Dec.
1, 2014
Dear
Family,
Well,
Happy Thanksgiving! It seems that you guys had a great week. It was
good to hear that the relatives are doing well, and that you had a good visit.
The
branch of Parral is growing, and it is exciting to be here, where so many
members are all about missionary work. Now that summer break has started
we have lots of young men to accompany us to appointments. Juan Pablo,
the young man I mentioned last week was baptized. My companion baptized
him on Saturday, and I conferred the Holy Ghost on him on Sunday. He is a
good young man and hopefully he will be able to go on the young men’s temple
trip at the end of December. There is a man here named Patricio, who was
battling alcoholism, and had been doing really well, but the week before his
baptism date, he gave into temptation and drank a lot. The missionaries
weren’t able to find him for almost a month because he works nonstop every day,
but last Tuesday we found him again, and he had shivers because of battling
alcoholism. I asked my companion if he had ever received a priesthood
blessing to stop drinking, and he hadn’t, so we gave him a blessing. He
is doing better, and hasn’t drank since. We set a new baptism date, for
this Saturday, the 6th of December, and he accepted it. He is a very good
man who has honest desires to stop drinking and be baptized. We will be
passing by every day this week, starting tomorrow to finish teaching him, in
the mornings at 6 AM, because he has to leave early for work. I hope he
can be baptized, and if he gets baptized this Saturday, the branch will have 5
baptisms this weekend, because the other elders are going to baptize a grandma
and three grandchildren. If you could pray for Patricio that he will be
strong against the temptation to drink it will be a big help.
I
must make note that I have acquired by trade, a pocket size Book of Mormon in
English. There is a really good Dockers belt that I brought with me to
the mission, and I never wear it because I have another belt. My comp
likes the belt a lot, and so I traded it for his mini scriptures, I got out of
the deal a pocket size Book of Mormon, and a pocket size New Testament, they
are both red. I will figure out something to trade to get his pocket size
Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price double combination.
Interesting to note, Elder Barrios family is moving, permanently to Utah
on the 8th of January. He will study at BYU after the mission.
About
Valerie´s Mongolia economics project, I remember the economic summit in High
School, and my country was Chile, and then I got the mission call to
Chile. Just saying....
Today
while out fishing, I finished reading the Book of Mormon, for the second time
in my life. I was using my new red book, and yes it fits in a shirt
pocket. It has been a great experience to study the Book of Mormon, and
feel of its power. It is a convincing testament that Jesus is the Christ,
the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the
Restoration of the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ, and that the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord´s kingdom here on the
earth. I know it is a true book. I have felt the Holy Ghost confirm
of its truthfulness to me, and I felt the spirit as I read it this morning by the
river.
I
love you all more than the number of snowflakes it would take to have a snow
day in every major city in the U.S.
Elder
Withers
Dear
Family,
I
love you lots! I am so glad that you had a great week with
Thanksgiving. Keep the traditions going.......they are awesome. I can’t
believe we are already in December, time flies by fast, and if you don’t take
advantage of opportunities they slip away.
This
week.......was pretty good. Sometimes the days are long because it’s hot
outside, but there is always a miracle, and we always meet someone
awesome. The miracle from this week, was putting a man named Eduardo on
date for baptism. He is the husband of our newly called relief society
president, and he has been a missionary "project" for over 30
years. He has always said no to the church, no to listening to the
missionaries, no to going to church, and lots and lots of missionaries have
worked with him.
Our
very first Sunday here we didn’t know anybody, and he showed up. We
thought he was one of the other members, but we quickly learned that it was his
first time going in years. His wife was happier than a kid on Christmas,
and she has loved teaching him how to read and sing the hymns (even though
during every hymn I feel like I am singing a solo because no one sings very
loud and everyone follows my voice, if I accidentally start too high or too
low.....it’s a terribly funny disaster :), how to study the scriptures, and
help teach him in the lessons and so on. He has attended church several
times since then, and is learning slowly but surely. What has been hard
is that he is truck driver and he has crazy whacky work hours, but the harvest
of whatever he was hauling has finally ended and he is home much more
often. We are working with him to stop smoking, and we are excited for
him to get baptized. In reality, everyone is excited for him to get
baptized. It’s truly a miracle. He is evidence of work from tons of
other people, and Heavenly Father touched his heart right as we showed up.....but
I know that none of the credit belongs to us. We are only helping him
through the steps to get to baptism, and it’s been fun to watch him change.
I
am grateful for the Christmas season, and I am sure you have all seen it by
now, but the church has made an incredible video and has blasted it all over
YouTube,mormon.org, Facebook,
twitter, and so on........and it is super well made. It’s a month long
plan, and as a missionary it is super cool to be a part of. Each day we
have 10 special Christmas pass along cards (and only we have them, not the
members) to give out to people, inviting them to watch the video and visit the
church website to learn more....and it’s been cool to see people soften their
hearts towards the idea of Christ and religion, because of the holiday
season. I love how the Christmas spirit does that to people :) And
each week the church asks for our numbers in regard to this new plan, regarding
how many people listened, accepted a second visit, referrals from members and
so on so that they can keep track of the missionary impact from this
video.........it’s estimated that 220 million people are going to see the
video, and I am 100% sure that several of those people will be baptized.
How awesome. Whatever monetary cost the church had to pay to produce and
make it all possible, will be more than worth it.
I
am grateful for all you do and for your letters each week. I really do
love you lots and lots and lots. I feel great and energized and as ready
as ever. Invite the missionaries over for dinner or something, and ask
them about the video ¨He is the Gift¨ it’s worth it, and it will be a
cool experience for you all, I promise :) I hope you know that I love you
all more than the number of little Christmas lights that will dot the earth and
be used to decorate trees and homes this month in celebration of
Christmas! I love everybody and you are all my favorite!
Hermana
Withers
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