Heyo. Happy Valentines day!
You guys went to Disneyland??? Wow, that came out of left field haha. Was it a surprise for Maddie? I hope it was because I can imagine that it can be hard at times for her to be the only kid at home. I'm glad that you guys had a lot of fun. It'll be really fun to go when we get back. What was your favorite thing? Is there anything new? Oh the olymipics started? I totally forgot about those.
Thanks for all of your advice and your love. I've been doing a lot better this week with not worrying as much. Your emails really helped give me confidence and hope too. Occasionally it creeps into my mind, but I am trying to get rid of these thoughts and to try to focus on what I am doing here. It's crazy. I'm like a 6th of the way done with my mission already. In some ways it has gone so fast and in other ways so slow. It will only get faster. I am learning that I can't waste any time because really when I look back on it afterward it will feel like it was just a blink of an eye.
It sounds like your ward conference was good. Thanks for sharing that story mom. It's true. There are things that we can learn in any situation if we really look and also there are always things that we can improve. The trick is just not getting discouraged if we can't do it all at once. This is something that I have to be careful of. I also need to take the advice of dad in his talk. I wish I could have heard it. It really is the simple things that make up the gospel. I'm sorry that Cam didn't get his job. I will keep praying for them and that he can find another that he likes better.
So we had a baptism this week! David was baptized this Saturday. Elder Patey got to baptize him and I got to confirm him the next day in sacrament meeting. We were very close to not being able to baptize him. He received a job the same day as his baptizm that would have made it so he had to work every Sunday. We found out 1 minute before we were going to start the baptismal service. He said a prayer and decided that even though he needed the job that his baptism was more important to him. He was so excited. We think that his mom is going to get baptized too but she doesn't live in our area. It felt good to see someone get baptized. We have 2 more investigators that are going to be baptized in 2 weeks but we have transfers in one week so who knows if we´ll be here or not. They're going to divide our area too so even if we do stay we might lose them to another companionship. Oh well, as long as they still get baptized that's all that matters.
The conference with Elder Oaks was really good. We had to get up at 5, but it was worth it. (Oh side note. I didn´t get the package. It's not a big deal really. If it got sent to the house of the mission president I won't get it. They can only be sent to the same address as before. I'm not worried about it though.) But yeah, it was really good. We all got to go and shake hands with him when he arrived. When it got to my turn he stopped me because his hand was tired and he had to shake it out. I got to stand by him for a minute or so while he rested his hand, It was kinda funny. I could really see and feel the power and authority that he carries with him. It's actually quite incredible. I really believe that he is a representative of Jesus Christ and that he was really called to be a leader in his chuch. His wife talked to us also about the quorum of the 12 and that they are not perfect but that they are completely dedicated in every aspect of their lives to serving Jesus Christ. I really felt the power of her words. He talked about how we should not waste one minute worrying about our families. I felt that this was very applicable. He said that through us that they would be blessed. He pronounced a special blessing upon us and our families at the end of his talk. He talked about how we have to be willing and ready to talk to people everywhere that we go and in every moment. He also talked about the importance of the sacrament. He said that only 20 % or Mexico goes to sacrament meeting and that even though there are a lot of new baptisms that that number is not changing. He said that we are not teaching the importance of sacrament meeting and the "why"of the sacrament to our investigators. He said that if it is importat for the prophet and the 12 apostles to take that sacrament that it should be very important for everyone else too. He talked about how the prophet and apostles have a sacrament meeting in the Salt Lake temple once and month because of how important it is. He also talked about improving our teaching and that if we are doing our best we will have the words to say. It was a really good experience and it was really fun to see all of the missionaries from my district in the mtc. I hope that you all are doing well. I love you all soooo much. Talk to you soon.
Elder Schow
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