Well, I hate to break it to you, but I went to the temple today in Guatemala. I think I have you beat.
Ha, I will be with you all in the beach shortly as well, in 11 weeks time. That is so crazy that the Mussers went to China. I cannot believe that. That would be a pretty fun trip to do.
I am doing great. Elder Castro is starting to check out a little bit. I just notice that sometimes he is not as focused as he was before, but he still works hard like any other missionary. I feel like I am still really focused and working hard, I think like that because I don’t find myself thinking about home too much. I miss you all and everything but I just don’t find myself dwelling on the things from home.
The work here is going great, today we took Hermana Drei to the temple. She loved it. She said she could feel such a strong spirit while she was in there. She could feel the presence of her father who her husband was being baptized for. It was a really neat experience to have with her there. Also, all the other members who were there with us were enjoying it too. I was able to do some confirmations for the bishop and his family members and it was really neat. I love our bishop here, he has such a sincere love for all the things that he is doing and truly does things because he knows it is right and knows that he is doing a huge cause on the other side of the veil. I wish we could all have that same kind of love that the bishop has for all of this great work.
The rain here is good, it hasn’t rained this past week so it wasn’t too bad, but this past week I was outside the capital the whole week. We had our district leader training meetings and the secretary and I left to go do a tour. We went to Jalapa, Zacapa, and the capital leaders. It was really fun and we got to stay in hotels and everything. I will send you some of the pics of the one hotel we were able to stay in. In the Zacapa hotel, we were leaving and we found President Stay outside of there and he just so happened to have a flat tire. So we got on the floor and helped him change it out. Good thing we showed up otherwise he might have been there a little while. It was funny because they didn’t know we were staying in that hotel that night, so it was all just a huge coincidence. Talk about right place at the right time.
The plane ride home I will be traveling with like 15 missionaries coming to Texas, and then from there I will travel alone to Tucson, well with Eric now.
That is great you are helping people out. That is what we need to do, first we need to perfect ourselves and make sure that we are all good to go and then with what we have learned by the spirit we can then teach others by that same spirit. We can be the people to help others. Elder Amado told us that we cannot teach by the spirit what we have not learned by the spirit. I know that you have done so much for all of us mom and that your love for us will be there forever. I am so thankful to have you and have been raised under your roof. I am the man that I am today because of what you and dad have taught me. I think the best thing for anyone is to just go and get married. That will teach you really quickly to forget yourself, and start doing things correctly so that one can give a good example to their kids. I have no idea, but that is what I have seen in the Guatemalan culture. Something that maybe you could do too mom, I have learned this from President Stay. With every decision that someone makes, we need to understand, what was this person thinking, why would they have done what they did. When we can try to understand and always think that people do things for a good purpose always we can understand them better and help them become better. The other thing is that we can do is that we can teach doctrine so that people can be changed to come unto Christ. That is what you are really good at mom. You know how to perfectly report things back to the scriptures and back to Christ so that people feel the need to follow Him more. The best way to do that though is through the example and through the scriptures. Nothing will ever happen though unless someone has a true repentance like the son of Alma had and many other examples in the scriptures. Once we have that true repentance, we can then be molded into the people that God would like us to become.
That would be such a happy feeling to have all of our family there with us present in the temple. I was talking to a guy in the temple today and he was such an inspiration to me mom. He said he had a 4th grade teacher or something around there that was his teacher. 'Mrs. Shipley', he said that she was the greatest example to him and really formed his life for him. That was in Mesa, Arizona. Anyway I was talking to him and I was so inspired to see how sensitive he was to the love and things of God. I wish I can have that type of sensitivity towards these things and learn to really respect the covenants I have made with God and Jesus Christ. I love Jesus Christ so much and I am so thankful for all the things that He has given to me. I love the atonement and all the things that are offered to us. It is the only way we can be clean and the only way that we can progress in our lives here.
My question is what someone honestly has against us that they can defame us on? I would tell her, go for it. If that would make her feel better then tell her to go for it. I think that is the problem with today’s world. They try to get involved too much in other people’s business and it just brings problems. We need to just live and enjoy life because it is not long, but if we do not make this short time count and live it correctly, the eternal scheme of things could be way different than what we imagine.
I just saw Elder Call actually. He took us to a waterfall to visit. It was really neat; he has 5 changes in his area. He should be leaving after this change. Where is Elder Birch going to be serving? That is really neat. When does he leave on his mission, that is great for him. All I can tell you about the mission mom is that it is great. I love the mission, but it is a onetime experience, I would not be able to do it all over again. I am thankful for my time and all and I know that the Lord called me in this time to serve people during this time. It scares me though that it is almost all over.
By the way, yes I did get my package. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I love every single thing that you put in it for me. Ha, you will have to see the card that Andrea sent me. It is pretty funny. Everything came just fine though. I loved the brownies too, Sister Stay would like the recipe for them. There is nothing better than receiving something from home, even if it is just a card. It doesn’t take much to please me you know that mom. Well I sure do love you, sorry that my letter is a little mixed around; I know it is, but we were dealing with some other stuff while I was writing this. I love you so much and I will talk to you next week. Enjoy your time in California. In 11 weeks I will be on that very beach where you will be swimming. =)
Love Always,
Elder Shipley
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