Week 102: Time Is Flying at Me Like a Freight Train

Mom - Sounds like things are just great haha… hang in there mom, you're doing great! Yeah. Everyone keeps telling me how many days left too, so join the club! ;) It's pretty crazy... it's pretty close.

Dad - Any news on housing yet...? Yeah, all that looks great!! It looks like you had a fun time this year, and it looks like it was a big success. I'll be sending a separate email with some stuff we can do, and it's gonna be a blast!! At least, I hope. Anyway, let me know what you think and if you have any ideas, I'll see where we can fit it in. 

ANYWAY. A pretty decent week this week. We spent a day down in San German with the ZLs there, and we had a pretty good time! We spent most the day there painting a house of a recent convert of theirs, and then I went with Elder Gasu and we rode our bikes up this HUGE hill... goodness. I got some pics from up there though and I'll send 'em to you. It was crazy haha.

View from Top of Hill

San German Sunset

However, we had some really sweet lessons with that family that came to church last week, and they came again this week! We had a great lesson with them last night, and they're pretty much committed to being baptized this next weekend!! We have planned to visit them every day this week to make sure they're ready. They're really wonderful, and I think they're going to do great. It'll be a pretty intense week, but it'll be a good one.

In other news, our ward finally got a bishop! We had a sweet meeting with him yesterday morning, and he's just gonna make this ward explode! He's ready to work and he's willing to help us get referrals from the members. Awesome.

But yeah, so a pretty good week, and things are going well. Time is flying at me like a freight train right now... we'll just take this a day at a time haha… Anyway, I love you lots, and I hope you're all doing great. We'll be seeing each other pretty soon, so no worries there. Stay safe and true to the gospel!!!

I know that the commandments are here for a reason. I know that they help us stay on the gospel path. They're not here to restrict us, but to help us fly high. Just as a kite cannot fly without the string connecting it to the earth, neither can we stay high above this world without the commandments, the string. Many people think they hold us down, but in reality, they're what keep us afloat. I know that if we obey them, we will find peace and happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.

"The firmest hand I've ever loved to shake

was my trainer's with that big grin on his face.

He grabbed my bag and put his arm 'round me

and whispered, 'I'm gonna work those Mr. Macs right off your feet'.

"And the hardest words I've ever anguished for

came just before some lady slammed the door.

And my trainer left me hanging out to dry,

as a minute of painful silence rode right by.

"But the hardest tears I've ever loved to cry

came as I opened up my mouth and testified.

Between the tiny walls of a stranger's living room,

the Spirit told their hearts my words were true.

"And the most wonderful sound I've ever heard

is the sound of water running in the church.

As the one I'd come to love got dressed in white,

my eyes caught that first glimpse of heaven's light..." 

Elder Kimball Ray Gardner

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission