It rained, and rained and rained some more.

It rained, and rained and rained some more.

 

Since when I arrived in Portugal I have known this country as literally a dry and dreary waste land because it's been so hot and literally no vegetation grows. I can count on my fingers and my toes the amount of times that it has rained here. It hasn't rained much. It has been few and very far between until this week. This week it rained every day in every type of way. It rained when it was cloudy, heck it rained when there weren't even clouds in the sky (that was impressive I might add, Elder Lee thinks it's because President Russell M Nelson is playing around with his new power over the weather). But it's supposed to rain for the next week too. I am excited. Others are sad and choosing to complain but I remember what it was like to walk through what seemed like heck everyday with the sun in the Algarve. I am glad that it is cloudy.

 

I am glad for the Savior and for his atonement. I Know that it is for all of us. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. With that sin we are incapable of returning to the presence of our God, for he can not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. But God is a merciful and just, he gave us his son Jesus to help us. Isaiah said ''Come now and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool''. Christ cleans us. When we sin we feel bad but as we repent we can feel the joy that comes. As Alma the younger put it 

''Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy''

Repentance brings great joy, the most we can feel here on earth. When we help others, we feel even more joy than when we do it for ourselves. I feel that joy. Testify that it's true.