Monday, August 15, 2011

Dia de Arequipa

Hey Familia,
Thank you SO MUCH for all the emails this week. I really needed them.
I was sooo surprised to hear that Nicole got that job at IHC. I almost
screamed for joy in front of the whole zone here in internet. You do
not know the amount of prayers that I have offerred in behalf of my
big sister just so that she can keep the commandments that God has
given us. He knows that if we are willing to keep the commandments or
not after we have recieved a blessing. If we don't ask for things that
are unholy or unworthy he will ALWAYS help us to reach our goals and
live our dreams that we do have. Unfortunately that means that I can't
really write so much right now. I hope you don't mind. Today is the
birthday of Arequipa so it's a pretty crazy party today in the city.

I recieved my paper that says I can go pick up my package in the post
office this past week. I could have gotten it today but I'm going to
chose not to just so that I can go get it on my birthday. Thank you in
advance for all of your prayers, thoughts and sacrifices. I know that
it is a little expensive to send things internationally so I really do
appreciate it.

This week we had some pretty cool experiences. One of the best was
that we finally had a zone conference with the president. I say
finally becuase it had gotten postponed for a whole month. It was
really good. The best part is that we watched a talk by Elder Holland
that explained why we needed Preach My Gospel as missionaries. If we
really understand that book we will be able to baptize hundreds of
people no matter where we serve. The problem is that the manual is so
spiritually intense that the missionaries don't really understand and
don't apply it in their lives. We are just recently starting to
understand it, so we are just recently starting to see more growth in
the church over the memorized missionary lessons. I encourage all of
the young men (especially Alex) to use the book in quorum meetings for
lessons. Learn the lessons. Learn the doctrine and learn the
scriptures. If you don't, you wont reach your potential on your
mission. It has taken me 9 months to learn what I know now. I can
hardly imagine how much more success I would have had by now if I had
actually learned Preach My Gospel before my mission. Elder Holland
also told the story of Peter after Jesus ascended to heaven after his
resurrection. Peter didn't understand his calling as president of the
church. So what did the apostles do after Jesus left them the first
time, they didn't preach the gospel. They went fishing. They went back
to their former lives and their former jobs. They forgot their calling
as servants to the Lord. That is the reason there are inactive
missionaries today. Often times the missionaries forget their calling.
WE ARE ALWAYS MISSIONARIES, even if we don't have a name tag. Its not
like we do the work of the Lord for two years then just forget all
that we did. We have to keep the same mentality always.

Thank you so much for the sports updates and everything. Thats it for
me this week. We should have a baptism this week so pray for us.

With Love,

Elder Child

P.S. Elder Oaks is coming to Arequipa this week to create a new stake
and to pick up his grandsons from this mission. They are pretty cool
guys, one was an assistant. I don't know if we are going to have a
conference with him but I'll keep you updated on that next week. The
Church is true and is continually growing.

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