Mom... I love you so much. So much. wow.
Everyone sounds to be doing great. I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't go to the activity with Chyrl and the family. I love that Aunty C - always doing things like that, I think its so awesome. I'm still using the laundry bag she gave me when I started at BYU. I love her. I'm glad Aussy and Ryan went to the priest camp. I always loved those.
Dad... guess what the guy right next to me is playing... Call of Duty :) He is on the Harbor map
Ok... so its hard to believe that another week has come and gone. Time flies, but at the same time it seems like last week was so long ago. This week we had 7 investigators in the church. Jose Luis and his family were there. They are doing well. Yesterday in the Gospel Principles class we taught chapter 16. It was cool because it even touched on the work and ordinances for the dead that they did in that time. He is having such a hard time accepting anything more then the Bible. Soon, he will realize that our church is not based on a book... it is based on revelation. As soon as he understands and accepts that, it will be great. However, yesterday he understood the Apostasy a little better and said, "Wow, so what happened to the millions of people that lived in that apostasy... they wont be saved?" We said, "Another day we will talk more about this.." They will be Temple Hounds after they are baptized. :) :) :)
This Sunday we should baptize two teenage girls. Oh I love them. Camilia is 14 and Daniela 15. I like to ask people to write me a letter about why they want to get baptized, before they get baptized. They did that and wow, I loved what they wrote. They truly just want to do what God wants them to do. Their mom also wants to get baptized, but she doesn't know how she can do it - because of her husband and her mom. We will see what happens. They need prayers.
We have a lot of other investigators... a lot. I hope I don't get transferred next week, but who knows what will happen. Yina (Gina) is a girl that we are working with, she is 26 and she has a 5 year old girl. She lives with her parents (everyone lives with their parents here) her dad was baptized a long time ago but doesn't go now, but I know he has a desire to change. He is out of the house 9 days and in 5 days. A lot of people have to work like that here in Chile. But Yina is awesome. She says the churches just make her mad, but she is working and progressing with us. She is different. She has like 5 rings in her face, but she is so awesome. She has just become so confused with the world, but I see what kind of heart and mind she has. I hope we can help her.
And we have a lot more investigators to, I could talk for a long time about all of them. The thing is, there is so much stuff for them to learn... too much stuff for them to learn... and because of that, they just need to feel the spirit. We can't teach them everything they need to know, but the spirit can do the work. The spirit can change them. When we try and depend on our own skills, we fail, and will fail every time....The spirit is something we always need. I remember in a General Conference not too long ago someone said that 'it is hard to obtain and maintain the spirit, also that it is hard to receive personal revelation. If it was easy, we would become weak.' I thought about that yesterday in church. It was a pretty noisy sacrament meeting, but a sister got up and shared her testimony, because of that, I wanted to get up to share mine. So I did. I could feel the spirit. I could honestly feel that burning inside my chest. After I got back down and began listening again, I listened more attentively, and the burning was even stronger. The testimonies were awesome, and the spirit was strong. I then looked at the people that were surrounding me... some of them looked like they didn't even want to be there. I thought this meeting was incredible, and others thought it was boring. I could feel the spirit so strong, I didn't want to be in a different place. And people in the same meeting looked so bored. I thought about the spirit as Fire. How fire burns things. A fire can not burn something that has already been burned. If someone feels the spirit, and feels that burning sensation, it is a great feeling, however IT WILL BURN OUT. To feel that burning again, you will have to work even harder, be even better. It can only burn if it reaches a new level. We know that the spirit purifies us... how can it purify something that it already purified? Impossible! If we want to to purify us more, we have to be even better.
I know its something very simple. Something that you already know. But it just kind of hit me yesterday. I feel like I understand a little better why it is so important to always have the spirit. Why, if we have the spirit, we will have Eternal Life. Its because we will be progressing, Always moving to the next level. We need to have the spirit, because that means we are progressing, if we are doing that, we have done all we can do. If we have done all we can do, The Lord will say, 'OK... thanks for trying your best... let me make up the rest'
I love you guys lots... lots lots lots.
Elder Pitcher
