December 20, 2010

Hey fam!

Wow this week was awesome! We had a conference with a member from the
seventy named Juan Uceda. He spoke in the last general conference. My
goodness was it awesome! The spirit was incredibly strong! What I
thought was kinda cool was that he spoke about being fishers of men
haha. I talked about that a little bit last week. He talked about
Christ and the story in Luke 5 when he teaches the apostles to fish.
They had been fishing all night long without any success. Then Christ
came in the morning and said throw your net there. They could have
said, well we HAVE been throwing the net there. Why would it work now?
What they said was, we have been doing that all night but I know that
because you are telling me to do it it will work. They threw out the
net and they broke the net because it was filled with so many fish.
They filled up both boats. Their obedience to the Savior was the key.
If we do all we can to follow the Savior and work hard. We will be
able to hear him when he tells us " throw it over there." He will be
able to give us direction in times of need. As missionaries we have to
learn how to hear the spirit because we don't know who the lord has
prepared but He does and He can lead us to them. Obedience to the
Savior. Elder Uceda said things like "there are NO disobedient Gods in
heaven." They don't exist. We all have the chance to be gods and
inherit the kingdom of God if we are obedient. HOW COOL is that!

Well family we have two baptizms on the 25th Julia and Jesus! They are
awesome! Pray hard for them that nothing happens this week. Their
testimonies are really strong and they know its true. I'm so excited
for them!

Sounds like you all have big stuff planned for Christmas! I'm pretty
darn excited to get to talk to you all! I'm going to try and call the
24th in the night time. Like around 8 or nine here time. It might be
kinda rough to get my call to come through so be patient haha. I don't
have cool access to a computer like I did last time. I still didn't get
your box or the one from aunt kimmie but it should get here soon. I
really miss snow haha! Send me some pics of you all and the tree! I love
you! Talk to you soon!

Love elder B

December 13, 2010

Hey fam!

So this week as pretty swell for me! It was really hard but good. I got a package from grandma B! Thanks the chex mix was awesome! And beef jerky always makes a bad day good haha. My companion calls it his ¨take me to heaven¨ haha. I got a letter from my good buddy Adam Muffler and he was saying things like my wife and it kinda threw me for a loop. That's so weird to think that my buddies are all getting married, but awesome at the same time! Onward to exaltation!!! haha I'm really happy for him and Steve

So we are working with several people and their baptisms at the end of the month. Julia and Jesus are ready and just need to keep going. We have a couple others that need some help getting a testimony though. Mariluz and Angie. They are both awesome and want to do whats right but just haven't felt it yet. They both know its true but haven't felt their conversion experience yet. Please pray for them that they can feel it in their hearts and minds and have an asurity of these things.

I have been reading the talks from conference lately and been studying about them. Oh how I love it. I Wrote down what I wanted to quote but I forgot to bring it. doh! But I think that it was from the talk from elder Ballard. He said that we need to be strong and wise in all that we do. He talked about fly fishermen and how they are so great at tricking fish. They make their own little perfect flies that look just like the delicious flies that trout love so very much. The difference between the real flies and the fisherman's flies is the little hidden hook that they never saw. He said that we need to be wary of the enticings of the ¨counterfeit fisher of men¨. I loved that comparison. Christ is the real fisher of men and there are no little hidden hooks in His message. We get what we work for. With Satan, the counterfeit, we may think that it's something good, something worthwhile, like a cellphone with texts messages. It's not bad, but when we are constantly checking, waiting for and hoping for a text, then basically we are an addict, we´re hooked. Something simple caught us and distracted us from the important things in life. It turns bad when this thing that has hooked us isn't something simple like a cell phone. I know that Satan has power to lead us carefully down to hell if we aren't careful. I also know and have a powerful testimony that Christ can lead us directly to the celestial kingdom where we can live with God and our family. I meet people everyday that are lost in the world and think that they are doing worthwhile things. Its not so. Simple things like reading the scriptures, going to church, family home evening, and prayer. That's what keeps us from getting hooked by Satan. I love all of you and want to live with you in the kingdom of our father. Lets help each other live the laws of God and get there together. You all mean so much to me thanks for being the excellent family that you are. I know we can make it together.

To my good friend Justin. I'm so proud of you buddy. Keep up the good work. This will be the hardest thing that you have ever done in your life. But also the happiest, funnest and most spiritual experience that you have had. Never give up. Just keep trudging onward. I love you bud. Good luck, and may the spirit of God be with you.

Love elder B

Mom I sent the letter to Taylor like 2 weeks ago I think. It should be getting to you shortly, I hope! You could make it a Christmas present for her. Its the best thing that I could give her.

I'll be looking for the package that you and ant Kimmy sent! Thanks so much. I'll wait till Christmas I guess... haha. I'll be able to call the 24th or 25th whichever is better for you. The 25th is better for me. I could call sometime in the afternoon.

Tell Steve that he's done good for himself. I hope that he's doing awesome and I would live to hear from him. I love you mom! Your the best mom ever!

December 6, 2010

Hey fam!

I did get another package from grandma Dorothy! haha more beef jerkey
and rice crispies! Awesome! Who could ask for more! (my companion
loves my packages too.)
I had a pretty awesome week this week! We have 5 people that we are
trying to get a good strong baptismal date for on the 25th! Please
please please pray for Mariluz, Julia, Jesus, Angie and Beatriz. They
are all needing lots of help. They all know that the church is true
and want to do the right thing they just need the help to be able to
do it. Please pray for them so that they can make it to their dates.
We are working really hard in the ward and we have all sorts of
success. The members are helping a lot more than before and we are
having lots of success.

We got to go to the Christmas devotional yesterday! How awesome! I
love to hear the choir. It's awesome.
I had an experience this week. I was testifying to Mariluz about the
atonement. We were reading from Mosiah 3 about the atonement. As I was
testifying I felt the spirit very strongly. I'm so thankful for
everything that He did for me. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be
able to testify about the gospel and about Christ. Thanks family for
being so awesome! I love you all so much! Keep doing the right stuff
and we will always be blessed by the lord.! I love you!

Love elder B

Mom, I sent you a letter this week. It's for Taylor so that you can put
it in a Book of Mormon. It should be there this week or the next watch
for it and get it to Tay as soon as possible. Love you mom

Hey mom could you do me a favor and send me some really good acne
stuff for my comp. He has had a rough time with acne his whole mission
and can't find anything to get rid of it. If there is something that
you could send to help him that would be awesome. thanks mom.