Hello everybody at home. How are you all doing? not much going on here, same ol' same ol' missionary work. trying to find hispanic people to teach, and trying to keep gringos progressing. but things are definitely going well around here. we've got our baptism on saturday, so i'm very excited about that. we're planning it all out tonight. que mas.. i have to give a talk in the spanish branch on sunday, i'm a little nervous about that... you know i don't speak spanish!!! but it will be okay. so last week was a pretty busy one. I had to go to this Leadership Training meeting in boise with my comp, and i was the only guy there that wasn't a district or zone leader, or a trainer. haha people kept asking why i was there, but i had to go cause elder Farthing had a doctors appointment. anyways. i learned a lot of super secret stuff about how to be a better leader through manipulation and tyranny... well not really either of those things. i learned a lot about how we can more effectively teach and help our investigators to progress. i need to be more bold. i learned that. then yesterday we had zone conference in a little place called Middleton. it was pretty fun. we talked about the new mormon.org site and whatnot. we had a little testimony meeting, then we ate and played games cause it's thanksgiving time. then President Cannon played The Other Side of Heaven cause its the holidays. so that was cool to watch a normal movie! haha it was a lot of fun. it's kind of strange not being home for the holidays, but we're having fun and staying busy so i don't have to think about it so much. that seems to be the best way to combat it. haha we have like three dinner appointments on thanksgiving, so i'm gonna get fat as a pig. i'm pretty excited for that. i hope you all have a good thanksgiving. we have an awful lot to be thankful for. that has helped me out a lot during this time, remembering the things i'm thankful for, and then turning and giving that thanks to the Lord. Sister Cannon tells us that prayer is how we write our gratefulness in our hearts. i kinda like that. i've also learned some funny stuff being around hispanics once in a while. when you ask how they are and whatnot they often say, "gracias a Dios." i love that. i do. thanks to God... even the ones who aren't super religious know that God is the one who gives us all we have, even when it's not that much... we can be thankful for literally everything in our lives, ESPECIALLY our trials. in fact those may be the most important things of all. And of course, the greatest gift of all, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. that alone deserves not only the fourth thursday in november, but every single day of our lives in thanks. i'm still trying to figure out how i can better do that, but i suppose the best way to give our thanks everyday is to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as HE has written it. Live like He did. oh, and use the Atonement everyday in our lives. Christ didn't suffer our pains and afflictions just to have us suffer them ourselves. that is something i have experienced first hand here, and something i am still learning so much about. i am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. i am grateful for His Sacrifice, and i am grateful for the unique message that i have to share about the restored gospel, the means by which we access the healing power of the Atonement. If you aren't grateful for anything else this year (which i know you all are very grateful for lots of things, i just say that for dramatic effect) pray to Heavenly Father and thank him for helping you get this far. Thank him for His Son, and for His Sacrifice. i know that as we center our gratefulness around the savior, and go from there with recognizing the things we are thankful for, we can not only express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father, but we can access the blessings of a grateful heart, which are many. Anyways, enough preaching from Elder Larson. haha it's cold outside. 25 degrees to be exact. so be grateful you aren't HERE! haha i love you all with all my heart. and i am grateful for you too. have a wonderful thanksgiving, and get fat! pray for the missionaries, and smile! Les Amo.
Elder Larson
No comments:
Post a Comment