Keep Trying Everyday to Help With Missionary Work

Email received 11/11/13

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things are going pretty good here. And the parades are STILL going on!!!!!! Ha ha today should be that last day well until the 18th then there`s about 3 more days of parades and stuff. Other than the fact that almost everyone is drunk all the time, it`s good :) 

I`m SUPER GLAD that you all are doing good!!!!!!!!! The temple looks SUPER COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it`s making a lot of progress!!!!!! It`s going to be such a cool temple once it`s finished!!!!!! [I sent a couple pictures of the Provo City Center Temple's construction.]

This week has been pretty good. On Saturday we went on splits with some of the young men from the ward and it went really well!!!!!!!! I went with a kid named Joseph to a part in our area called La Estancia. We visited an investigator and then he showed me where a few less-active families which was pretty cool!!!!!!!! Elder Aguero went with another kid named Kevin to a few old investigators that for some reason stopped listening to the missionaries. It turned out REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!!! We are now teaching a family that were SUPER positive (they got married so they could go get baptized) and then the missionaries that were teaching them got switched out and the new missionaries didn`t know where they lived or anything about them so nobody visited them for a while. But we`re now working with them again and we`re hoping to get them baptized this month!!!!!! They`re a REALLY cool family and I know with faith and hard work they can get baptized and become really strong members of the church!!!!!!!!!!! 

I also had a really cool experience yesterday. There is a family in my ward that got really sick with a sickness called Dangay. it`s a sickness that comes from mosquitos and is SUPER dangerous!!!!!! A lot of people here in Panama die from it every year. So anyways this family got it and they got it BAD!!!!!!!!! One of the kids has the worst form of Dangay and very few people who get the type that he has live through it. So yeah, it`s pretty scary stuff!!!!!!!!!!!! So anyway, they called us and asked us if we could go to the hospital where they were at to give them blessings. The only problem was that they are in a hospital in the city [Panama City]  an hour and a half away. After getting permisison from the ZLs to go out there, we went with some other members to the hospital. Unfortuantely, after waiting there for about 2 hours we got the news that me and my comp weren`t going to be able to enter the room to give the blessings because we weren`t family members. So we were only able to give blessings to the mom of the family (who is sick but not as bad as the kids) and the dad (he`s not sick but he needed a blessing of comfort). It was kind of weird because we had to find an empty hallway and do it in the middle of the hallway but it worked out and we were at least able to give them two blessings which was good. But while waiting in the hospital, talking to the dad of the family, I learned something. While I was talking to him, he told me that yeah, it`s REALLY hard to go through this right now, not knowing whether his family were going to live or die. But he said that it`s all good because all this is is a trial and we need to stick with God and keep the faith and whatever happens it`s what God wants and needs. It was a SUPER strong testimony of faith and living through our trials!!!!!!!! This guy seriously has all the reason in the world to complain and to be mad, but instead he has decided to keep his faith in the Lord and accept whatever happens. It was really like the scripture in Ether, ¨...you will not recieve a witness until after the trial of your faith.¨ We have trials in our lives everyday and if we endure them with faith, we will receive the comfort from God that we need. 

I also had the opportunity to give a talk in Church yesterday. I talked about the importance of members in missionary work. I just want to remind you guys to keep trying everyday to help with missionary work. Jospeh Smith once said, ¨After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.¨ As members of the church we all have recieved blessings and happiness from the knowledge of the Gospel. It`s now our turn and our duty to share this knowledge with others so they too can recieve the blessings and happiness that come from living the Gospel. Remember the challenge that Elder Nelson gave us in this last conference for EVERY member of the church to find at least 1 person for the missionaries to teach before Christmas. I challenge you all to take this change seriously and find at least 1 person for the missionaries to teach. I know sometimes it`s hard in Utah where almost everyone is a member, but I know if we try our hardest, we will be able to do it. Also take some time to look at the new website that the church put out hasteningthework.lds.org.  It`s SUPER COOL and is going to help the missionary work increase and be more effective!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work and always remember that you`re in my prayers!!!!!!!!!