Hi! How are you? Thanks for the letter you wrote us. It was so wonderful to hear about all the people you are teaching. The sister who has been getting people for you to teach is amazing! You said last week was exciting, new, and sometimes disappointing. In what way was it disappointing? I'm sorry it is like that. I'm sure it kind of comes with the territory, right? I mean, you are a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has filled you with His love, so it must be very disappointing and even heart breaking when someone you teach does not embrace the gospel. This is how Christ, himself, feels, but I hope you feel the love of God and His approval of your work.
This has been a pretty good week for us. Miriam is in Washington DC. She said she enjoyed the marine ball, but they didn't take many pictures, which makes me really sad. :( I fasted two days for Miriam and it helped her be safe while she was there, and I hope that it also helped her to choose the right. This morning she called us and told us she messed up on the return flight. She thought her return flight ticket was for today, Sunday, but when she looked at the ticket today, she realized that she had accidently gotten one for yesterday, so she basically missed her flight since it was yesterday and not today, and had to buy another ticket. May I just say that this trip has cost her lots of money!
Katrina has been performing in the play the last two days, and we are going to see her as a family tomorrow night. Last night I went after the play and took pictures of her. Elizabeth was there to see her perform, and also a friend from Layton. It was so nice to be there! I can't wait to see it tomorrow night.
Thomas has decided to sign up for city basketball, so with that, wrestling, and gymnastics, he's a pretty busy guy. He got to hang out with friends yesterday, which is not something he has been able to do much lately. They like to walk, and they walked to Jim's to buy food, and then checked out the game store and the thrift store which are now across from Jim's. It sounds pretty fun to me.
I got to talk to Cassandra for awhile yesterday. They seem to be doing good. They've been out of town on a business trip for Emerson, and she said they had a lot of fun. We talked about what I should get Lily for Christmas, and I am going to buy her a stuffed Kanga with baby Roo in her pocket. Lily loves Kanga and Roo. Emerson posted the cutest video of Lily jabbering on the cell phone non-stop for quite awhile. It was pretty cute! I wish they could be her for Thanksgiving. It's good that Sarah and her family live close enough to visit so that they will have family to be with on that day.
Dad, Katrina, and I met in Provo for lunch yesterday, and then we went to Sam's club to see all the Christmas stuff and eat frees samples. We would have gone and done that at Costco, but Katrina and I already did that before we met Dad for lunch. Also on the way to meet Dad, we stopped at Jon's apartment for a minute. It was nice to see him, and his apartment was nice and clean and smelled like cinnamon and other spices. It was nice to spend some time with Katrina and then with Katrina and Dad both.
Friday, Dad and I went to a play at the university which we rarely do because we've been to some real stinkers there, and, yep, it was a stinka, but don't take our word for it because it won 2 Tony awards. The acting, singing, and scenery were great--we just didn't like the play. The story was dumb and the music was dull and repetitive. Still, it was very nice to be out with Dad, and he bought me a pilgrim figurine at the bookstore that I really like. Its a pilgrim couple, and they don't have any weird pictures on their skirts, and they don't have big feet or ugly faces, and they are not holding strange objects, just fruits and vegetables. Their faces are beautiful and their clothes are authentic.
Dad is doing pretty good. Work is stressing him out, as always, but he is really trying to trust Heavenly Father and have faith, not fear. He has worked very hard to be home for family dinner time this week which is wonderful. In fact, the Food Nanny came and talked to our stake about having family dinnertime and eating nutritious meals. I feel pretty good about how we are doing at all that except I think we could linger a bit longer around the dinner table. So this morning when we ate breakfast together, Dad and I had the kids stay at the table longer. It was really nice.
I have been doing pretty good, Matt. I could use a bit more sleep, a bit fewer calories, and a bit more consecration, but I am working on all that, ha ha. I really want to be more of a disciple of Jesus Christ, but most of the time I fall pretty darn short. I am still trying, though. This week I have gone to meetings, brought in food, and run errands. Nothing real spectacular. I am hoping that the coming week will be less busy and that I can do more good in the world. I did try harder this week to reach out more to people, those I know and those I don't. I can do better, though. I am working on having the love of Christ always in my heart instead of the love of worldly things and idleness. It is hard not to be idle when I am so often tired. Tiredness also makes me want to eat too much food :)
I looked up La Cruz, Elota, Sinaloa on the map. I couldn't zoom in much, though. I guess the google truck doesn't drive there, ha ha. I'm also not sure where Cuenta is, still, It was nice to get a bit of a look at where you are. Say "hi" to your companion for us, and have a wonderful week. I love you so much, Matt. You are doing such wonderful work for the Lord!
Love,
Mom
PS Matt, PS, I was talking with Jared's mom after sacrament meeting, and she shared an excerpt of one of his letters with me. In it he mentioned a letter I sent to him (it was the Relief Society's turn to write letters to the missionaries, so I wrote to him and all the others out on missions in the ward). I actually still have the letter I sent, and this is the part Jared referred to in his letter,
"A couple of weeks ago, I spoke in church about Matt's missionary work, and centered my talk on members being missionaries. I did this because in Matt's area (Culiacan Mexico), they are only allowed to teach people referred to them by the members. This, as you can imagine, really helps the newly baptized members have the support they need to stay true to the gospel their whole lives."
Jared said in his letter to his mom that this idea inspired him and they began including the members in finding and teaching investigators. He said it is really helping the work. So there you go Matt, you are even blessing the lives of people in Nicaragua!
No comments:
Post a Comment