eMail of February 9, 2009

I´m sorry to hear about Marc [referring to Marc being sick during the wrestling tournament] and everything but I´m happy that things are still going well. This week was difficult as always with the work but it was fulfilling. I am learning significantly from the people here and am truly beginning to love them. I truly care for them and their eternal salvation. I am also finding a great love for the other missionaries here as well.

I am learning how to use Preach My Gospel as well and how much it helps. It is truly Revelation from God in how we should do the work. The one tip I can give is to do exactly what it says, it is all there for you. Study it with the purpose to learn something specific and you will learn every time. Another thing I must say about missionary work is we have to be more bold. Truly we declare repentance and the remission of sins by baptism. We need to declare this always because it is a part of our purpose. Every time we bear testimony of this we remind them of things they knew but cannot recall, their knowledge from the premortal existence. It really does work.

Sounds a bit like what I´m having to do every day [referring to his Dad's busy Sunday], appointment after appointment with meetings and work to do in the mission. My companion is the District leader again so I´m traveling with him in his labors as well.

It is really discouraging when things go wrong, but I understand the principle of striving through the discouraging times optimistically. Saturday was tough. We had much to do, our appointment with three baptismal dates fell through in the sense that we only taught one of them, we were outright rejected and insulted, and we didn´t get lunch, but in the end we met up with two people that really have been searching the truth. After the hard times come the blessings if we live with faith. One thing I have learned is that our spirits and the gospel and everything are much more involved in every decision we make than we think. We are very connected with our bodies as spirits, more connected than we realize. What affects our body does affect our spirit.

I do have a question for you, did you know an Elder Trumbo? A new missionary here is Elder Trumbo and his father served in Buenos Aires Sur for a year and a half like you. I was wondering if you recognized the name. Well I am grateful for what you have done for me and hope everything is going well. I love you and your example for me. You have truly taught me the right path and I thank you for that. I pray for you and hope that things continue to go well.

Well I don´t have much time today so I need to go but I love you all and hope everything is going better. The Lord loves you all and will always take care of you when you lean on Him.