July 4, 2012

Hey dad! This week definitely went by so fast! I loved it so much. Loving those around you is definitely the only way to fully fix your difficulties and overcome your challenges. This week was probably the best week I've had on my mission. This week wasn't necessarily wildly different than any other week, but really focusing on the work, helping others come unto Christ, and just merely loving everyone you come in contact with really has been helpful.  That's so great that you're able to sell avocados to raise money for the adoptions!!!! It's amazing what being creative can do to help you achieve your goal!!! One of my Zone leaders wants us to try to become more creative with "Finding" ideas- that is not just standing on the side walk every day asking passersby if they'd be interested in learning more about Jesus Christ. His brilliant way of thinking: Street contacting is our staple way of finding and it's not wildly effective. SO if we're creative with our ways of finding and we fail with whatever technique we cam up with, we know not do that and we can always go back to normal street contacting. BUT if we end up coming up with something super effective, we can keep using that AND do street contacting. The only thing that would hold us back whether finding a certain way works better than others is ourselves. We can easily think of amazing ideas but never put them to use. Our human nature fears for failure, but to be honest I truly believe that without failure there is no success. Failing can be a terrible thing if you make it a terrible thing, but in my opinion failure IS success. When we fail, we learn what we can do to do better. Living on earth is so great. Because we have sadness we're able to have happiness. Because we are able to fail, we are able to succeed. The Atonement of Christ is an amazing thing. Christ atoned for our imperfections so that we have room to learn and grow to become even better people.  Ok, I'll get of my soapbox...in two years. Well, well, that was quite the tangent! Avocados to the Atonement. You really CAN bear (bare?) testimony of the gospel in any situation.  But really though, that's so great that you all are finding more ways to raise money for the adoptions. And way to go Kristin on your brilliant salesman skills. ;) P.S. Were you able to receive any grants? Cole!! You look so cool with your hair cut!!!! I bet your tae kwon do skills just went up the roof!  I love that Emma is constantly in the book closet now! How are her new doctors? That picture of her is so cute!  Has mom and the kids left for their adventure, yet? Yellowstone and a Dino-dig sounds so cool!!!!!! I've always wanted to do both, ESPECIALLY Yellowstone!!!! It sound like Sarah's staying busy! Has she gone to the singles ward, yet? I think when she gets to know the people over there, she would love the ward! (P.S. Camera shy? What?) ;) She's hanging out a lot with Cassidy?!?! That sounds like so much fun! How's Cassidy doing?  I'm glad that you have fun side projects, dad. You definitely deserve it for all that you do for us! Are you just growing tomatoes, or are you growing any other plants? Home grown tomatoes are the best. This week was so great! We saw a lot of miracles. Last night we brought one of our investigators to a former investigating family. Our investigator that we brought is SUCH a cool kid. He's 15 years old and really wants to be baptized but due to the old Chinese translation of the Book of Mormon people in Hong Kong think that the church is a very evil church, so his mom wont let him be baptized. (just recently I found out that his mom wants to come to church to see for herself if it's evil or not, so that's a miracle in itself!) But he acted as a fellowshipper for this family that we visited. We asked him to tell the family about Joseph Smith's experience, and as he did the Spirit was SO strong in the room. After we left the house I ask him if he felt the Holy Spirit, and he was like "I don't even know where those words came from. I just opened my mouth and the words came right out." This kid is amazing. He follows the commandments and really knows that the church is true. In a later meeting we had with him, during his prayer he said "God, I really want to be baptized. I promise will read the scriptures and pray everyday." I just really love this kid. I just pray that his mom will soften her heart and understand for herself that we only worship Christ and try to become more like him in our everyday lives.  It's amazing to see what happens when you completely lose yourself and just love the people you serve. All you really want to do is think about how to help others come closer to Christ. And when you're not thinking, you're doing. And when you're doing, the love that's in your heart is able to be shown.  I've decided that I really want to become a person that never ceases to let people know that I am a man that loves God and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Through every smile, every rough time, every minute of my life I want people around me to know my love for God and my Redeemer. The love and service you give to your friends, family, and even to those you don't know, truly shows God your love for Him for we are all literally descendants, children, of God. We must always show love for our brothers and sisters.  The gospel really is amazing. Everyone on earth is so different, but so similar. We all have our own stories. Some seeming more tragic than others. We all come from different backgrounds, whether it be race or religion. We all have great times, and we all have really large obstacles to conquer. But the thing that ties us all together is our Heavenly Father and the life and Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We all are imperfect. We all have challenges. We all times when we feel that nobody understands. So why not help one another? Why not strive to live a life for people to know that they are not alone? Christ has suffered for us. He knows of our challenges and our obstacles in life and exactly how we're feeling. Why not strive to live a life to always be showing your love and gratitude to God?  I know that as we lose ourselves in the work (and by work I mean life in general) we can live much happier lives. I have to go, but I love you all!!! Elder Tim :)