May 23, 2011

Backyard BBQ

My pension

Ward House-Los Heroes

Sweet find- walmart brand chocolate fudge brownie- delicious

Hola Everyone!

This week cruised by. Elder Hall and I had some awesome lessons. But first...

I just recieved an email from President King, which informed me of the following:

Our dear missionaries,

It is with a heavy hearts, we inform you that on Saturday morning, May 21, 2011, Elder Benjamin Taylor Jennings passed away from this life. Elder Jennings was companions with Elder Ciccio in Las Industrias in the San Miguel zone. They were out jogging for their exercise early that morning, and upon their return, just before they arrived at their pension, Elder Jennings collapsed and all efforts to revive him failed. He passed away quickly and peacefully.

Elder Jennings was in my group of missionaries. I knew him only briefly, but later became companions with his trainer, Elder Speakman. Elder Speakman told me some great things about Elder Jennings. He told me that as a green missionary he absolutely hammered his first sector. They had a lot of success, and grew a lot together. At the end of what was a rather long letter from President King, he asked for your prayers. Elder Jennings was the oldest in his family, and as such his family is really hurting. Please pray for their comfort and well being.

Okay- now what happened this week. We had a few great lessons with progressing investigators. We found a lot of really good new investigators in what was a relatively short period of time. And, we had some changes in the ward leadership. One of the cool lessons we had was with a mother and son, named Lorena and Bastian. We taught them about baptism, and how they could recieve a remission of their sins. Lorena was really excited, and the Spirit was there testifying of the truth. At the end, Elder Bybee and I(we were on divisions) left smiling.

One of the bummers this week was that our investigator with a baptismal date for the 28th left on vacation with her family to the North of Chile. We will have to move her date back a week. Still, she is great...nothings changed in that aspect.

I did a lot of personal and companion study this week about true conversion. I love the subject. One thing I learned that I really loved was this. In this world, there are 2 kinds of people. 1 is the type of person that everyone notices always doing what is right. They are the person that seems to keep all the little commandments easily. They never really seem to be troubled our caught up. They are always found doing whats right. The other type of person, which is the more common of the 2. This person feels the Spirit strongly when they are listening attently to a Sacrament talk, or during conference. They feel the Spirit burning in them and telling them to do good. They have real desire to do good. They geniunely want to do whats right after such meetings. Then comes the rest of the week, the rest of life. That burning fades, and it becomes harder to always do what's right. They inevitably fall a little short.

This is a measure of our conversion to the Gospel. Someone who is truly converted finds doing what is right easy. I love the talk by Elder Richard G. Scott from 2002 about real conversion. I am striving to convert myself to the Gospel even more, so that I can share it more effectively. I hope you all find a way to do the same.

Thanks for all your support and prayers. Love you all

Elder Van Dyke