Lovely, Love, Love

Hello hello!

Been a pretty good week. I can't remember the beginning, but Thursday we had zone conference and it was spectacular as usual. Since then things have been pretty nice. Not just because of zone conference though, mostly cause of some other things. But President Pehrson is great. I think I say that a lot.

First off...THANK YOU, I assume to Mom for the conference talks on CD. Some mystery person sent them to me and they are so wonderful to have! I just love it and Elder Tharp does too. To hear the words of the prophets on a more regular basis has been wonderful.

I had to give a talk yesterday. It was on the Atonement. Yikes, the Atonement is tough and I understand like maybe 1% of it. It was about what do we gain from our knowledge and testimony of the Atonement. I wish I could give it to you like I gave it yesterday. I was very fortunate to have a few talks mom has sent me as resources. One by Stephen E. Robinson and another by Sheri Dew. Preparing for it was great. I was very blessed in finding resources and thoughts that all started to come together in a relatively logical order. It turned out to be probably one of my favorite talks I've ever given. I'm glad I have something now on the Atonement I could share if I ever need to again. I love the thought about how yes we believe in Christ, but do we believe Christ? Do we believe He will do what He says He will do? That what is in store is really in store? Puts in a good perspective. Am I living my life in a way that suggests I really do believe in the power of His Atonement? I hope so. I suppose none of us do completely though.

So there is this lady Carol we are teaching. I wish I could tell her whole story but it would take waaaaay too long. Some of it you may recall from past emails. Well, she is super ill, by which I literally mean sick, and wants to come to church but has these chronic headaches that kinda keep her homeward bound. She has a couple other bad health problems too. Count your blessings everyone, let me tell you that because there are some people out here in the most unfortunate situations you can imagine. Well, we were going to teach Carol the word of wisdom. We did not. After talking a little about her Book of Mormon readings we realized that she was in a bit of pain just sitting there with us. She's always in a bit of pain, but she was getting teary eyed. I think some of it was emotions, but it was a tough spot to be in. I don't know how or why but I just started talking and talking and talking. Telling her about how much she has progressed since we've met her and how the Lord is blessing her. Some scriptures came to mind, DC 121 and one in 2 Corinthians. Somehow all these words just came to me. I didn't feel especially overcome by the spirit, but I believe the Lord did fill my mouth. I did my best to comfort her. We assured her that she could overcome all these things she was struggling with. And she surely can. The Corinthians one is about how our weaknesses make us strong and bring us closer to God. Rejoice in our weaknesses because although we are weak, in the Lord we are made strong. Something like that. I think its 2 Cor 12:9-10. Well anyway, I think it all really helped her.

After when we were driving away, The CONFERENCE TALK we were listening to mentioned the very same scripture in 2 Cor! It was really cool. I was like Wow! No kidding! It was like a little confirmation that what I shared with her was right. God's tender mercies. During the next day or so I heard reference to DC 121 verses like 3-4 times in talks and other places. Maybe they're just the comfort scriptures or something, but it helped me feel good. A cool experience.

The next day we went to give Carol a blessing. We told her we would the day before (we were out of consecrated oil – dummies, huh). We weren't sure who should do it, we thought perhaps a good member of the ward. I had been feeling like Elder Tharp should. Knowing that we were going to be giving her a blessing I was trying to be as prepared as I could. Keep my faith strong and the spirit close with me. Preparing my talk really helped with that. Nice. I ended up giving Carol the blessing, it was decided at the last moment. I didn't really think I would, but I was lucky to have been spiritually preparing so that since I did, I was in a good position to do it.
That made me think to myself that I should always be spiritually ready at a moment’s notice to be able to offer a blessing. I should always be in tune with the spirit and confident in my faith. DUH. As a missionary we could be asked at any moments notice to give a blessing. I should always be prepared in every way. And of course this goes for all things. We should always be seeking the guidance of the HolyGhost in our lives. That we could be ready at a moments notice to do a number of things. Ready for Christ to come again. Be anxiously engaged in a good cause, I love that scripture, and prepared/preparing. Something like that.

All things considered, the last 3-4 days have been very spiritual and great. I just love this gospel. Its so hard being a missionary and seeing people not take to it. Its hard doing all these things everyday and being motivated to do them. So many times I just have to tell myself that this time is not for me. I have my whole life. This time is for the Lord and I just need to buckle down and serve him like I ought to. Easier said than done, let me tell ya. But it will be so good for me to get used to getting nothing that I want. Constantly putting off my own motives and such. Probably a good exercise for being a parent, right mom and dad?! Sacrifice, all the time. Forget yourself. Sacrifice is where its at. It is so difficult at times, but anything we can give up for the Lord, to bring us close to him...He will make up the difference and then some.

Sorry to those of you who may not be as interested in all my spiritual experiences, but thats mostly all the exciting stuff. It’s getting hotter, and there's lots of bugs that bite me. Driving on the freeway though, we’re just surrounded by walls of trees, that’s pretty cool. OH - last night I saw fireflies for the first time in my life! It was crazy I thought somebody had some kind of crazy testing going on. Looked like land mines or something wild. Ha- anyway, fireflies are way cool.

I love ya all. So very, very much. Family is the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world and ours is the best in the whole wide world. I could never have possible imagined the blessings of personal growth that going on a mission would provide me with. It is so wonderful and amazing. There is nothing in life that could provide someone with these kinds of wonderful opportunities and experiences. Nothing. It is so hard at times and sometimes I really do not like it. But it is all for my betterment and I know that and that is what keeps me going often times.

Love you all, thanks for being my wonderful fam.
David