Elder Bednar

Dearest Fandamily,
Well, we didn't have a baptism this last Sunday... turns out Felipe got cold feet and might be headed to Mexico... I don't wanna say anything rude that might get back to me, so I'll keep my mouth shut :-P. Suffice it to say it's a bummer that he's not getting baptized... at least not right now. Things here are going really well though. This week we got to be at the confirmation of Rosario Silva, and that was pretty dang sweet.

This week as been kind of a topsy-turvy week all around though. First off, one of my favorite hermanas in the branch had her mom die this week in a freak accident where she was struck by a vehicle getting on a bus in Colombia, so we spent some time talking to her on Tuesday after we got done with emails... she was a wreck. I mean, she has every right to be, but man can you imagine having that happen? I mean, I'm so glad we know about the plan of salvation and everything but still... ah I felt so bad for her. If you could, would you put her name in the temple?

Aside from that little gem, we've been playing marriage counselors with a few different people.... ah I am friggin' 20 years old what the heck do I know about marriage!? I feel bad, but I kinda lost patience with a couple of them because basically they're just being pridefully stubborn and I called them on it, then layed down the law. I leave them all with the same thing to read because it's the only thing I can think of. If you want to know how you should treat your spouse, read Ephesians 5:22-33. Other than that, be humble :-). As if it's so easy right? I love being young and inexperienced haha.

Okay enough of this depressing nonsense and off to more exciting things! Tuesday we had a good visit with Adan and Rab... they're gonna get baptized! It was super interesting, and exactly the opposite of every other investigator I've had before. We were talking and suddenly he says, "you know, I feel that I need to commit myself to God, like to do what he wants me to, ya know? I mean, I stopped drinking and smoking, and I know it was no thanks to me, and I know that what I'm doing right now reading, praying, and going to church are good, but I need to do more.".......PLOP! I love little gifts from heaven haha. THAT is the reward for righteous living haha. We set a date with him for the 3rd of October. Aside from that, I already mentioned above that Felipe was a no go because of some problemitas.... yeah... but it's okay because after a lesson we had on Friday with the Cruz, Ivelisse is going to be getting baptized! I don't know if I ever wrote down the names of the Cruz family's daughters for ya, but here they are: Ivelisse, Iyali, Italivi, and Iadani... good luck with those haha. But yeah, the youngest one has been reading, praying, and going to church, so we're gonna get her baptized! Sweet! She'll be baptized the 9th of October coming up. Aside from her, her sister Iyali is doing well and actually helped us teach her uncle the first lesson even though she's not a baptized member yet... she will be a great convert when she can be baptized. Oh and Juan Velazquez is getting baptized this sunday :-).

Hmmm... what else what else... Oh! We had a party on Saturday for Mexican independence day! Oh man it was such a blast haha there was a TON of food and quite a few people. Not only that, but I got talking to Lupe's cousin Chela, and it looks like we're gonna be having a lesson with her tonight at 6... sweet!

Oh and I forgot the most exciting thing about this week... David A. Bednar came and spoke to us on Friday!!!! Holy cow that was so cool! Pointer for all of you who have doubts about the church: Talk to an apostle of the Lord and ask him to bear his testimony... uhh.... yeah I pretty much fell over because the spirit knocked my socks off! Even as missionaries sometimes we have our doubts (maybe I shouldn't say "we", but I have had doubts), but being in the Lake Oswego stake center and having the opportunity to talk to him and hear what he had to say as well as feel of the spirit that came into the room when he talked... unbelievable. Wait, that's a terrible word choice. This situation is like when Stephen is teaching in the new testament and it says that it was impossible to disbelieve his words. That's really how it felt! I hope one day to be able to meet him again and shake his hand. They're supposed to be giving us photos of us with him that we took pretty soon, so I'll email you a copy when it comes.

He talked to us mainly about two talks he had given a while back, and it was very interesting. The jist of it is that he was talking about faith and how it relates to agency... very very interesting. Agency, as he taught us, is not the ability to choose. He says that is a false tradition of the church to say it as such. He explained to us that agency is the ability to act. From there we talked about how faith relates, and I would recommend to you all that read this to read these two talks so that you can understand how to exercise and gain faith. The first talk is entitled "Going forth in the Strength of the Lord", and the second one is called "Seek Learning by Faith". I promise if you read these and really study them, you'll be able to understand what faith is and how to really procure it.... sweet stuff to be sure.

All right I'm all pooped out on writing now, but I hope you guys are doing great... those pictures that I was finally able to see on my camera when I went to wally world to print some off are awesome! I want the Unimog that had the "called to surf" decals on it... I'm gonna buy one :-). Naw, but it was amazing to see that you're all doing so well. I love you guys so much and I hope you have a great week!
Love always,
Elder Kurt Mooney