Good morning my amazing son!
So much in the news this week! Are you ready???
First the really cool news. Of course you remember the movie Rudy, right? The real life Rudy was baptized this weekend. Isn't that cool! A guy with such character would of course be drawn to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm sending you a separate email with a picture of him that was posted on facebook.
The other great news is the inauguration of President Trump was on Friday. It was a nice day and at the national prayer meeting on Saturday, they had about 20 spiritual leaders in the country pray one at a time and included in that group was Elder Christofferson. Trumps talk was pretty good. However, the bad part is on Saturday there were Women protests all across the country. Hundreds of thousands of women protesting in the most obnoxious way. I'm not sure what their message is entirely. I think primarily they are pro abortion right messages. The interesting thing is that Trump has never said anything about taking away abortion rights, so I'm not sure why that is their message as they protest Trump. The country is incredibly divided. I hope Trump can rise to the occasion and be a conduit of positive change in our country. I think he has the skills to do it. However, his temperament always gets the attention and overshadows the positive that he can do. For example, he has been working with Car industry leaders to help them keep their auto production here in the US rather than sending it overseas. It's estimated that he has already saved thousands of jobs here and billions of revenue that will stay in the US. However, at his very first press conference his press secretary comes out angry about how the press has falsely reported how few people came out to the inauguration. Such a petty thing to argue about in his very first press conference when he could have had a more positive message. Anyway... only time will tell now. I'm hoping he will do great things for our country and people will look past their prejudice of him and see the good.
We've had a quiet week. Dad and I worked around the house this weekend on lots of little projects that needed to get done. I'm getting ready for a girls trip to Hawaii in 2 weeks!!!! I'm so excited! Kellie, Monica, Angel and I are going from Feb 4-11. It's gonna be incredible. I'm sad to not be going with dad but we couldn't work out the timing so that all the husbands could go... I'll take lots of pictures for you:)
I had an interesting experience in seminary this week. I asked each student to write down questions they have about the gospel (anonymously) on an index card. I told them that together we would try to find answers. As I read them later, I was surprised by how many of them struggle to feel the spirit of the presence of God and the Savior in their lives. I've been doing a lot of praying about it so that I can help these kids feel their Savior's love in their lives and His guidance.
I've thought a lot about how much effort we put into our relationship with our Heavenly Father and the Lord. If being a disciple of Christ is our priority, then our time and effort should reflect that. This will be something for you to think about when you prepare to come home. How will you continue to grow and keep the spirit once you are not a full time missionary anymore? How will you keep this tremendous growth you've experienced and add to it instead of allowing it to dwindle away? In my praying about it, I've thought about how much Satan loves our phones. For youth especially, they are such a distraction and a time suck. There is never a time that someone can be quiet and thoughtful. If they are bored for one second they grab their phone and fill that time with numbing social media or worse. We should have quiet, pondering time each day when we are still enough to feel the spirit. How can the spirit influence us if we never are still and quiet?
I'd love your advice and thoughts on this!
One other thing... We are studying the book of Acts this month which is really a book about missionary work, so I plan on reading many of your letters to my class:) Hope you're ok with that.
How was your week my boy? How is your back? What did you end up doing about your contacts? I'm waiting for your new contacts to arrive. If they get in by Friday this week, I should be able to get them to you in the February 5th shipment.
How are you and Elder Larsen doing? Tell me about the work you are doing. A scripture that I read this week that I really love... Jacob 4:6. To me it gives me hope and faith to endure the tough times. Whenever you feel like you are having a difficult time, have faith and hope in your Savior, in the gospel, in truth and in your family's love for you.
You are always in my thoughts and prayers. We love you so very much! Thank you for your amazing example to your brother and sister and to us. So many people have been touched and influenced by your example. I'm the most happy mom to have you for my son! I love you infinity + infinity.
Mom
xoxoxox
P.S. Here are a few talks for you to listen to. I found a few on the atonement that should help in your study of that subject as your mission focuses on it. The second one is about the atonement and the value of one soul. I thought it would go well with your focus on "the one."
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