"I'm sorry for the spotty emailing, P-Day usually turns into
a
teaching/putting out fires day, which is great, but I'll do better
about
writing. It sounds like a lot of fun in Colorado, I got the
pictures and
really liked them. I'm not surprised Coulson caught the
most, that's usually
how it goes. It was a really good week here, we
met a lot of really awesome
people and have a lot of great potential
built up in the area. Transfers are
coming up at the end of this week
so I might be moving around, but P-Day will
be next Tuesday and I
should know where I'm headed and what I'll be doing
there. We had some
neat experiences the past couple of weeks. President Pitt
will be
leaving at the end of the month and President Salisbury will be
coming
in so we had our last training meeting with the Pitt's and
he's
prepared us for the change. The traveling assistants are in our
area
this week going over training and transition stuff for the next
month.
We met a really nice guy named Rah Solomon this week and helped one
of
our recent converts, Chris, prepare his dad's name for the temple.
His
dad passed away five years ago and Chris expressed how when his
dead
was sick he felt a sense of purpose in being able to help him.
That
desire to help didn't leave when his dad passed away and Chris was
so
excited to know that he could continue to help his dad by having
him
baptized and have the same blessings Chris was experiencing now.
It
was really a cool moment when he called us and asked if taking
his
dad's name to the temple was a possibility. One of my favorite
things
about being on a mission is that you get to see these huge
changes
happen in people and they happen subtly but they're there. We met
with
a guy this week who was really obstinate about the church and
while
he's not quite at the edge of the font we can see how is attitude
and
perspective are shifting. The other side of that is that we
as
missionaries get to change to. President Pitt talked about trials
of
faith and this week on of our recent converts, Craig, who got
baptized
in the river, has gone entirely away from the church. We're not
sure
what happened or where things got off track but it was a shock
to
Elder Rueda and I and it kind of knocked us on our rear. We had a
short
conversation with him and he denounced the church and Joseph
Smith and
everything that we stood for. It wasn't hard to hear those
things but it was
a struggle to care about someone so much and want
them to have these
blessings but for whatever reason they just don't.
I've found that you come
to love the people you teach very quickly and
very sincerely. However, I know
that the gospel is true and I know
that he has a testimony of that so I'm not
worried about him returning
to the church in time, an eternity is a long
time. One of the talks in
sacrament meeting a couple of weeks ago was based
around the concept
that if we have faith we don't fear, and with that absence
of fear
comes an abiding feeling of peace and calm that can't be shaken by
the
fiery darts of the adversary. So this week was a little
bitter-sweet
but it's so awesome to hear from you guys and I'll make sure to
do
better about writing. I love you guys so much and I can't wait to
talk
to you again. Thank you dad, I love you guys."
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