November 28, 2012

Dear and loving family,

I can't tell you how great it feels to read your letters. I am so glad to hear about Levi. I love my brother so dang much. I sent him a letter today. There are a couple sets of twins here at the CTM and also another district with three brothers in the same district! I wish more than anything Levi could be here with me and we could be as the sons of Mosiah, bringing nations to Jesus Christ and to salvation!

I am so sorry that the letters are not getting there! That is quite annoying! Tell that darling little Carli three things. 1: I love her so much. 2: I have written one letter every week so at least four are on the way as of today and 3: The church is so true. Oh and that I got her first letter! Thanks so dang much!

Mom I don't think you need to put more postage on than one stamp. Merriloy’s letter only had one stamp and it got here and also I got your card on thanksgiving! Perfect timing. I am so grateful for every single letter I receive and especially the emails too. They really bolster me up and get me going! So thank you! Dad I would love to send a letter for that. I hope it will get home in time!

Ashley that is great! I have prayed every night for you and our up and coming family member! Tell me all of the details, I want to know and I can't wait!

This week has been great! I have been way sick but I have been so blessed with the strength from the Lord through all of this. I would never feel this good without the help from the Lord. I have been on mucinex and dayquil and tylonel and all sorts of goods. I bought some things from the pharmacy and they helped. I am pretty much better but still have a bad cough. Sleep has been scarce but I don't need sleep! The Lord has blessed me with every bit of energy to get on with his work. Elder Yarn has been so patient and helpful. I am so grateful!  This week I kind of slacked because I wasn't feeling good but I learned so much about the gospel and about our Lords work.

The teaching with the investigators has been pretty well but we had kind of just been walking through the motions. Elder Yarn and I had a heart to heart on Sunday and decided that we are done with being good missionaries. We want to be great, we want to be chosen. President Hansen and Watson said at camp Helaman the difference between being called and chosen is the desire of the servant. This week my desire has grown more than ever. Family, I know with all my heart that I am working for the Lord. Every breath I take is in his name, every thought I think is for him. I love him and I am leaving my "nets" and my "boat" behind so I can feed his sheep. My life will be changed immensely by this but most importantly the lives of others will be changed also.

Dad, thank you so much for the lesson you taught me just before I left about your experience on your mission. That is one of my most treasured moments in my life. For our fireside last night they played a video of a talk that Elder Holland gave in the Provo MTC last year. Man it was powerful. I absolutely loved it. He spoke about what a great missionary was and about preach my gospel. Dad I know that you were a great missionary and I’m so grateful for your example. Preach my gospel is one incredible book for anything in life.

P day has been good today. I bought some new scriptures at the distribution center after the temple today because they give us a paperback  Book of Mormon and a tiny little bible. I am OCD and needed to get some that were the same size and had a better binding. They were only like thirty American dollars total so you’ve nothing to worry about.

As of right now I am doing well with things here mom. No worries on gifts and I am excited for the package. Dad I'll do my best to get the letter there asap but I  have paid priority mailing each time that I have sent a letter so I am not sure if it will make it. Tell Carli I love her dearly just like I love you all. I am going to try to send something out next week but I don't know when it will get there. Family I love you so much. Lacey thanks for smacking my dog. I miss coming back to something that is so happy to see me. But I feel your love all the time and I am so grateful for it. What a wonderful time of the year. What a wonderful thing for the family to do together. I hope that you can feel how much I love you.