February 23, 2015 from Sam

To start with my funny moment of the week I woke up Tuesday and took off my shirt to go take a shower and passed by the mirror and naturally couldnt pass by the mirror without stopping to look and I realized I had a 6 inch long stick bug taking a nap in my chest hair.  So that was a classic freak out and honestly wished there was a camera rolling.

First off, shout out to my dad who has a birthday today!  I know how lucky I am to have him as a father and he knows how grateful I am for him.  So be sure to call him or write him to say how awesome he is!  Love you pops.

Well, had my first week as a trainer!  It was different to say the least. At first when I was told last Sunday that I'd be training, I was a little worried.  But most of my worries and doubts have since left.  It's just A LOT of responsibility especially in my area.  Our ward just doesn't help us out very much.  I have a ward mission leader who hasnt served a mission.  Not much help from that department.  I have a class to teach every Sunday on my own as well.  I have a bishop who is an awesome guy and one of my best buds honestly in my area, but to be honest doesnt help us out at all and the things he does do really just does them to not get a cincho (butt whooping) from the stake president.  With Elder Funes it wasnt too bad because we both were able to work together with ideas and we always had the same ideas and were good friends and were always there for each other.  But to be completely honest my companion came as a less active recent convert so naturally doesnt know anything about the lessons or the mission haha.  So its difficult really having to do literally everything in our area.

At first he came somewhat errogant and a little prideful as did I and the majority of missionaries who enter the field. But after making him try to teach the majority of the lessons a few times and he realized hes got a ways to go, he humbled down a little bit haha.  And now has a desire to learn and is studying hard so Im proud of him!  Hes a weird dude... lol.  Which again is different because Elder Cano and I were buds for the most part and Elder Funes and I were super tight, but I still love him and am trying to be there for him and teach him well.

So my cool experience for the week was this: so we worked our butts off this week!  Elder Funes and I had baptized a lot of people in our last change and had constantly looked to find new solid investigators but didn't find too many.  So our difficulty this week was finding new people.  So the end of the week we had had a ton of lessons and new investigators and we showed up to sacrament meeting and realized that none of the people that had committed to go to church were there.  I was really down... just kind of doubting myself of how I'm gonna  help this area with really not much assistance... as well as train and do all this stuff on my own.  About half way through sacrament meeting I just kinda closed my eyes and said a really heartfelt prayer.  I asked to be able to feel Heavenly Fathers love in that moment and be confident in myself to be able to know that I could do it.  I was almost to the point of tearing up when I said amen.  About 5 seconds later someone from behind tapped me on my shoulder.  I looked back and one of our investigators, Martha, who we weren't expecting to be there, had walked in and sat down during my short prayer.  She had this big smile and her and her son waved at me and I waved back at them.  It was honestly such a spiritual experience and I know it was Heavenly Father answering my prayers and thanking us for the work that we had put in that week.  Even though it was just two people!  I also began to be more and more thankful when I looked around and saw Fredick sitting with his girlfriend and her family who we'd been trying to activate and how awesome he has been in the last few weeks.  As well as Molly and Milagros in the pews as always continuing to endure and be some amazing converts.  As well as Kevin who got to pass the sacrament this week.  And seeing Paty and her daughters who couldn't pay their light bill this month filling out a tithing envelope was quite a tear tugger as well.  She is awesome.  I really didn't realize that I could do this on my own until I was asked to do it on my own this past week and I feel we did a really good job.  My prayers and my studies are now better because i have to be on my A game always. I realized how many blessings I've seen in my time in Limon as a missionary and it was just a great experience.

Well anyways I hope all you have a great week! 

February 22, 2015 from Mom

Well, how did  your first week as big trainer man go????  I hope it was fantastic.  I know you felt some pressure, but I hope that has subsided.  You are well prepared to serve in this capacity.  If you will trust your instincts, work very hard, and pray for inspiration and direction, you will do wonderful.  You are the only trainer this new elder will ever have.  So take the responsibility to heart ( I know you do) and do your very best.  The Lord will help you if you get on your knees and ask for his guidance.  You are a powerful young man (you have the priesthood and access to the power of the atonement).  You can do anything with the Lords help.

Who are your new District Leaders?  Any Americans in your district? Any guys you like a lot?  

What do you do at Changes Meetings?  Does the whole mission meet together or just the ones that are transferring?  

How do you feel about being in Limon for maybe 3 more months?  How is your new comp???  

Any investigators this week?  How about Fredick's sisters?  Who can we pray for?

Remember to turn to your Father in Heaven and the Lord for your daily needs.  The Israelites lost in the wilderness for 40 years were blessed with enough manna/food to eat for one day at a time.  Why would the Lord not give them enough for 7 days at a time?  He is a god of miracles and could do what ever he wanted to do.  But he wanted them to receive only enough for 1 day at a time.  Why?  I wonder about this and I think it is because He wants us to turn to Him and depend on Him daily.  Included in the Lord's Prayer, He instructs us to ask "give us this day our daily bread" Matt 6:11.  I think by asking us to ask for our physical and spiritual needs each day, it shows us that He is aware of all the small details of our lives.  He knows what we need but there is power in us asking Him, depending on Him and seeking His will.  

Read 2 Nephi 32:9

Some of your needs feel huge and some feel small.  The great thing is the Lord cares about all of them because He loves you!  Learn to trust Him and lean on Him during your life's challenges and trials.  

I love you too my sweet boy!  I think about you all the time and pray for you constantly!  

We had a good week.  Dad and I had a great weekend get away in Ft. Worth.  We spent two days just going out to eat, chilling, reading, watching a movie, and going to a fantastic musical, Once.  You would truly love this play!  The music is mostly guitar kind of music that I think you would really like.  We both loved it!  We had delicious shrimp wrapped in bacon with jack cheese and jalepenos.  Really yummy!  The weather wasn't great so we stayed inside more than we planned on, but we still had a fun and restful weekend and a fun celebration for his 50th Birthday (which is today - Monday - by the way!).  

And for Monday... a snow day!  Kids are home from school.  I think this is the latest we have ever had a snow day.  This is the only one we have had all year!  But they are pretty excited.  Dad too will be home so we will all be anxiously awaiting your letter by the computer today:)  Who let the dogs out??!!!

We are now in our new building!  IT is so nice to be so close to church!  The building is really nice.  Have you had a chance to do the 20-30 second testimony video?  Do you think you can do it?  I know your camera takes video but you'd probably need to take the sd card out and put it in the computer to upload it and email it to me.  You can try emailing it like you do your pictures.  I'm not sure if the file will be too big or not.  Maybe Dany could record you on his phone and send it to me.  Let me know what you think you can do.  We would need it in the next week or so.  Our open house for the new building is coming up in a few weeks and they are trying to get all the videos put onto one.  

It looks like the weather is getting warmer in Guat.  I look at the weather every few days and it seems like the temps are creeping up.  Can you feel it?  When does rainy season start?  Our week is going to be really cold.  I'm ready for Spring!  

I'm so excited to hear how you are doing with your new responsibilities.  I know you will be a wonderful leader and trainer!  I hope so much that you got our box by now!  Kellie told me that she just sent you a package too.  You have so many people here praying for you, cheering for you and loving you.  But no one more than me.  I walk around with a constant prayer in my heart and mind for you.  You are never far from my thoughts.  I love you so much my precious son!  Please be safe and obedient and cautious.  I love you fiercely!  Have a wonderful week!

xoxoxoxox

momma

February 18, 2015 from Sam

Tough week of goodbyes

Hey everyone!  Short on time this week but everything's going well! Welp my time with Elder F ended all too quickly and he had a change.  He is now a zone leader outside the capital in Chiquimula :(  Really bummed because we are great friends and a super solid companionship I felt like.  We had a few rough days like any companionship but we were really great buds and I wouldn't hesitate to say he'll be my best companion in the mission.  I also had to say goodbye to Elder Turley and Elder Farr in the changes meeting which really sucked to be honest.  That's the pretty crappy part about the mission.  They were my two best buds in the mission and now they're going home and I just feel pretty limited on friends now.  I teared up pretty good saying bye to both of them because I guess I got really close to them these past months and really respect and look up to them.  But I guess that's just the mission.

So I didn't have changes but I'm now training a brand new missionary named Elder C from Puebla, Mexico!  Not really sure how I feel about it yet other than I just feel a ton of pressure.  Being with a companion that has time and experience, you both contribute equally. But now I know I'm basically going to have to do everything for our area for at least the first 4 weeks.  He came in pretty prideful like they all do lol. He's definitely not the most normal guy in the world. But I know Heavenly Father put us together for a reason and I'm going to try and train him well to be a great missionary as well as learn what I can from him.  It's a new but scary opportunity and I would definitely ask for all of your prayers to help me out! 

Anyways I love you all and hope you have a great week :)

5 1/2 months

Baptism of Paty and her two daughters.

Valentine's Day with Elder F.

February 16, 2015 from Mom

Hi my favorite missionary!!!!! EVER!!!

How was you week?  Are you getting a change this week???  I'm dying to find out! If you leave Limon, I know it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye to many people.  Bittersweet.

We had are really great week.  A few highlights…

1.  Grayson had a fantastic game on Friday.  Scored 18 pts and had tons of playing time.  However, the boy can't hit a free throw!  Bricks.  Dad is frustrated because he is trying to help Gray, but he does not want to listen to him.  So, although he had a tremendous game, he gets pulled out the last minute of the game because the coach doesn't want him to get fouled.  

2.  Erik's graduation was really great!  He was given a special award selected by all the professors in his program that acknowledges him for being the most engaged in the paramedic program, always willing to help others, works so hard, always in class and on time, etc.  It was cool.  As soon as they started explaining the award, I thought, "that sounds like Erik."  And it was:)

3.  Dad took Friday off and we spent the day together at a movie and lunch… celebrating valentines day.  It was a great day!

4. We had the Schofields over for dinner tonight (Sunday) and had our red/pink dinner with them.  They thought it was really fun. We played a game and talked with all of them and it was a fun night.

5.  Abby and Aliza went on splits this week for the second time with the sister missionaries.  So cool and Abby really likes doing it.  She's a missionary in training fo sho.

I'm sending you a picture of the canvas pictures Im going to put up on your wall.  The pics are all ones you took.  One in Jamaica (the one on top), one of a tx sunset, and one of the beach in cozumel.  I think they turned out so great!  What do you think?

I wrote down all of your questions from last week and I'm writing you a letter today with answers.  I love getting your journal and scripture journal pictures!  Are the questions for me coming from your reading, or are people giving you these questions when you teach them?

It sounds like (from your journal pictures) you had a tough week with Elder F.  How are things going?  I can only imagine that being with someone 24/7 would be incredibly difficult.  I don't even think I could do it with Dad!  I hope you are able to talk through your differences calmly and work thru them. When does Elder Turley leave?  I was thinking it is this month.  Am I right? I'm sure you will miss him.

The food pictures at Diana and Danys house look awesome!  It's like the first great meal I've seen.  We were talking about it this weekend and we want to see pictures of what Walmart is like. Will you send us some?

I have a few things I want to talk to you about that have come up from your letters and journal entries.  It's times like this that I wish so much we could just sit on the couch and talk about things, but of course we can't so I'm hoping the tone of my concerns come across as loving as I feel about them.

1. You asked Erik if he had any bad experiences with the spirit.  I'm wondering if you have had a bad experience or if something happened.  Is everything ok?

2. You said that you spent most of the day talking with Taylor on the phone one day (I think it was after Christmas some time). Then sister Konold told me in your letter to Fin you said you broke up with her because she wasn't interested in the gospel but you asked me to give her a jersey and I know she writes you a lot.  So I'm not sure where things are with you guys.But I have concerns.  I have had a really heavy feeling in my heart about your relationship with her for the past month. I feel like the spirit is warning me or wants me to warn you or something.. I'm not sure what.  So I just decided that I'll voice my concerns to you and I'll just hope you understand and it makes sense to you. I guess my biggest concern is that she is not LDS and I don't think has any plans to be so I wonder what could come of this when you get home?  Even if you two write for two years, you will come home and leave for college in 2 weeks. And she will be 25 (or something) and you have 4 years of college ahead of you.  I worry you are wrapping your emotions into something that isn't going to work out, and probably isn't good for you even if it did work out. As you date when you get home, you will be choosing not only your wife, but also your children's mother (they don't get to do that) so it is so important you think about all the things that are important to you in a wife and mother. Secondly, I worry that the more likely option is she will break it off and date someone else and that will break your heart and set you back on your mission.  Third, I worry that she isn't really supportive of you on the goals you are trying to achieve on your mission (not because she isn't a good person but because she doesn't really understand what you are doing).  For example, does she ask you about your baptisms or what you're learning or how you're growing?  Does she discuss spiritual things with you?  If none of these are true, is she actually helping you with your mission or is she a distraction?   I can completely imagine that it is fun to have a girl write you and remind you that you are a guy.  It's flattering.  But I just want you to think about the long term consequences of this.  Guard your heart.  This is a time when you're not supposed to be dating.  I think dating thru letters counts.  And if you break rules for this girl, that is a problem too.  Now it gets in the way of your obedience, your ability to have the spirit with you, the people you teach, and your protection.

I love you so much baby!  Please take this letter as it is intended.  I'm just looking out for your best interests and want to give you some things to think about.  I feel the spirit giving me this feeling of uneasiness and warning but I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with it.  Please don't be mad at me.  I've been praying today that I can say my concerns without it sounding like I'm telling you how to live your life.  I just think your feelings are very raw and maybe intensified being on your mission and away from your home. You probably feel more strongly for her than you would if you were home. I don't want anything to distract you from having the most amazing experiences on your mission and coming home with no regrets as you look back on your service and feeling so close to the Lord.  I want all people that are important in your life, supporting your efforts on your mission and helping you to find those wonderful people that need you to bring the gospel to them.  

I guess that's all for now.  I'm writing you another letter to send off later today.  I have a couple of good talks for your too.  Bro. Hutto gave the greatest talk on the atonement today so I'm gonna try to share my thoughts about it in the letter.  BTW, are you getting any of my DearElder letters?  Ama says she sends you her letters that way too.  I just hope you've been getting them.  How about your package?  Did you get that yet?  I hope you got it in time for Valentines day so you could remember how much we all love you!  

Have a great week!  I'm so incredibly proud of you, my son!  I love you fiercely and you know I would do anything for you. If you are now a senior comp, remember to be the missionary the Lord wants and needs you to be.  No one else will make you do it.  It is up to you and you have your agency.  I'm so excited to see what you can do in your next area.  

Infinity + infinity and even more than that!

love,

mom

February 9, 2015 from Sam

Welp we had a great week this week!  This past six weeks with Elder Funes have been the fastest of my life its ridiculous how fast the weeks go by.  I have a feeling that I could have a change this change and go to a new area.  We'll see.  But either way, Elder Funes and I had a lot of success together and worked super hard.  

I was reading the Liahona (church magazine) and read something i thought was funny about choosing the right friends lol.  This one girl shared, "I was trying to change my friend so much but she wouldn't and ultimately I just stopped being her friend... and my testimony grew SO MUCH!" hahah then it said "From: Margaret Denise K. Bountiful High School".  That friend just read that in the Liahona and everyone knows it's her!  haha! Like, what the deuce Margaret?? lol

Anyways... we baptized Paty and her two daughters this past saturday and it went great.  When they were confirmed yesterday Paty started just bawling and it was very spiritual and cool to see the impact the gospel has had on her life. 

The coolest thing this week really has been Fredick, who was my first baptism back in November.  He is so animated and awesome.  He goes with us every day from 3 to 7 to be with us to teach lessons so he can learn and prepare more for his mission.  We were talking about it and realized that we were gonna be on missions at the same time together and how awesome that is.  At first I didnt really know his whole story and transformation.  But he opened up to us this week and told us how he was in a gang before and everything.  Never killed anyone, but robbed and dealt weed and just a ton of stuff and I had no idea.  He has been sharing the gospel with his family and we started teaching his sisters this week.  The coolest thing was when they asked us, "Can you help us change like we've seen our brother change?"  That was maybe the most satisfying moment of my mission so far.  His sisters are freaking awesome and I have no doubt they'll be following in the footsteps of Fredick soon.  

I was reading an article this week lying in bed talking about the grace of Jesus Christ by Brad Wilcox.  Christ's suffering for our sins was more than just a big favor for us. He gave us an opportunity.  An opportunity to be able to repent and live forever in His presence.  We don't earn our way into heaven, but by living the commandments, we practice living in heaven.  If you bring a person that commits big sins with no desire to repent to church camp, would he feel comfortable?  No. He would be begging to get out of there.  It's the same with Christ in Heaven.  We need to try to be like Him.  Live like He did so that when we get to Heaven it feels like we belong there. We will be able to remember everything we did on the earth on judgement day.  How comfortable will we feel?  Will we feel excited and happy because we repented and always tried to walk the path of Christ?  Or nervous and scared because we never did.  Our job on Earth is to try our best to become like our Savior and Redeemer.  We will never be perfect as He is but thankfully He doesn't require us to be.  He just asks us to try and to do better tomorrow than we did today!  

Have a good week yall!

Elder Gurksnis

February 8, 2015 from Mom

I really missed you today.  Just sitting in church, I missed sitting next to you and scratching your back.  Our family just felt small today and I missed you so much!  I said many prayers in my mind asking Heavenly Father to wrap his arms around you so you could feel my love.  I hope sometime on Sunday, you felt how much your family loves and misses you!

How was your week?  I read about a volcano erupting!  Are you ok?  Did you have any effects from it?  How are you feeling?  Are you healthy?

I hope you are loving what may be you last few weeks in Limon.  What an amazing 5 weeks or so you have had with Elder Funes!  I know you've had an outpouring of the spirit to allow you to be a tool in the Lord's hands.  I know that nothing is by chance and that you were supposed to be with Elder Funes and learn from him.  Even when you are a senior comp, you can look for opportunities to learn things from each companion you have.  I'd love for you to write me this week and tell me some goals that you've set for yourself this year.  Something I recognize in my own life is that you can have a really strong spiritual experience or period of time with the spirit, but you can quickly move away from those things that help you have the spirit so strongly in your life.  At first you can make baby steps away from the things you know you need to do, and pretty soon, you are so much farther away than you ever meant to be.  I think the thing you have learned this change is that you can strive to be obedient in all the rules.  Don't pick and choose which ones you think you should obey or not obey… just try to trust in the Lord and be obedient in all things.  I know it is what brings such great blessings in your life, helps you to be a great missionary and also provides protection.  So, will you write me about some goals that you set for yourself?  If you haven't set any yet, think about it this week.  

Last week you asked me to write a little about how the scripture in Rev. does not mean that no other scripture will be written after the book of Revelation.  

Rev. 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

First of all, remember that the apostles didn't set out to write a "bible."  They were each writing a "journal" of their experiences with Christ.  The writings of the apostles were generally written between 50-95AD.  Since Christ was crucified in about 33AD, there was much time for them to write.  Although these "journals" were written in the 1st century AD, most of them were not found until the 2-3rd century and began to be put together into a Bible.  When John wrote Revelations, he did not know that Matthew and Luke and Peter, etc were all writing their own books.  Therefore, Christians shouldn't use that scripture against Mormons for having additional scriptures, when you could just as easily use the same argument to say that the writings of any of the other apostles would also fall into the same category as "any thing added unto this book."  Secondly, from what I can see in the little research I did, there is a lot of disagreement about when the books of the New Testament were written.  Here is an example of one website:

 James - 50 A.D.

First Thessalonians - 52-53.

Second Thessalonians - 52-53.

Galatians - 55.

First Corinthians - 57.

Second Corinthians - 57.

Romans - 57-58.

Philippians - 62-63.

Colossians - 62-63.

Philemon - 62-63.

Ephesians - 62-63.

Luke - 63.

Acts - 64.

First Timothy - 65.

Titus - 65.

Second Timothy - 66.

Mark - 66.

Matthew - 67.

Hebrews - 67.

First Peter - 67-68.

Second Peter - 68.

Jude - 68.

Apocalypse - 68. (Apocalypse is Revelation)

John - c. 85.

Epistles of John - 90-95.

So in this estimation, Revelations was written in 68 AD where as other books of John were written in 90 AD.  Some estimates suggest that Revelations was actually written last.  But the thing is, no one really knows so that is another argument that nothing else should be added because very possibly other books that are actually contained in the Bible were likely written after Revelations.

Then the Nicene Creed is released in 325 AD and later revised in 381 AD.  Part of the scripture in verse 19 says that no man should take away from the words of that book.  We know that things were taken out of the bible, wording changed, etc.  That is not just  a Mormon accusation, but a known fact.  Maybe people who are worried about our BOM should think about how the "words were changed" and now even more with the NIV bible that TOTALLY changes the words of the bible!  

I found a little history of the bible I'm gonna throw in here too because I think you'll like the info.  The Old Testament (OT) was written in Hebrew and the New Testament (NT) was written in Greek.  So in the beginning, only priests were allowed to read the bible and they had to be fluent in Greek and Hebrew in order to do it.  In 382 AD, the Catholic pope asked a priest to translate the bible into Latin.  This priest could speak Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He did so and called it the Vulgate.  Monks began making copies of the Vulgate by hand (there was no printing press back then).  There were problems with this: translation errors and some deliberate changes.In 1320 AD, John Wycliffe was a scholar and he criticized the Catholic church for not allowing the common man to read the bible.  He could only speak Latin and English so he translated the Latin Vulgate into English.  The church greatly opposed this and burned anyone at the stake who was found in possession of a Wycliffe bible.  In 1492, William Tyndale was born.  He was a scholar and could speak Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English.  He read the Hebrew and Greek originals of the bible and showed how the Vulgate was translated incorrectly.  He went into hiding in Germany and made an English translation of the bible from the original Hebrew and Greek writings.  The printing press was now invented and he made 3000 copies of his English bible.  Tyndale was later captured and burned at the stake.  But he started a movement that brought about Martin Luther who started the protestant reformation… starting other churches away from the Catholic religion.  By the time King James became king of England in 1605, there was a lot of religious confusion.  There were many versions of the bible and not one was accepted by everyone.  So the king formed a committee of 47 scholars who spent 7 years publishing a new English translation.  Most of the bible remained Tyndale's translation.  This new version was called the King James Version (the one we use).  200 years later Joseph Smith would live in a world where there were many interpretations of the bible.  No wonder he was seeking clarity and answers.  I'm so grateful he had the faith to ask questions and seek the truth!

There… hows that for a Mom's lesson 1000 miles away:)  

I know this will have take so much time for you to read so I'll be short with the rest of my letter… We celebrated Erik's graduation from Paramedic school tonight.  He actually graduates on Tuesday.  I'm so happy for him! 

I'm making plans to take dad away for his 50th birthday weekend in 2 weeks.  I got us tickets to see a play called "Once" that is a great musical.  I also booked 2 nights at a golf resort/hotel for us.  It will be a great getaway.  I figured we did the big 80s party for him last year so I'll try something a little different for his bday this year.  How in the crap and Dad and I turning 50 this year/????  Not possible!  

I love you my son!  I will leave you with a quote that I heard this week that I really love.  "Pray like everything depends on the Lord.  Work like everything depends on you." - Brigham Young   It is a great motto for your mission and your life.  

I love you with every ounce of my heart!  You are prayed for many times each day and you are missed more than you could know!  Infinity + Infinity!

xoxoxo

Mom

February 2, 2015 from Sam

Hit 5 months today!  Whatssss gooood back in the united stizates? 

We had another solid week and the baptism went great with Kevin this past Saturday.  It went great!  Me and his aunt Dianna, my mom in the misión, did a song after his baptism a mix of Spanish and English that was super tight of "Oh My Father" (O Mi Padre).  It was a special baptism and almost the whole ward was there for it.

Me and Elder Funes are doing great.   He's a great companion and probably the companion I'll learn the most from in the mission.  Right now the only hard part is I'm just kind of sick of this junior comp thing and taking orders.  Neither he nor Elder Cano really know how to talk in a non douchy way when saying what were doing or explaining why and its a big test of patience but I'm learning!  But that's a small problem compared to what a lot of companionships go through.  And for the most part were solid and having success.  Paty and her two daughters will be baptized this next Saturday which will come up to be 6 pretty amazing converts in one change.  In our mission that's just unheard of unless it's one big family. But I'm just grateful for what we have right now and our obedience that we're striving for and the work ethic that we have together.  Every night I'm absolutely dead exhausted but I can never say "man, we could've done more today". 

My quick spiritual thought for the week.  So missionary work here is obviously completely different than what it is in the states.  The problem here is there are so many inactive members of the church, but at the same time all the active and involved ones are incredible. The amount they sacrifice for the church and how they ALWAYS put Heavenly Father first is inspiring.  So I would just leave you with a thought of, How active are you, truly? Are you truly converted to the gospel?  It's easy to go to church every Sunday.  But I've realized that's not really the meaning of being "active" in the gospel.  I went to church almost every Sunday for 19 years of my life but looking back now, I realize I wasn't "truly active" nearly enough.  Being active to me really means sacrificing and ALWAYS putting Heavenly Father first and always growing and strengthening your testimony in any way possible. Daily.

I hope everyone is doing great!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Gurksnis