"YOU ARE SPECIAL!"

Hola!

This week I have been reflecting a lot upon the book by Max Lucado entitled You are Special.  This short story is a parable of our lives and the relationship that we need to develop with God, because the world is full of empty titles and labels that will never fulfill us but if we seek to follow that pattern that our loving Savior has laid out for us, we will be overfilled with feelings of peace, joy, and love! The purpose of missionary work is to liberate others from the bonds of worldliness and experience the infinite goodness of the gospel!  So, I highly recommend that every one of you read it, and see how you can apply some of its simple yet powerful principles into your lives! I promise that as you do so, you will come to develop a more powerful relationship with Jesus Christ!  I know that as we remember the divine that is within every one of us, the challenges of life will diminish, and the path that we must take will be more clearly defined!

Now on to the events of the week!

Saturday: Well, this is a little known fact about Mexico, but they know how to party! Today was their Independence Day, and after 9:00 p.m. it was non-stop fireworks until the early morning of Sunday!  The food was incredibly prepared dishes native to Mexico, and the workers here dress in clothing that showed off their national pride! It was incredible!  We also had our first TRC meeting where we met with Roberto Hernandez who is a native to Mexico City and has been a member for 50 years!  So when we tried to give a lesson in our less than fluent Spanish, it was kinda awkward because we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation which I guarantee he had heard countless times, so we ended up scratching it and speaking about the need for the Atonement, and the blessings it provides, and thankfully the Spirit guided our Spanish or else there was no way that the lesson would´ve worked out, haha!

Also, some of the Elders in my district stole my bed during lunch, but when I came home that night it took me a solid 15 minutes to recognize that my bed was missing!  It was pretty hilarious, and I have to give Kudos to my district because it was really clever the way they covered up their tracks, haha!

Sunday:  I played Abide with Me for sacrament meeting and the Spirit filled the room, so I felt so blessed to be able to have learned the piano at that moment!

Monday: I busted the ligaments in my left middle finger playing basketball, so I can´t type as fast, but I am healing rapidly and feel blessed that it wasn´t worse!  Had a wonderful heartfelt experience with my district where we gave certain members that were sick priesthood blessings!  The spirit was so strong, and I have received another witness that God has restored His priesthood and gospel upon the Earth once again!

Tuesday: Not incredibly eventful, except for a beautiful devotional by Elder Anderson about being patient with ourselves and the peace the temple brings to our lives! They truly are the house of the Lord, and all of us should seek to receive the blessings therein!

Wednesday:  Elder Sabin and I had been fighting sickness for a bit, but he reached a point where he couldn´t focus because he was so exhausted, so I spent the afternoon doing personal study which was really awesome because I finished the rest of the Book of Alma in Spanish, and I received a lot of insights as to how I can improve my missionary efforts! With the main point being in the War Chapters, where Captain Moroni rebuilds the City of Ammonihah which had been destroyed because of their wickedness, and made it into a stronghold of the Nephites!  This seemed to be analogous to our lives because often we sin, and Satan is able to make us think that we are unrecoverable, that we have gone to far, but I know that with the Savior´s Atonement we can be taken no matter how much Sin, Worries, or just General Life Problems have devastated our lives!  We just need to pray for strength, increased desire, and humility, and we will be able to be strengthened in every challenge we face!

Thursday: Normal missionary day, with a wonderful lesson with Theresa about Following the prophet which makes me so stoked for General Conference!

Friday: I was able to go on a split with Elder James, because Elder Sabin and Gunderson had to go to immigration today!  We played soccer for the first time, which was amazing, and we played sand volleyball for about an hour!  It was really nice to ease up on the constant studying for just a little bit, but I am excited to see what the rest of this day holds!

Love you guys!

Continue to read the Book of Mormon every day and you will receive answers! God loves you and desires the best for all of his children!

Sincerely,

Elder Raven

Mom and Dad,

Now my district is tied for the being the oldest in our zone!  I was finally able to play soccer today and get two hours of sand volleyball in so that was amazing! We sadly didn´t get to go to the temple after the Tuesday devotional by Elder Anderson about Temple work, haha!  ANyway things are great here! Thank you all for your thoughtful messages and support!  Things have been a little bit harder this week with my companion being in and out of sickness, but it gave me the chance to whittle away at the Book of Mormon, specifically the Book of ALMA in which I have found so many new scriptures that never really spoke to me before the mission! I did have a miraculous experience on Monday with my district because I almost called them out on being too casual with their language and not working hard enough, but then something restrained me thankfully and we had a discussion about the various demons we had been battling as missionaries! I was able to give some wise counsel to the members of the district about how truly divine their are and the love of Jesus Christ that he has for them and this lead to about half of the district asking for priesthood blessings!  The spirit was incredibly powerful and then the very last second Elder Holt, who is the district leader,  requested that I give him a priesthood blessing which rocked my world! Anyway that is one of the countless miracles I have experienced and I want to share with you the thought expressed in the very end of the Book of St. John.  Christ appears for the third time unto his apostoles after they had been fishing and asks Peter ¨Do you love me?¨ Three times and three times peter responds Yea Lord thou knowest that I do!  to which Jesus responds: Feed my sheep.  I love this because if we are true disciples of Christ we will be willing to do anything necessary to help our fellow brothers and sisters because that is what he wishes out of all his disciples! So try to find ways to serve those around you and I promise that you will be filled with Charity! I don´t have a ton of time, but I love you guys!

              Love,
              Elder Raven