Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Email from Elder Lofthouse 5/21/13

This has been quite a week!  First off, super good news:  D got baptized!!!   Yes!!!  She is so amazing.  Her dad kicked her out after that though.  She's been going through a lot but she's still trusting in Heavenly Father and hoping that things will all work out in the end.  I'm so excited for her!  And the other day she called herself a future missionary even though she keeps giving us tons of reasons why she shouldn't go on a mission.  She'll get there.
 
More good news:  I ate an habenero yesterday!  Woo!  Those are something else.  Actually almost our whole district ate one. 
 
And more news:  I got transferred!  I'm leaving tomorrow morning to a little town of about 10,000 people called Lindsay that's about 2 1/2 hours south of here.  It was one of Elder Hernandez's favorite areas and he keeps telling me all about it.  Apparently it's really hot there.  I'm super excited!  My companion will be Elder Morales and we will be co-senior companions.  If it's who we think it is, then he just finished his training, so we're both fairly new missionaries.
 
We're getting 30 new missionaries this transfer.  8 of them are actually going to Argentina and Denmark and are waiting for Visas, but that's still a lot of missionaries.  There has been a big wave of missionaries already, and graduation hasn't even happened yet.  I'm excited for this summer.  This church truly is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands that rolled forth to fill the earth that Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar saw.  This is the Kingdom that will never be destroyed.  Christ is at the head of this church.  This is His work.  
Presdient Gelwix included this quote in his weekly letter: “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.” -Presdient Ezra Taft Benson
I know that this is true.  God can only bless us as much as we will let Him.  Whenever we receive ANY blessing it is by OBEDIENCE to the law upon which that blessing is predicated.  President Benson also said, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, then God will endow us with power from on high."  As a missionary you are always being talked to about obedience.  We strive every day to be more and more obedient.  We must turn our entire will over to God if we are to have any success and that is true for all of us.
So examine your life, think about something you know you need to work on and make an effort to do so.  Trust that God will help you as you come unto him (see Ether 12:27).   
 
I love you all so much!  Never give up!  No regrets!  Keep your hope burning bright!  One day we will all enter in together into the Celestial Kingdom of our God.  How glorious that day will be!
 
Love,
Elder Lofthouse  

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