How are you doing, everything here is going just great. We are finally out of change week and in relax mode. Well kind of relax mode, it is just where we can spend all our time in the area now.
Today actually marks the end of my birthday celebration, Elder Doran invited me to lunch today and it was so good. We went to Tony Roma´s. yeah, it was really nice for all of them to invite me to these lunches and dinners and etc. Today was fun too because we went to play soccer in the morning. I felt so good after playing and having fun with some of the members from the ward. I need to do more active things so that I can be more in shape.
I love the tres leches cake, you will think it is gross when you first try it, but I promise you it will grow on you and you will love it. Yeah, we still haven’t got the papers here in the office as to when we get home but it is most likely going to be the 23rd. I will be traveling with Elder Walls. I have received a couple cards but still no package, the last time we went to the mail though was on Wednesday so it might have come since then. This coming week the executive secretary and I are going on a tour of the mission to teach them a couple things. We are going to be working with all the district leaders. It will be pretty fun, so if it comes I will probably get it next Friday. Changes were really fun, no big changes, it is weird, and it just feels like another meeting that we do. Things are starting to have a rhythm; this change will be interesting though because my comp is going home.
So the brown nosing begins, ha. How is it that you know more about the mission then I do? I did not even know that Elder Forrester was sick. I am sure that the nurse is aware of it. Parents really do not have anything to worry about because we have the best doctors here.
So the work load, ha, it is going great. We have a family that we are teaching, the family Cinto, I love them. They are so great and always so animated when we get over there and teach them about the gospel. Just recently we placed a book of Mormon with them, and a member gave them a bible, and they loved it. They can really feel the love from the ward, helping pushing them along. It is great. Also we are teaching this other family, Emilio and Dulce Maria. They are super nice and sweet people. They are always so accepting to us and extremely humble. They don’t really understand what it is that we teach, or why they need to listen to it, but they constantly say that they feel something and know that we are true messengers, and so they keep inviting us over. With these two families we are just working on getting them married. Our mission leader is doing all the research and is going to help them get married.
Mom, the thing that you explained is the saddest thing that can happen in a missionary’s life. (Sister Debbie Z. spoke about converted to church or gospel and she lived in Chicago where there weren't many members and she really talked about people leaving church because of hurt feelings. We need to ask the question, "why do I come to church?" is it to socialize, to show off an new outfit or do we come to worship God, be obedient to the commandments, to sacrifice, to do the work the Lord would do if He were on the earth today. IF our reason for coming is the RIGHT reason - we will not fall away, be offended, jump ship with a new bishop or prophet - or change in policy. We will then know we are in THE LORD'S TRUE CHURCH.
Last week I taught about the anti-nephi-lehies - and how they made covenants with the Lord and they KEPT them. Converts - it is wonderful to be one - and EVERY MEMBER of the church should be one - because it isn't enough to be just born into the church - we all must be converted - I feel YOU have been converted - you believed - but now you KNOW. These people came to know . In Alma 24:30 -
30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things.) As a missionary, I don’t know what it is, but heaven forbid, God gives us this spirit to love people here. As long as we do what we need to do, God gives us that love for all these people. I truly love these people, and it is so sad when they just do not want to progress. Elder Clarke once told us, if we love these people, then we will push them, we will help them realize the stuff that they need to do. I think I can really help nanny, but through emails is not effective. That is the main reason I want to talk to her alone after I get home so that she and I can just talk. That truly is the biggest secret though, if we could just worry about ourselves and make sure that we are 100 percent, then the other people would want to be more like us, and want to follow us more and do that which is right. Don’t worry though mom, in 2013 you will be able to see the Guatemala temple with your own eyes. Also, I want to go to the new temple when we come back to visit, they say it is just spectacular.
Well mom, thanks for writing me, I love hearing from you, more than anything though I love our little chat sessions we have afterwards. Oh my goodness, I can not believe that Cara is coming home. That is so weird. So tomorrow is fast Sunday, only 2 more after tomorrow till I will be home. Weird huh. I haven’t seen pictures of Craig or Garret in awhile. Well I love you and I miss you a ton. I will talk to you next week.
Love Elder Daniel W. Shipley
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