Sorry I haven't entered Jared's letters for quite awhile - kind of fell behind!!
Just want to let you all know that Jared will be home on the 22nd and he is speaking in Sacrament meeting on Dec. 27th at 2:45pm.
Yorkshire building
10115 Yorkshire Drive
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
How are you all? I am doing well. Things are just going and going and the time is just passing by. It's rather scary actually, because I walked into the mission office to talk to the executive sec. because he is in my zone. I walked into his office and saw him buying my plane ticket! Yikes! I still feel like I have a lot to do. And I really can't see myself stopping to work hard or start talking about home and stuff. I just want to endure to the end. Well last week we baptized Thais. She is Elizany´s daughter. Elizany was baptized two weeks ago. So it was nice to see her daughter be baptized. This week we are teaching Gilmara and her son, Alex. They are so amazing! Well this story goes way back. My patriarchal blessing talks about me enjoying the blessings of the temple while on my mission. I would think about that and think ... "how can I see the blessing of the temple when I don't have a temple close to me?" Finally I started to understand what my blessing was talking about. I was changed to a mission that doesn't have a temple... yet. Also I found a family who baptized. Then we found Gilmara. Gilmara and her husband received the lessons from the missionaries a few months ago but as she puts it " I closed my heart to the message." After the missionaries had stopped passing by because she never read or prayed or went to church, her husband passed away. After all this happened her husband's sister just happened to be a member and talked to her a little bit about the plan of salvation. They passed us the refferal and we taught her. She read and prayed and told us she regrets closing her heart the first time. We marked her date for her and then later for her son and they will be baptized this Sat. The thing is, is that we taught her about temples and how she can have someone perform her husbands baptism and also how she can be sealed to him. It's amazing to SEE THE BLESSINGS OF THE TEMPLE! I love being a missionary because of moments like these. I cannot explain my love for serving a mission. I have learned so much, about myself, others and the gospel. I love listening to the spirit tell me what I should do. I know I only have a few months left so I am going to give it all I've got. I am thankful for the trials I have faced while here in the mission because they have encouraged me to pray and have hope. We all have Fridays in our lives, Sunday will always come. I love my Savior and I am so thankful for the atonement. It's amazing to think he has felt everything I have felt. I loved the talk by Elder Holland when he talked about how God had to leave him alone in order for him to understand everything we would feel. I just love being a missionary and I don't like to think about going home because its weird and doesn't seem real.
October 7, 2009
How are you? I hope you all loved General Conf.? It was fantastic! I really loved the priesthood session. It's the first priesthood session I've watched in the mission. Pres. Milder never let us watch it because it gets over at ten or sometimes later. As always, Elder Holland brought the house down. It's so wierd watching him speak in English. I watched it in English this time. When you watch it with a translater it doesn't have the same affect. I watched his last talk about Jesus Christ in Portuguese and it was just any other talk. Elder Holland is just a fired up guy and that's what makes his talks special. Did you know he and Elder Cook were companions in the mission field? And Elder Scott was Elder Christofferson´s mission Pres? Just some side knowledge. I also loved the talk by Sister Dibb, about holding to the rod and using our safety equipment. I loved at the end when she talked about how the gospel brings so much joy into our lives but people choose not to accept it. If we really do "hold to the rod" and cut ourselves out of the world we really will be happy. I have really grown to love being cut away from the world. I love to try to be better everyday. I love the power of repentance. I have had some great spiritual experiences in the mission of praying and asking to become better at something. And really hear and understand the spirit guide me and tell me what I should do. I am so thankful for the realationship I have gained with my Heavenly Father while here. It's amazing to understand how much he loves us and knows so much about us. I can feel his love so much here and sometimes and I can feel the Holy Ghost talking with me and calling me by name and telling me I am doing a good job. Sometimes I get discouraged, but I always here the spirit tell me "you´re doing great." And I love that, because it shows me that He loves me and is aware of me. I also loved Pres. Monsons talk about his birthday presents. I loved the warm fuzzy jar. I want to make one but I am pretty sure that will have to wait until after the mission. One thing I have really fallen in love with in the mission is serving, even if it something small. Today after lunch I washed the other Elders dishes... something small, but it made me happy to help them.
I want to talk about something interesting a member here said. My companion was telling her how he thought he knew a lot about the gospel. She looked at him and said "Do you know, or do you live the Gospel?" I thought that was so profound. We all know the gospel is true... but do we live it. Then I remembered a letter I got from a friend that said the gospel is not a spectater sport. Then I started thinking about this all. A lot of the times we hear about the big things the church does to serve people. However, we sometimes just forget about little things we can do to help. We can do little things to show others we love them, or do little things to serve them. So I am setting a goal, I am going to start to look for little ways to serve people or show love for them. So then I will be able to "Live" the Gospel, rather than just "know" it. Transfers again. I am in the same area with Elder Gatten. All is going a lot better. It's crazy how much he is changing. I was thinking about if all this sacrifice is worth it. Standing up for what is right even if I stand alone. Yesterday I saw Elder Pereira, remember the Elder I trained. When I saw him I just thought about all the sacrifices I did to help stay in the mission. It was just a way for the Lord to say to me that yes it is worth the sacrifice. Also today an Elder from the Manaus mission saw my name and said, "Oh you´re Elder Perry. Elder Da Silva always talks about you and says that everyone from the Cuiabá mission loves you. And that you are a great missionary." It's weird to think about this because I have never met this Elder. It's weird because I was thinking about how we are sometimes examples to people we don't even know are watching. We are teaching this lady named Geulmara. She was being taught by some sisters a few years ago but decided she didn't want to be baptized. Her husband died a few years ago and now she is receiving the lessons again. She learned about the temple and now she is going to be baptized next week and she wants to go to the temple to baptize her husband and be sealed to him. Isn't that so special?
How are you? I hope you all loved General Conf.? It was fantastic! I really loved the priesthood session. It's the first priesthood session I've watched in the mission. Pres. Milder never let us watch it because it gets over at ten or sometimes later. As always, Elder Holland brought the house down. It's so wierd watching him speak in English. I watched it in English this time. When you watch it with a translater it doesn't have the same affect. I watched his last talk about Jesus Christ in Portuguese and it was just any other talk. Elder Holland is just a fired up guy and that's what makes his talks special. Did you know he and Elder Cook were companions in the mission field? And Elder Scott was Elder Christofferson´s mission Pres? Just some side knowledge. I also loved the talk by Sister Dibb, about holding to the rod and using our safety equipment. I loved at the end when she talked about how the gospel brings so much joy into our lives but people choose not to accept it. If we really do "hold to the rod" and cut ourselves out of the world we really will be happy. I have really grown to love being cut away from the world. I love to try to be better everyday. I love the power of repentance. I have had some great spiritual experiences in the mission of praying and asking to become better at something. And really hear and understand the spirit guide me and tell me what I should do. I am so thankful for the realationship I have gained with my Heavenly Father while here. It's amazing to understand how much he loves us and knows so much about us. I can feel his love so much here and sometimes and I can feel the Holy Ghost talking with me and calling me by name and telling me I am doing a good job. Sometimes I get discouraged, but I always here the spirit tell me "you´re doing great." And I love that, because it shows me that He loves me and is aware of me. I also loved Pres. Monsons talk about his birthday presents. I loved the warm fuzzy jar. I want to make one but I am pretty sure that will have to wait until after the mission. One thing I have really fallen in love with in the mission is serving, even if it something small. Today after lunch I washed the other Elders dishes... something small, but it made me happy to help them.
I want to talk about something interesting a member here said. My companion was telling her how he thought he knew a lot about the gospel. She looked at him and said "Do you know, or do you live the Gospel?" I thought that was so profound. We all know the gospel is true... but do we live it. Then I remembered a letter I got from a friend that said the gospel is not a spectater sport. Then I started thinking about this all. A lot of the times we hear about the big things the church does to serve people. However, we sometimes just forget about little things we can do to help. We can do little things to show others we love them, or do little things to serve them. So I am setting a goal, I am going to start to look for little ways to serve people or show love for them. So then I will be able to "Live" the Gospel, rather than just "know" it. Transfers again. I am in the same area with Elder Gatten. All is going a lot better. It's crazy how much he is changing. I was thinking about if all this sacrifice is worth it. Standing up for what is right even if I stand alone. Yesterday I saw Elder Pereira, remember the Elder I trained. When I saw him I just thought about all the sacrifices I did to help stay in the mission. It was just a way for the Lord to say to me that yes it is worth the sacrifice. Also today an Elder from the Manaus mission saw my name and said, "Oh you´re Elder Perry. Elder Da Silva always talks about you and says that everyone from the Cuiabá mission loves you. And that you are a great missionary." It's weird to think about this because I have never met this Elder. It's weird because I was thinking about how we are sometimes examples to people we don't even know are watching. We are teaching this lady named Geulmara. She was being taught by some sisters a few years ago but decided she didn't want to be baptized. Her husband died a few years ago and now she is receiving the lessons again. She learned about the temple and now she is going to be baptized next week and she wants to go to the temple to baptize her husband and be sealed to him. Isn't that so special?
September 30, 2009
Hey, man things are just getting better and better. It's rather interesting to see how things have turned out. All I can say is... wow. I can't say much, but after the mission, there will be great stories. All I can say, is I am glad I never stopped trying to be an example because I really feel like some of the missionaries started to notice and follow. It just made me feel really good to see the changes. I really am so proud of my companion right now. Well, we had another baptism this week. Her name is Elizany. She had investigated the church for like two years and finally she was baptised. Her sister is a member, so they were all very excited. So sunday, during Sacrament Meeting, the bishop looks at me and calls me to come up to the piano and play the hymns. Just a side note.... it wasn't before the meeting.... it was seriously . . . during the meeting. So I look at him wording to him that can't play. So he still calls me up. So I get there and he tells me the piano is one of those electric pianos that just plays for you and that I just needed to find the hymns and pretend that I was playing them. I am a terrible pretender! When I had an ich . . . I scratched it. When the hymn was playing some guy came over and tried to grab the paper I was using to write what hymns we were going to sing, so I stopped pretending to get it back from him. So funny, I had to try so hard not to laugh because I don't think anyone bought it. Well, there is this Elder named Elder Murray. He is reading my letter over my shoulder. Can you beleive the nerve of this inhumane creature? Just kidding, well he really is reading over my shoulder. He is a good guy. We actually had a way funny moment together. Well we had an activity for our zone today. So we had a BBQ. And we bought lots of pop to drink. So we had two huge packs of 2 liters. Let me explain... it's like a six pack of two liters... ya know. Anyway we are walking back and we see these two people making out! So they are just like kissing right in front of us. So I, being myself, just say way load, "EW!" I didn't mean too, it just slipped out. They stopped so fast and looked at me with this shocked face that I said something. So Elder Murray puts the huge thing of pop in front of his face and just starts laughing, so of course, I did too. So we walked away. And then when we got home Elder Murray decided that he wanted to buy a fan because his broke. So without thinking we started walking and talking and we just ended up walking down the same street. So we pass them again and Elder Murray says to me that he won't be able to hold in his laughter. Anyway we just put our sweat wipers in front of our faces and tried to hold back our laughter. So we buy the fan, and we start walking and talking again, and we end up going down the same road . . . AGAIN! We passed by them three times and everytime we laughed. And not to mention we always had something random in our hands like pop or a fan. Well things are really so much better. I love being a missionary and still can't beleive how fast it has all gone by!
Love you all
Hey, man things are just getting better and better. It's rather interesting to see how things have turned out. All I can say is... wow. I can't say much, but after the mission, there will be great stories. All I can say, is I am glad I never stopped trying to be an example because I really feel like some of the missionaries started to notice and follow. It just made me feel really good to see the changes. I really am so proud of my companion right now. Well, we had another baptism this week. Her name is Elizany. She had investigated the church for like two years and finally she was baptised. Her sister is a member, so they were all very excited. So sunday, during Sacrament Meeting, the bishop looks at me and calls me to come up to the piano and play the hymns. Just a side note.... it wasn't before the meeting.... it was seriously . . . during the meeting. So I look at him wording to him that can't play. So he still calls me up. So I get there and he tells me the piano is one of those electric pianos that just plays for you and that I just needed to find the hymns and pretend that I was playing them. I am a terrible pretender! When I had an ich . . . I scratched it. When the hymn was playing some guy came over and tried to grab the paper I was using to write what hymns we were going to sing, so I stopped pretending to get it back from him. So funny, I had to try so hard not to laugh because I don't think anyone bought it. Well, there is this Elder named Elder Murray. He is reading my letter over my shoulder. Can you beleive the nerve of this inhumane creature? Just kidding, well he really is reading over my shoulder. He is a good guy. We actually had a way funny moment together. Well we had an activity for our zone today. So we had a BBQ. And we bought lots of pop to drink. So we had two huge packs of 2 liters. Let me explain... it's like a six pack of two liters... ya know. Anyway we are walking back and we see these two people making out! So they are just like kissing right in front of us. So I, being myself, just say way load, "EW!" I didn't mean too, it just slipped out. They stopped so fast and looked at me with this shocked face that I said something. So Elder Murray puts the huge thing of pop in front of his face and just starts laughing, so of course, I did too. So we walked away. And then when we got home Elder Murray decided that he wanted to buy a fan because his broke. So without thinking we started walking and talking and we just ended up walking down the same street. So we pass them again and Elder Murray says to me that he won't be able to hold in his laughter. Anyway we just put our sweat wipers in front of our faces and tried to hold back our laughter. So we buy the fan, and we start walking and talking again, and we end up going down the same road . . . AGAIN! We passed by them three times and everytime we laughed. And not to mention we always had something random in our hands like pop or a fan. Well things are really so much better. I love being a missionary and still can't beleive how fast it has all gone by!
Love you all
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
September 23, 2009
Hello family,
I am glad you guys think its great for me to suffer. JK. Really I just know that after the mission I will always remember the great things about my mission. I know I won't remember this transfer but will only be left stronger. Thats how I feel about my last tough transfer. I don't remember the feelings of frustration, but I know I grew stronger in the transfer. When I was training Elder Pereira, I remember feeling weak, frustrated, and discouraged. I left that transfer with a greater love for Elder Pereira, also more patient, I also had a greater understanding for God's love for all of his children. Maybe that prepared me well to go and work hard with Elder Newby because I had grown in faith and was then ready for the task the Lord was asking of me. I know I am in the same situation. I know I will not remember how I am feeling right now, I will just become stronger, maybe a little better prepared to do something the Lord asks of me. The Lord prepares us, and when he is preparing us, we might not always like it, but afterward we´ll understand his ways. It's like the talk by Sister Dalton in the last CES fireside. She talked about a young pioneer girl. The little girl was tired and sometimes wanted to give up. When Brigham Young sent people to help this hand cart company, they let the old people get into the wagons to ride to salt lake. The pioneer girl decided to run behind these wagons with hope that they would let her get in the wagons for a ride. She ran behind the wagons with many other kids, but one after another, the others stopped running. When she was the only one left, the man asked her if she wanted to get into the wagon for a ride. The man grabbed her hand and made her run until she couldn´t run anymore. Then he put her in a blanket and put her in the wagon. If the man did not force her to run, she most likely would have given up and frozen to death. The lord will sometimes ask us or force us to run before he gives us what we want. We may not understand why he is asking us to run, but need to trust in the Lord. And just like this little girl, I´ll run anyway! This last week, we marked a baptism with Elizany. She is a members sister. So you can probably imagine how excited the member is to see her sister prepare to be baptized. There is also a littler boy who keeps coming to play soccer at the church. Last night when I saw him, I started talking to him. I tried to show interest in him, show that I have noticed he has never come to church, but that we want him there. While I was doing this I felt that he will be baptized and also serve a mission. His name is Jonatis. He is Thalyson and Fabricios friend. (my recent converts.)
Oh I forgot! Here is a good story. Well here in the Manaus Mission, we have couples. Like old missionary couples. Well at zone conference I sat next to one of them at lunch. There names are Elder and Sister Hall. This couple lives in Arizona. He was talking to me about how he had served in Brazil and how he was trying to learn Portuguese again. PAlso how his wife was learning portuguese. He told me more about his mission. When he was telling me this, I had a random thought pop into my head. " You should ask him he knows Brother Dunn?" I did and to my surprise he purked up and said right back . . . "Mike Dunn!" I said yes and he and his wife both got really excited. Elder Hall told me how they had served together, here in Brazil. Then Sister Hall told me how it was Mike who set Elder and Sister Hall up on a blind date! Isn´t that funny? You should talk to the Dunns to tell them I met The Halls. I really am so thankful to the lord and his love he has for me. I´ll continue running!
I love you guys so much.
Elder Perry
Hello family,
I am glad you guys think its great for me to suffer. JK. Really I just know that after the mission I will always remember the great things about my mission. I know I won't remember this transfer but will only be left stronger. Thats how I feel about my last tough transfer. I don't remember the feelings of frustration, but I know I grew stronger in the transfer. When I was training Elder Pereira, I remember feeling weak, frustrated, and discouraged. I left that transfer with a greater love for Elder Pereira, also more patient, I also had a greater understanding for God's love for all of his children. Maybe that prepared me well to go and work hard with Elder Newby because I had grown in faith and was then ready for the task the Lord was asking of me. I know I am in the same situation. I know I will not remember how I am feeling right now, I will just become stronger, maybe a little better prepared to do something the Lord asks of me. The Lord prepares us, and when he is preparing us, we might not always like it, but afterward we´ll understand his ways. It's like the talk by Sister Dalton in the last CES fireside. She talked about a young pioneer girl. The little girl was tired and sometimes wanted to give up. When Brigham Young sent people to help this hand cart company, they let the old people get into the wagons to ride to salt lake. The pioneer girl decided to run behind these wagons with hope that they would let her get in the wagons for a ride. She ran behind the wagons with many other kids, but one after another, the others stopped running. When she was the only one left, the man asked her if she wanted to get into the wagon for a ride. The man grabbed her hand and made her run until she couldn´t run anymore. Then he put her in a blanket and put her in the wagon. If the man did not force her to run, she most likely would have given up and frozen to death. The lord will sometimes ask us or force us to run before he gives us what we want. We may not understand why he is asking us to run, but need to trust in the Lord. And just like this little girl, I´ll run anyway! This last week, we marked a baptism with Elizany. She is a members sister. So you can probably imagine how excited the member is to see her sister prepare to be baptized. There is also a littler boy who keeps coming to play soccer at the church. Last night when I saw him, I started talking to him. I tried to show interest in him, show that I have noticed he has never come to church, but that we want him there. While I was doing this I felt that he will be baptized and also serve a mission. His name is Jonatis. He is Thalyson and Fabricios friend. (my recent converts.)
Oh I forgot! Here is a good story. Well here in the Manaus Mission, we have couples. Like old missionary couples. Well at zone conference I sat next to one of them at lunch. There names are Elder and Sister Hall. This couple lives in Arizona. He was talking to me about how he had served in Brazil and how he was trying to learn Portuguese again. PAlso how his wife was learning portuguese. He told me more about his mission. When he was telling me this, I had a random thought pop into my head. " You should ask him he knows Brother Dunn?" I did and to my surprise he purked up and said right back . . . "Mike Dunn!" I said yes and he and his wife both got really excited. Elder Hall told me how they had served together, here in Brazil. Then Sister Hall told me how it was Mike who set Elder and Sister Hall up on a blind date! Isn´t that funny? You should talk to the Dunns to tell them I met The Halls. I really am so thankful to the lord and his love he has for me. I´ll continue running!
I love you guys so much.
Elder Perry
September 16, 2009
Hello, hello, hello
Well, I was watching the CES fireside, because we had some recent converts there. I screamed when I saw Eric! When I found out Sister Dalton was talking I knew I had to watch. I love her talks. She always trys to throw some profound things into her talks, but in a way that, only the spiritually tuned in people grab what she is really trying to say.
Things are a little better. I am really just trying to be like the Savior. The Savior taught by example and then invited others to do the same. I invitedthe other missionaries in my house to wake up at six thirty with me. I never ever thought I would have to make goals with so many missionaries about basic things. They are a lot better now. I gave a training about Missionary Conduct at a zone conference. I talked about how this is the Lords' work and should be done the way the Lord wants it to be done. Then I asked, "If the Lord was a missionary, how would he act? How we he work?" They all said good things like ... he would be obedient, work hard, baptise, ect. I just wanted to look at them and say "Then why aren't you doing that?" But I just asked, "Are we doing that?" They all looked around . . . thinking . . . the spirit telling them to work, work, work. I then talked about how we need to correct people who are breaking rules and we can do this without fighting. We talked for a while and then an Elder that I live with lifted his hand and said something like this. "I think correcting someone should be done just like how Elder Perry corrected us at our house. He didn't come and talk to us wanting to fight or to show that he is more powerful, but just invited us to obey the rules." Then he said that I am always obeying the rules, so it was easier to take the correction rather than listening to someone who breaks the rules tell him he is wrong. So at least there was some progression this week. Right? I really hope that I will just continue to be strong and stand up for what is right, even if I stand alone, until others will start to follow my example. I have been able to notice small changes in the way some of the missionaries have been acting.
Well we had a baptism marked for last Sunday, but it fell through. These baptisms we are having are just blessings from the Lord because . . . in my opinion we are not working hard enough to deserve them. So Sat. night we showed up at the church and our baptism fell through. We had baptised a little boy named Thalyson and we talked with his brother about being baptised last Sat. However, I am kind of the traveling zone leader. We have to do 2 splits per week because our zone is so big and for some reason Pres. Jayme wants the zone leaders to do divisions. So every Tues. and Friday I am in a different area ..... THANK GOODNESS! Well anyway that leaves me with just Monday, Thursday and Sunday to work in my area because of preparation day and also on Sat. we just do interviews. So really just two days to prepare people for baptism. So Thalyson´s brother, Fabricio, was supposed to be baptised last Sat. but just kinda went under the radar and never got visited the entire week, except on Monday. I wonder why? Anyway Saturday gets here and he had not been visited, so who knew if he was still thinking about his baptism? He had been taught already, but I don't think it's wise to leave your investigators alone for such a long time because Satan is working hard always. I talked with my companion and he just said . . . leave it for next week. Well he showed up Sat. night and asked me if he was still going to baptized. I said yes, but that it was going to be Sunday after church. So pretty much the Lord is just being nice to me. I think he feels bad for me and is just helping me. I am actually enjoying standing up for what is right because I know I´ll just grow from this experience. I love serving the lord, even when it gets tough. "No matter how prepared we think we might be, there are hills on the course."
I love you all.
Elder Perry
Hello, hello, hello
Well, I was watching the CES fireside, because we had some recent converts there. I screamed when I saw Eric! When I found out Sister Dalton was talking I knew I had to watch. I love her talks. She always trys to throw some profound things into her talks, but in a way that, only the spiritually tuned in people grab what she is really trying to say.
Things are a little better. I am really just trying to be like the Savior. The Savior taught by example and then invited others to do the same. I invitedthe other missionaries in my house to wake up at six thirty with me. I never ever thought I would have to make goals with so many missionaries about basic things. They are a lot better now. I gave a training about Missionary Conduct at a zone conference. I talked about how this is the Lords' work and should be done the way the Lord wants it to be done. Then I asked, "If the Lord was a missionary, how would he act? How we he work?" They all said good things like ... he would be obedient, work hard, baptise, ect. I just wanted to look at them and say "Then why aren't you doing that?" But I just asked, "Are we doing that?" They all looked around . . . thinking . . . the spirit telling them to work, work, work. I then talked about how we need to correct people who are breaking rules and we can do this without fighting. We talked for a while and then an Elder that I live with lifted his hand and said something like this. "I think correcting someone should be done just like how Elder Perry corrected us at our house. He didn't come and talk to us wanting to fight or to show that he is more powerful, but just invited us to obey the rules." Then he said that I am always obeying the rules, so it was easier to take the correction rather than listening to someone who breaks the rules tell him he is wrong. So at least there was some progression this week. Right? I really hope that I will just continue to be strong and stand up for what is right, even if I stand alone, until others will start to follow my example. I have been able to notice small changes in the way some of the missionaries have been acting.
Well we had a baptism marked for last Sunday, but it fell through. These baptisms we are having are just blessings from the Lord because . . . in my opinion we are not working hard enough to deserve them. So Sat. night we showed up at the church and our baptism fell through. We had baptised a little boy named Thalyson and we talked with his brother about being baptised last Sat. However, I am kind of the traveling zone leader. We have to do 2 splits per week because our zone is so big and for some reason Pres. Jayme wants the zone leaders to do divisions. So every Tues. and Friday I am in a different area ..... THANK GOODNESS! Well anyway that leaves me with just Monday, Thursday and Sunday to work in my area because of preparation day and also on Sat. we just do interviews. So really just two days to prepare people for baptism. So Thalyson´s brother, Fabricio, was supposed to be baptised last Sat. but just kinda went under the radar and never got visited the entire week, except on Monday. I wonder why? Anyway Saturday gets here and he had not been visited, so who knew if he was still thinking about his baptism? He had been taught already, but I don't think it's wise to leave your investigators alone for such a long time because Satan is working hard always. I talked with my companion and he just said . . . leave it for next week. Well he showed up Sat. night and asked me if he was still going to baptized. I said yes, but that it was going to be Sunday after church. So pretty much the Lord is just being nice to me. I think he feels bad for me and is just helping me. I am actually enjoying standing up for what is right because I know I´ll just grow from this experience. I love serving the lord, even when it gets tough. "No matter how prepared we think we might be, there are hills on the course."
I love you all.
Elder Perry
September 9, 2009
Hello family,
How are you all! It sounds like we had a killer family party! I am excited to be a part of these family parties! We had a wonderful baptism this last Sunday. The ward is really excited about it. All I know is that this change of missions is just the Lord really pushing me to my limits. I know it's Him stretching me to be more prepared for the future. I am thankful for these trials. I was just thinking about a talk from Elder Holland. He talks about the Lord being prepared spiritually, mentally, and physically for the atonement. I was thinking how I was prepared metally, spiritually and maybe physically for my mission. Then he explains that the Lord did not expect to go through the Atonement alone. I am here in this new mission. I know the lord is just pushing me and stretching me at the end of my mission to improve my testimony of prayer and how it works or even the atonement. It's hard, but at the same time I know I will only leave better. Having learned how to be patient and pray and receive answers to my prayers through personal revalation. I like it, but at the same time it's hard. We have some really exciting people to teach. The members here brought two people to church. We will start to teach them. Also the members also invited a family to a ward activity. The family loved it and the kids could not stop talking about how much they loved the activity and church. It will be fun to see where this family goes. His name is Andrea. I love this work. I love sharing my testimony. I love my Savior and know he is aware of my needs. He is always providing little blessing to me to keep me going also to keep his church growing. I love you all so much.
Elder Perry
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