I am doing great. That is really cool that you are up in Phoenix at Louise's. How is she doing? (I need to explain this to Terry!)
We did have the baptism last week and it went really well. It was this little girl and she was so happy. It was just a beautiful service and the family was so happy. Other than that our investigators are all doing really well. My companion is doing well too. He is trying to make a pretty big decision right now. When he started his mission he started in June and he went to Peru. Due to passport problems he had to come back to Guatemala and so that is why he is here. Now he was sent to our mission so he has the option to go home in July or in May. His brother is leaving for his mission in May too so he is trying to see what he is going to do.
What happened to aunt Bertie? Is she alright. I hope she will be better. That is really good that the reception was really nice. I still think that is so weird that Amber got married. That is fun, how are Becky and the girls doing in the church. Are they still enjoying it? Make sure that they are still doing the family home evenings, and even try to take Becky to the temple so that she can get started doing the baptisms for the dead. They say that the quicker that you get someone to the temple and get them paying tithing and doing Family History work, the more active we can keep recent converts. That is what the study on the church has shown.
I am really happy for you mom. Take note on your weight as you go on and keep up the good work. I know you can do it. Stay motivated and always remember what you want to become and what the Lord has in mind for you to become.
Wow that is so sad to hear about that family you mentioned. I really hope that all goes well. Yeah, I can´t say that I have the days counted down but I do know that when April 7th hits, that I will be starting a tradition that the missionaries do here and that is to read the doctrine and covenants backwards. That is scary to me. I cannot believe how fast it is passing by, but I still have a lot of time left. President does tell me though that as an assistant time will go incredibly fast.
Ha, so you guys like the ipad. How is it? I haven’t even seen it yet, or had a chance to play with it. What is Hunger Games about. I heard another friend of mine went to go and see it too and they told me it was great.
You were beat by two 79 year old's. What happened to you mom? Ha. You need to get back into the program.
I am glad you enjoyed my letter. I don’t mean to tell you what you need to do or how you need to do it, but I just want to help you so that you can be the best mom ever. I always invite everyone that I see to tell me how I can improve in many things. Every time I talk to president after we have just had a meeting or a conference, I ask him what it is that I can do better so I can become really good at what I do.
The senior missionaries are from Utah. They are called the Jensen’s. Yes, we are still traveling around with them and we are having a blast doing so. Last week we actually went really far and I was able to drive out and back. We went to an area called Taxsico and then we came back through Escuintla. Then coming back from there I was able to go on divisions with Elder Erickson. We came back to the area of Trebol and worked here for a couple days. It was so much fun, we worked incredibly hard and we found a lot of really good people, and put 2 dates for baptisms. We are really excited for them. So one is for our investigator Drei, we put a date with her for the 14th of April. She is doing really great. We have a lot of hope for her to progress along and get things going with her, but we need her to pray and to read like always. It really is the only thing that she needs to do. We are going to teach her tonight the lesson about Joseph Smith and get her to really feel the spirit on that lesson. Also we put the baptism date with another girl named Astrid. She is way cool and is really excited to get baptized and all, but she wants so badly that a missionary can come from another area to come do her baptism but we will see what president says. He has made a rule where it is not possible so we really don’t think it will happen. Anyways with her we are really trying hard to get her some good friends in the church so she can have that support. Something that I am really focusing on a lot is making sure that they feel the spirit in our lessons that we give to them. So that they can without a doubt, stay active in the church. Elder Jensen was telling us, that no matter what, even if the person has no friends and if they have no calling or anything, Elder Jensen says that they will stay in the church forever if they felt the spirit and have a strong burning testimony that the church really is the true church of God, and that the Book of Mormon is scripture. He said that if people have those 2 testimonies, then everything else just falls into place.
So are you excited for conference because it will be my last one away from home? Next one I will be sitting with you guys. Maybe next year we can go with Becky and the girls as well to the conference. How neat would that be for them?
I miss daisy so much. How is she doing, what is she doing right now. Take a video and put it on the blog so I can see my only faithful girlfriend. I’m sure she misses me since I'm not there to give her love and all. Do you think she will recognize me when I get home?
Yeah I loved that talk too from Jeffery R. Holland, he is great and every time delivers a talk so powerful. I have one that is for missionaries and you will love it and feel the power that I have felt from it too. That is a really cool thing you told me about the talk that one guy gave you. Just recently an elder in Brazil was hit by a bus. I haven’t heard anything since then but I hear that he had around 21 months. I think how hard that must be to be so close to finishing and then being forced home. I am trying to be really careful in all I do so that I can come home in time and honorably. Anyways I sure do miss you and I love you so much. I have really been missing you a lot mom. Ha and believe me everyone here in Guatemala knows that too.
Anyways to close, I had the chance to go to Mixco. I had a blast, and I worked really hard with the kid I went with. Something that made me really sad to see was to see this one family that I love so much from there has fallen deeply. They are having a baby and you would think that everything is going great over there but apparently I was told that they were passing through some difficulties. It is so sad how Satan can take a family that is literally one of the strongest families that I knew, and he can just destroy them. I have heard that there are rumors going around the ward and that they are just being attacked by things people are saying about them. They were really depressed when I got there and they were really just not the same ol happy family that I knew. I was really sad to see them that way, and so we visited with them a little bit and just expressed my love I had for them and gave them some ideas that may help them. It really is just so sad to see that though. I love my family that I have, I love all of you guys, and it makes me sad to see how Satan has destroyed us as well. I know that is definitely something that God doesn’t want for us and so I want to work better on being more united and doing that which is right. Alrighty then, I love you all and I will talk to you later.
Love Always
Elder Shipley
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