Letter #56

uu-rr-uu-t-ia. (*I had asked him how to pronounce his companion's name. Still not 100% sure how.) I am eating the same, chicken and tortillas.(*Asked if any different foods in the new area.) I only know that before the missionaries were disobedient. (He said some of the members didn't trust the missionaries because of behavior in the past. I asked if he knew what they did.)The only problem is that some members like that the missionaries break some rules because some have gotten mad because we won't enter their house if there isn't an adult male 18 or older. The people in my district now are Elder Ramirez, Elder Gomez, My comp and I and the zone leaders.(*I asked how his clothes and shoes were holding up.) My other shoes died about 2 weeks ago. The hole goes all the way through to my foot, the sole is barely hanging on and there are other holes in the two. I was going to buy shoes this week, but we don't have any time. I didn't even finish washing my clothes. Hand washing takes out almost all the time here. We couldn't even finish the things we needed to do.

The thing I love most is that people are super friendly here. This week we found a ton of new people to teach. 11 new people this week and we are almost sure that at least 4 of these people will be baptized. They are super prepared. We have been trying to obey with exactness. For that we are seeing miracles. We are finding people like crazy, people are contacting us in the streets. If all goes well this week we will have a baptism on Sunday. We also have one planned for the following week. 

This week I had a leadership counsel. It was awesome. I learned a lot of things. I wanted to share some things I learned with you. 1st off D&C 4:5 Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love, with an eye single to the glory of god QUALIFY HIM for the work. I love how it doesn't say how much you know, your past experiences, training, etc qualify you. Those are things that help and all, but what really counts is who you are and who you can become. If you are like Christ, act with faith, have hope, are charitable, and love the people, you are qualified.... not only for mission work, but in all things. 

Also I learned about giving counts to God in prayer. Tell him what you did, what results you saw and what you learned from him today. I applied this this week and had an experience. I started saying the usual "Thank you for this day..." and a thought came to me, "WHY?" "Why am I thankful for this day?" Prayer is a conversation with your Father, tell him why you are thankful for what He has given you, what you did with these blessings. I felt much better doing this because I felt for real that He was listening.

My invitation for you is to do the same. Converse with your Heavenly Father. Count your blessings, and give thanks from your heart.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson