Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Hola mis amados padres y amigos!    14 November 2011

     Another week has come and gone. Time is such an interesting thing. When we look towards the future, everything seems so distant. When we look to the past, things seem like they were just here. But when we focus on the here and now, things are neither future nor past. This is the most important time to use, the present. If we constantly look towards the future, we will never get anything done. If we constantly review the past, our mind is focused on how things used to be. Being focused on the present is sometimes difficult to do, but it is far more valuable then the other two alternatives. Time will continue to pass by, but it is how well we use our time that matters. (Being a bit philosophical, our Chad is!)

ELDER SNOW ANGEL?

I keep moving along here in Cedar City. It is a pretty awesome place. We have been really striving to do our best every day and some times we see it working and other times we feel that it isn’t. However, it is once again a trial of our faith. The weather is still bi-polar in Utah. You think that I would be used to it by now, but it still just amazes me. Tuesday of last week, after it snowed for 3 days straight, it was warm enough for me to wear short sleeves all day. We haven’t had any more snow since last Monday, but I am sure that will change here this week.

We are really trying to find the elect here. We have found a lot of new people to teach lately. We are now trying to discover which ones are ready for the message of the Restoration.

We had interviews with President Leonard this week. It was a long day of meetings for Elder Castro and I. We were required to be in meetings from 10 until about 4 in the afternoon. So it was just a long time to be sitting and focusing! The interview with President went really well. I continue to gain more and more respect for him each and every time I am around him. Don’t worry Mom, I won’t try and tell you that I am getting sent home like I did last year. (Right!  The MOM did NOT think that was FUNNY at all!!)

This week has been full of a lot of zone leader things. We have had some pretty crazy experiences we have had to take care of. One of them required us to leave our house at about 10 in the evening to go have an intervention with a missionary. He was just struggling with anxiety and was questioning a lot of the rules and why we have them. He isn’t one for organized sports, so he has a hard time letting all of his anxiety out that way. We were looking for an alternative to help him. It was some pretty intense stuff. We learned a lot about this missionary in just a short hour or so. We are still looking for a way to help him, so the battle goes on. We also had another incident where we went to another missionary's apartment and one of them had purchased a pool table. So that was a big thing to take care of. I just don’t know why someone would want to buy a pool table, or something like that on a mission; especially since we hardly stay in the same place for longer then 3 months. So it was a pretty interesting week as a zone leader.

Elder Castro, Brisin, Elder Davis

Moving on to a happy note, we had a BAPTISM!!! It was for a 10 year old boy named Brisin. Since my nephew has the same name (his is spelled Bryson), it was pretty interesting to be saying that name while we were teaching him. His family is so crazy, but it has been a really good experience for him and for his less active mother. His grandfather was the one that got to baptize him, so that was a pretty special experience. This kid has a bright future ahead of him. I am happy to know him and his family. I will be doing the confirmation for him next weekend. It was postponed this week because we had a regional Stake Conference.

The Regional Conference was pretty crazy. It took in over 80 stakes in the southern half of Utah. There were four General Leadership that spoke, one from the Primary Presidency, one from the Sunday School presidency, Elder Callister of the Seventy, and Elder Nelson of the Twelve. It was pretty cool. Most of it was about marriage and family. So there wasn’t too much I could apply to myself right now.

TRACTING!

We met this crazy guy this week. He is from San Diego and was just flat out nuts! He had been in gangs and all that throughout his whole life. He has done hardcore time in prison for over half of his life and he is only 33! He is in a wheelchair because he got shot by the police. His life is just a crazy story! The craziest part was that he wouldn’t even let us teach him anything. He let us into his house and then he just started going off on us, especially me, about religion and the Bible and all of this ridiculous stuff. I think he kind of singled me out because I was white and everyone else in the room was Hispanic. But it was alright with me, I tried to teach him about the Book of Mormon, but he still wasn’t having it.

NEWS FROM HOME:  (We mentioned to Chad that a ward member and former Mission President and person Chad did his senior project in their lawyer office, President Barber knows Chad’s mission president.)  Well that is cool about President Barber and how he knows President Leonard. The world really is a small place. I am glad to hear that the missionaries came over and were able to give some perspective on things. I can agree with the missionaries in what they say. It really is a great challenge to try and think of things in that way, but when we try to love as God would love us, we are becoming like Him. Charity is a commandment. It is something that I am still not very good at, but we can only try our best to improve everyday. But Heavenly Father wants all of His children to come back to him, which is why He has restored His church again to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The evidence of this restoration is the Book of the Mormon. That is why we invite everyone to come and partake of the goodness that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t ask others to only believe our words, but to experiment and try it out for themselves. Through these things, can we return to our Heavenly Father!

I am grateful for your continuous love and support! At this time of the year, I am indeed grateful for everyone who is there supporting me! Thank you! Everyone!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!!  les agradezco con todo de mi corazon!

les amo!    ELDER D