http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq6RGkQFfCM

November 4, 2013

Diamond moved from Liberia about a month ago. He is slightly shorter than me and extraordinarily strong. He grew up playing soccer. He is 31 and has been away from his mother for 13 years. He has the best questions. He likes finding little questions especially with the commandments. For example he asked whether police men should be able to work on the Sabbath.

His sister Clarice is also investigating the church. She hadn't been reading the scriptures so we had a lesson on scripture study. We opened to 2 Timothy 3:15-16 and talked about what it means to feast upon the words of Christ. Afterward we invited her to read the Book of Mormon every day and she accepted. Sometimes it is good to address the situation directly.

People like boldness. They do not like you to waste their time. They want you to say something meaningful and important.

I remember one p-day (the p-day of all p-days) with Elder Marchant where we played basketball at the local rec center. Of course we gave our utmost effort at not playing competitively or keeping score in any way. Although if we did keep score I am pretty sure it would have been 11 to 10 our lead playing by ones. Who knows though.

Anyway it was one of those days where Elder Marchant and I were on fire! We hit shot after shot and when one of us got cold the other would get on a role. Good times, good times. I am not sure why that needed to be said, but here it is--enjoy!

 

Take care now y'all and I love you

Learning

Another week over and done. It feels like I chatted with you just a moment ago. I truly enjoy these intimate conversations we share with one another. Hopefully, something we say will create a lasting memory that we will look back on and enjoy.

 

Rachel memorized "The Road Not Taken"! Hopefully it will make all the difference.

 

As a mission we are looking to open our church buildings to the public. We are thinking of activities that we can offer to the world. There is a good chance I will be offering piano studies. I wonder if jazz would be appropriate.

 

Elder Pettyjohn is a walking encyclopedia on U.S. history. It is frankly impressive.

 

I hope this email finds you happy as we approach the holiday season. Be of good cheer for He has overcome all.

 

I love you

Life in Texas

We have interviews with President Ashton on Thursday. I remember my first interview with him.

I walked into the interview with the determination to keep constant eye-contact throughout the interview. Why I wanted to do this, who knows, nevertheless it was my endeavor. I sat and look him in the eyes as he arrange the papers I handed to him. As he gathered them together he looked up and our eyes met. Piercing, discerning eyes looked back at me. My previous resolutions seemed to disappear. I quickly diverted my attention.

Good times! I look forward to the interview on Thursday.

 

I love you

Christmas Giving

Rebekah asked if we could find a family and give to someone in need this Christmas instead of exchanging names of family members.  I asked our Relief Society president if there was a family in need.  Here are the possibilities:
1. Doty family - Father has been out of work for quite a few months, they have moved to a trailer on the edge of town.  Mom, Dad, 13 year old girl.
2. Hill Family - Dad has been in hospital a lot this year, they have huge medical expenses. 2 young boys in Elementary school, mom and dad.
3. Yours, mine and ours family - Dad, mom, 2 autistic sons high school age from one spouse, one middle school age son from other spouse, 1 adorable little girl from mom and dad. (I'm not so worried about the little girl as she has a doting grandma. Considerable medical expenses this year.

So what strikes a cord with you?  Who do you want to give to? Do you want to do this?

October 15, 2013

Elder Golden of the Seventy came to our mission last week. He stated his purpose was to change our life. Well played Elder Golden, well played.

As he spoke I was reminded of how Jesus Christ taught with authority and not like the scribes.

At one point he opened the floor to questions. In honor of Dad I shot my hand up and asked him what the difference is between especial and special witnesses of Jesus Christ. He said there is no difference and immediately moved on.

The thing that stood out the most to me was a story he gave. He visited a man in the hospital who had many broken bones. He asked the man how he was doing. He replied that he was having a great time. Several people with long white robes sang for him and one of them read a book to him. The nurses wore green uniforms. They were ministering Angels to him.  The man said it was a "party".

It rang true to me as I listened. Life is a party when we feel the spirit with us. Its there with you always. Angels have charge over us. We don't always feel them. Elder Golden advised the Elders to think twice before picking their noses in the bathroom because they are being watched.

Perhaps you are wondering why this email was sent on Tuesday instead of Monday. We had the opportunity to go to the Temple this morning. Like always it was an uplifting experience. Thank you to whomever sacrificed to have that House built.

And on to other news. Elder Johnson finally got his "Texas Hamburger" which he has been craving since the beginning of his mission. We drove up to our local Whataburger and asked one simple yet direct question. "What is your largest hamburger?" So we got it and half of it is still uneaten.

If you want to slip another CD with some Christmas songs in the package that would be great. I like hymns like Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel, We Three Kings, Oh Holy Night, The Last Noel, Angels We Have Heard on High, etc.

I love you and am grateful for you.

October 7, 2013

How did you like Saturday's General Conference? I absolutely loved it. The promises made for missionary work were awesome. And how about Elder Ballard's talk? We live in an awesome time. Elder Nilson of the 70 is our area authority. I listened to him speak at a stake conference in Bay City a few transfers ago. It was fun to hear him talk about missionary work.

We are in the process of opening our church buildings for the public. We are becoming a pull business rather than a push business. That probably wasn't the best analogy.

We will be using Facebook soon and we are one of 50 missions in the world that will be piloting ipads. Cool stuff. President Ashton is the man.

The Sander's fed us some homemade enchilada casserole yesterday. And yes it was good enough to make my weekly report. Lets keep in mind it is nowhere as good as Grandmother's meatloaf. Or Mom's stuffed manicotti for that matter.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. He is looking out for His sheep. He knows what we are going through and will help us become something if we let Him. If you ask for gifts in His name they will be given to you in His timing. It appears we will have a personal interview with Him after everything is said and done. I think Elder Nelson said that. I hope there is a big enough change where that conversation is comfortable. I am grateful that Joseph Smith paved the way to let every man speak in His name (1:17-20).

Mom I got your packages. Thank you so much! You're simply the best. What does dad always say about you? Oh ya, "I lucked out"!

I love you. May God bless us, every one.