Hi! This is Elder Lofthouse's mom, Angie. Here is his latest email:
I can't believe I've already been here for two weeks. Actually, it feels like a lot longer than that. Thank you so much for your letters! I enjoyed them all. Thank you dad for reminding me who is in charge. It can be so hard to not worry about the future or about your own lack of ability. But we are not in this alone, especially when we are doing the work of the Lord. "I will go before your face, I will be on your right hand and on your left hand, and mine angels round about you to bear you up."
Our zone gets a new district of eight elders today! Estoy animado! (I'm excited) Oh, and Thanksgiving here was great. Elder Holland and his family came in the morning. They performed some musical numbers, bore testimonies, and then Elder Holland gave a rousing talk on being grateful for having the opportunity to live in this dispensation. The Holland's adopted us on Thanksgiving so we wouldn't have to be homesick. :) Thankfully, I have not felt homesick, and I attribute that not to any lack of love for you (you're the best!) but to the blessing President Tervort gave me in my setting apart that I would not be overly homesick. I'm really glad I wrote down some of what he said in my journal that night, or I probably would have forgotten some of the blessings I was blessed with. Always write in your journal, especially about spiritual things. As Elder Dubose, one of my first zone leaders (he and his companion left to Mexico on Monday) would say, "Es muy importante para su salvacion." It's very important for your salvation. :)
I'll try and send some pictures next week. I've kept forgetting. Sorry. And if you have any questions for me, please ask them, because that will help me know what to write about.
Tell Bethany I'm so excited for her! That is so awesome that we're having another missionary going Spanish speaking to the west coast. And let me know when Yuki gets her call! They're expecting 3000 missionaries here at the MTC by January, and I think they said around 5000 this summer, which is beyond the MTC's capacity. Also, right now the missionaries here are about 15% sisters and 85% elders. They're expecting that to be closer to 50/50 in just a few months. Crazy!
I wanted to leave a thought about relying on God. That's been on my mind a lot lately. When I first put in my papers, I really, really wanted to learn another language. Then I got my call, started trying to learn Spanish, and started wishing I was going English speaking because I thought that I could be effective right from the beginning if I were going English speaking. Now I'm realizing what a blessing it is that I was called to learn another language. It makes it a lot easier to remember to rely on God. In my last lesson with our first investigator, Lisa, we were trying to commit her to a baptismal date by resolving her concern about not feeling prepared. I felt impressed to talk about the steps to baptism: faith and repentance. She definitely had faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism was something that she wanted because she wanted to follow Christ. I told her I believed she had faith and said that the next step was repentance of our sins. I asked if she knew how to repent. She said she didn't (or something like that) and I thought of the scripture in 3 Nephi that talks about offering up a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I would have been able to find that in my English scriptures without knowing the exact chapter and verse, but not in my Spanish ones. I opened up my scirptures anyway, turned to 3 Nephi, and there it was, right in front of me. And I knew what it was saying. In that moment, I KNEW God wanted me to share that scripture with Lisa, and He had given it to me. If that will happen when we're role-playing, I know that it will happen when I am teaching real investigators.
I also watched another talk by Elder Bednar on Sunday called, "Becoming a Missionary." In it, he talked about how success is a gift from God. In Alma 26, it talks about being given to know the mysteries of God, and beinggiven to bring thousands unto repentance if we are repentant, humble, etc. We should do everything we can to be worthy of the gift of success, but if it comes do not forget that it came from God. Without God, I am nothing. I could do everything in my power and still not receive an iota of success. But with Him, I can do all things. If we put forth our best effort, not expecting to be given, but humbling asking to be given, then I believe that we will feel that joy Ammon felt which only the truly penitent seeker of happiness receives. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to serve the Lord with all my time and efforts. God loves us. He is patient, merciful, and forgiving. Always, always, always turn to Him, and ask for His help. He is there and through Him, we can overcome all things.
I love you all!
-Elder Ryan Scott Lofthouse-
