roughly 20 years of life.  That´s what I call 10% and thus a tithing.  That is why it is a commandment to take upon us the name Elder and (there on the name tag nice and big) the name of Jesus Christ.  We are no longer teenagers that like rock and pretty girls.  We are representatives of the Savior.  Get rid of the manner that the World knows you and replace it with one name and one identity that sets you apart from the rest.  

As far as I´m concerned, I think the only reason that I still have the name Heath is because   1.  There are a lot of missionaries and I still need to be set apart from the rest to a certain extent.  2. I will return to my family and my life one day so I need to remember who it is I am.   And 3. I am not just one of billions amoung the children of God.  I am His son Elder Heath and He will never count me as a mere number. I am now serving in this work and have become more like Him and closer to Him.  

I can´t imagine what I would be doing right now if I weren´t in Puebla Mexico. It is weird to think that there will be an end to my name.  It is not "Just a little change of name" but the blessing of being set apart from the World to work in the World to save souls from the World.  "Why do you have the same name?"  "Because we are set apart to serve and to invite all, including you and your family, to come unto Christ through His restored gospel here on the earth.  ´Elder´ is how you know who we are and why we are here."  "Oh... Do you have other names?"  "After the mission we will go back to our regular lives.  School, family, work and our names from birth.  This is a special time in our lives that we hold this name with the name of Christ on our name tags." And now...... to translate that into Spanish..... Haha.

I love you all. Gracias por sus oraciones y por su apollo. Estoy aqui for este proposito: Yo tengo un llamamiento de Jesucristo.

Elder Heath