It sounds like a lot of fun stuff is happening at home.
Jessica is already buying things for her first Christmas with her
husband, car breaking down, Jordan is already engaged, haha I love this
hour of time where I get to pretend I am there with you all haha. :D I´m
glad that everyone seems to be doing so well and that the Christmas joy
seems to be getting into everyone :) Oh and the Thanksgiving leftovers...
maybe you can throw some of that into the freezer and send it in a
cooler. I miss one of my favorite holidays! We did have a good lunch
that day with mashed potatoes though, and we played soccer on Friday, so
I had a little celebrating here haha.
So more exciting news...
María Anch got baptized last Saturday! She did it! We weren´t sure what
was going to happen, and we were even thinking of dropping her for now
because she seemed to stop progressing. But we went to her on Thursday,
and after a little scripture sharing and talking, she said she was
excited to go to church on Sunday. So I thought, okay, one more week and
then she´ll be ready, and I was about to say the closing prayer. But
Elder Garcia just went for it and reminded her that last time she was
going to get baptized, she told us in 2 more weeks she would. And then
she said, okay, I will. This Saturday then. Just like that! Elder Garcia
had had a pretty bad day with back pains and being really tired, but he
just perked up all of a sudden and asked, and she accepted! The service
was very good. Her two granddaughters were able to come too. She is so
great and strong! It is hard for her to get around, and it was pretty
hard for her to quit smoking, but she has conquered, just like you said
how the Christ helps us to where we need to be! One of her
granddaughters is really excited now to be baptized this Saturday, and
we´ll keep working with María's two daughters too.
I´m not sure if I have already talked about this before, but I was
thinking about it this week and wanted to share. It is a lesson from 1
Samuel 15:22. Saul offered sacrifices unto the Lord trying to make up
for disobedience. But the Lord tells him "to obey is better than
sacrifice". A lot of people here seem to struggle with the law of tithing
and keeping the sabbath day holy. They seem to think that as long as
they go to church, it is okay to work on Sundays. They say that they
need to work, or have their home business open or go sell bread, to
provide for their family. And for the same reason they can´t pay
tithing. But with a little of faith, the answer is obvious. The Lord
will help us when we obey him. Maybe they say they need to work on
Sundays so that they can pay tithing. But like Saul, the Lord doesn´t
need tithes or offerings, He needs our obedience. The Lord does not need
money. He needs us to be obedient. Tithing is 10%, no more no less. His
commandments are set and they apply to everyone so that we can learn to
be like Him. That is one reason He gives us commandments, because to be
a God like Him some day, we will have to do everything He does. He
keeps all of His commandments, and we need to too.
I hope it doesn´t sound harsh or ignorant. As a missionary I am
here to testify to everyone that the gospel is true, and that we will be
blessed when we live it. It is hard for many people to always keep
these commitments, but if it were easy, it wouldn´t be a test of faith
would it?
Well this is week 18 in Tocopilla. It is so awesome here! The
people and branch are amazing and there are cool places to go on P-days
haha. We will see what happens this week in transfers. I think and hope I
stay here though. There is so much to do! And we have heard that in the
next few months because of all the new missionaries there will be 6 or 8
missionaries in Tocopilla rather than just the 4.
How are sports going Nathan? Did you/are you playing football or rugby?
Is
there a lot of snow this year? I don´t even think I remember what cold
feels like haha. I don´t even sleep with a sheet anymore here. It is too
hot at night!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Keele
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