Challenges and Strength

Hello!!

Hard to believe this is my third time writing! It seems like the days are just starting to fly by. The first four days seemed like they took FOREVER, but after that things just seem to be flying. And we have a new district coming in this Wednesday! It's been a good week with a rough start. When I sent my last email I was incredibly discouraged about my companion situation. Sunday was kind a the culminating point and I was on the brink of just kind of losing it. I prayed for patience though and amazingly my attitude turned 360 degrees. The same things were happening, but I was able to endure them with love and patience.

Thanks for all the packages and mail!! You don't know how much of a boost it is. We aren't allowed to open it until 9:30 at night, so it's something to look forward to all day long.Thanks for the package mom! I've taken some more pictures so I may send that today with a letter I'll write...

My timing coming to the MTC was kind of poor in that the Temple is closed pretty much all month and they were re-doing the gym floor and it just re-opened. It's so cool to see so many friends though! Elder Hills is in the field, and I got a letter from Julia saying his first week, maybe first day he blew both tires on his bike, fell off, and needs a root canal and a crown. Ouch!! Tough way to start... Elder Leydsman is counting down the days as well!!

I've been lucky to have such a great district, but everyone has had their fair share of struggles. As I've told you we have mock investigators which are our teachers. Both our teachers are awesome, but one of them is more of a tough love kinda a person. He dropped two of the three companionships, and showed one of the other companionships his "investigators journal" which was straight up brutal!! It later put one of the Elders into tears because he said everything in his life has come so easy up until this. There's another Elder in our district who is struggling with the language. The funny thing about it is he's not struggling nearly as much as he thinks he is. Anyways he's so frustrated that he thinks it's because he doesn't have enough faith. Consequently, he's started to doubt his testimony. We were talking one day, and I felt prompted to share D&C 121. As you probably remember this is where Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail. He starts out saying something to the effect of "O Lord where art thou?" He asks why the faithful are being driven from state to state and killed in some cases. Just by reading it, you can feel the pain and grief in his voice. This had to be his lowest moment. But in that time of darkness and despair, the Lord said unto him, " My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." I told him the story about our family and our financial struggles over the past few years. We struggled not because of wickedness, but because the Lord wanted to test our family. We all learned lessons in those times that we could not have learned anywhere else.

I've been reading Jesus the Christ, and I've been completely blown away! James Talmage takes a look at the Savior like I've never seen before!! I just read a chapter about Christ role in the Old Testament. I been thinking a lot about Christ this past week. Particularly about his childhood. How amazing is it that the scriptures only tell is about roughly 10% of his life? I've been wondering, what was Christ like growing up, how did he learn of his mission, what was the effect of the veil on him. I know that Christ was instructed on high by his father, and was taught so many precious and pure doctrines that they probably aren't included in the scriptures. An Elder said to me this week, "The written word has it's limits, and can't even touch the simplicity and pureness of divinity." Running out of time. I know this Church is true, Christ truly does direct this church. I love you all! In the name of Christ, Amen.