Letter from June 1, 2010

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Well lets start with some of those famous questions.

1) Yes I did. I got some money and a giftcard from Thomas and Kelly and then some money and a magnet from Marty and Janna and Alex. It was awesome! I haven't picked up mail yet this week.

2) haha well it turns out that I had more fun here at a Memorial Day then back home hahaha. We had a bar BQ in the park, or I guess in spanish its called a "carne asada". We had some members come and we cooked carne asada tacos and a bunch of other stuff, it was way fun.

3) We have president interviews once a transfer. I think mine will be next week probably.


Alright, this week was pretty good. Jesus changed his mind again and doesn't want to get baptized anymore. After we walked out of the cita, i wasn't that upset. I remembered what you and dad said that he had the power to choose for himself and that all i could do was help him. I felt like I did everything I could do to help him and I think thats why I wasn't upset.

This week was MTE (Missionary Training Exchanges). It's one of the pilot programs here we are doing for the qoroum of the 12 and the missionary department. It was 3 days of training in the morning with President Donaldson and then we went out and practiced. My comp went on exchanges with Elder Hanks and Naylor and I went with another english missionary. That was weird! The training was on how to become more united and how allow the missionary purpose to burn within our hearts. Some things I took away from it were:

-Baptism is the key to every gift we get from God. Before we recieve the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, we have to be baptized. Before we recieve the GIFT of making convenios (sorry idk how to spell it in english anymore) in the temple, we have to be baptized. Baptism is the gate to eternal life.

-As missionaries, we are also special witnesses of Jesus Christ. Elder Holland tolds us (a week before I got to the mission) that we are apostles (with a small "a") and we have more power in our pinky than other ministers have in their body(just like Elder Holland). But something that really took me away and the spirit testified of the truthfulness to me was that, as a missionary, I have the ability to unleash the power of the Godhead on my investigators. Pretty big responsibility huh?

Being with a english only comp this week was weird. I figured out that it is a lot easier to say things in english but it is also a lot easier to go deep in english. The guy i was with started talking about "pre-existence ordinances" that had to be performed. I was like, "but the important thing is that you know that you have a purpose in this life and that if you follow the commandments and do what God wants you to do, you will be able to feel his love and be able to take part in His gospel." wow, that kid. But it was also scary/fun that i was teaching in spanish by myself for most of the week. The kid i was with didnt speak any spanish so i was OMO. It was fun and i think i learned a lot of spanish and how importnat it is to take seriously the promise Pres. Hinckley gave missionaries when he said, "The a missionary gets on his knees every morning, and pleads with the Lord to loosen his tongue and speak through him, he will find more enthusiasm for the work and know of the love that His Father in Heaven has for him." Pretty powerful.

Well that is really all that happened this week. Today we went and played tennis and then went to play golf and now we are emailing and then we are going to play laser tag with some other elders haha. busy day

Well i love yall sooo much and i thank you for helping me get where i am and yes mom, I am about my father's business.

Love

your son