Monday, April 2, 2012
Hoooooooooola!
Buenos dias, de la ciudad bonita de Houston!
First item of business: I'm staying here! But unfortunately, Elder Duran will be leaving. It will be very interesting to see where he goes! I'll have to tell you about it in next week's e-mail, because by then, my companion will be different. It's been a very AWESOME experience to serve with Elder Duran! He has a great desire for the work, and get's along well with those around him. He's also been a great example to me of being quick to forgive. I know I need to work on that a lot! It seems like with Conference come many new things which we need to improve - or the confirmation from the Spirit of the things we already knew we needed to improve, but now seem more urgent. I'm definitely grateful for Elder Duran's example of hard work, dedication, and always being willing to do what is required of him by the Lord. Obedience is the first law of anything, so if we want to obtain the blessings from heaven, we first need to be obedient to the laws of heaven!
Unfortunately, I didn't do any fooling this time. I completely forgot! Conference really wrapped us up and kept us really focused on that. We had the HUGE blessing of finding someone named Jose Ricardo this past week. He's been going through a rough time, but he still came to conference on Saturday. In fact, because we didn't have a way to get down there, he even gave us a ride! It would have been at least an hour's ride for us to get there, so that was a great blessing. He said he was able to find the peace he was looking for. And guess what? He came back again the next day! In total, he came to three sessions of General Conference, and it looks like it really touched him. There was a lunch after the first session of conference on Sunday (This time, broadcast to our building), so he and two of his children stayed for that. It was just realy amazing to me to see the gospel at work. Sometimes, we talk to so many people who, at that time, aren't ready for the gospel (from what we can tell). It's easy in those times to get down and ask questions. But seeing the Atonement of Jesus Christ working in Ricardo's life, to strengthen and support him, reaffirmed in my heart the great blessing that the gospel - and through the gospel, the Atonement of Christ - really is in our lives.
Before I forget, Arbor Cove sounds great! And yes, the 6-man apartment is just fine! And if you do send a little Easter something, I think it would be fine to send here to our apartment. They put a note in our mailbox, if I'm not mistaken, and then we take the note to the office to pick up the package, if it's too big to fit inside our mailbox. Since I'll be staying here (as far as I know), it would also be perfect for Brother Hemstalk to send the letter to our apartment address as well.
It sounds like the week went really well! I'm glad Kaytlin received the card, and I hope that her birthday went well, and that the party will be AWESOME!! Way to go, Kristin, on the band award! That's so cool, what you're doing! Keep up the great work, everyone! How are you doing with your Japanese class, Justin? Are you still taking it this semester? How is everyone doing with the end of school getting closer?
Oh, and about the bike, I'm thinking about just donating it to the mission. There will probably be someone who can use it (or I guess it might be something Justin could use one day - Still thinking about serving a mission, Justin? What do you think? The bike is still in pretty good condition - Just a little oil here and there, a couple of screws tightened up, and alli esta!). I guess either way could work. I just want to make sure someone can use it, so I'll probably leave it here. Or if you have a suggestion, PLEASE let me know, just so I can get things sorted out. And for the doctor's release - Is that something I can just write up and have them sign, or does it need to be typed? If it needs to be typed, is that something you might be able to do? Still learning about how everything like this works! The appointment is for the 16th of April at 8:20 in the morning - fasting, for whatever tests they need to do.
So, what can I say in these last 5 minutes that I have? This past week, there was an AWESOME miracle! There was a family that the sisters from the other ward in our district had been working with towards baptism. They had decided that they wouldn't be baptized so far, just with some things that hapened, but that they would set a date. This past week, they had experience after experience that prepared them, and they told the sisters that they wanted to be baptized! It was only going to be four of them, instead of all five, but at the last minute, their oldest son said he wanted to be baptized! So he had his interview, passed, and just a little less than a half-hour later, was baptized! In total, there were 6 people who entered into the gate here this past weekend. It was AWESOME! I know that the Lord prepares people to receive His gospel. But what are we doing to prepare ourselves to find them? I loved how Elder Anderson talked about "What would Jesus do?", and that we should be concerned with "What would Jesus think of me?"
He'll help us to find those people that we need to find! We just have to be ready to find them!
I love you! A infinidad, y mas alla!!
Con mucho amor, Elder Devin Collins
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