Manuel Parreño, María Magdalena Piñol de Parreño! The new Mission Presidents of the great Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission!! You will have to read about them. They are from Spain Dad! Pretty great!!
Good Afternoon!
Another week has passed by! I read in Jacob 7;26. Where Jacob talks about how their lives passed as if it were a dream. That is kind of how I feel like right now. There is a scripture for everything. ;)
Emails from-
Papa Crouch- I can not tell you how excited I am to read your letter more deeply. I have had an intrigued with the word desire for a long time. Knowing it has to do with seeking and hearts desire. Thank you so much! I pray for you and Grandma daily. Words fall empty when I try to express my gratitude for you both. I love you and try to honor you in all that I do. Have a great week and thank you again for the letter. Please send my love to Grandma.
Grandma Clegg- I bet that you are tired from a very memorable weekend!! I thought about what a special experience this weekend was for you and Grandpa. I love you both and hope that the new ward adjustment is going well. You two will have no problems getting to know other people and jumping right in. Your ward is blessed to have you. I love you both and hope that all is well.
Amy Ellsworth- Thank you so much for you email. I look forward to reading it tonight. Please tell send my love to your family. I actually wrote you a letter today so it should be coming ¨around the mountain¨ in the next few weeks. Thanks so much Amy. You are great.
And of course the faithful fam. Thank you so much!!
This week was pretty awesome. It has been rainy and is cooling down quite a bit. I think it is just the first wave of Fall and it will get a little warmer here in a bit. On Tuesday, we had a great district meeting. Our whole zone has changed and it was great to get to know some other Elders. I truly love getting to meet all of these outstanding young people!! All of them have different back stories and you can learn so much from them.
Wednesday was our normal weekly visit with the Beloqui family from Mar del Plata . They are so awesome. I think they are the greatest blessing of my mission so far. They are just giving everything to this branch. I attached a picture of them.
Thursday we had a good day of tracking and found some new investigators. The week has been pretty solid in all. The Gonzalez family is doing well. Three of the girls have committed to baptism this Saturday. The son has had some problems with drugs and we are working with him. Your prayers in the behalf of Ignacio would be really appreciated. Also the two Torres boys Ariel and Jesus David will be baptized this Saturday! I gave them the “HLJ” rings after we taught the Word of Wisdom and Chastity. Ariel asked if he could have one more to give to his wife when he got married. He is 8 years old. What a stud. They loved the rings there are 8 kids and they all got rings. They just loved them Mom - you were inspired!! There are more stories of the week. But we will have lots of time to talk!! :) I would like you all to know that I am know a banana and tomato man!! Hard to imagine huh? Dad, I hope you were sitting down for that one!! haha (he has hated them with a passion most of his life)
Thursday we had a good day of tracking and found some new investigators. The week has been pretty solid in all. The Gonzalez family is doing well. Three of the girls have committed to baptism this Saturday. The son has had some problems with drugs and we are working with him. Your prayers in the behalf of Ignacio would be really appreciated. Also the two Torres boys Ariel and Jesus David will be baptized this Saturday! I gave them the “HLJ” rings after we taught the Word of Wisdom and Chastity. Ariel asked if he could have one more to give to his wife when he got married. He is 8 years old. What a stud. They loved the rings there are 8 kids and they all got rings. They just loved them Mom - you were inspired!! There are more stories of the week. But we will have lots of time to talk!! :) I would like you all to know that I am know a banana and tomato man!! Hard to imagine huh? Dad, I hope you were sitting down for that one!! haha (he has hated them with a passion most of his life)
Sounds like you all had a really awesome week! That is so wonderful. I am glad that you could have the time with the family and everything went well. I am sure it meant the world to have all the family together for Uncle Alan birthday celebration. I felt almost apart of it on Saturday. What a great thing!!
How is Elder Lott doing in SLC? I am glad to hear the Elder Williams is home safe and sound. Keep me posted on Jordy and Chase. If you could get me their MRC address I would love to write them!
Before I write you individually I wanted to tell you about a scripture and the experience that really taught me this week. I was thinking about the scripture in 1 Nephi 11:16-17 it may be my favorite scripture. I have felt that so much during my mission. I am learning more and more that LOVE is what brings people to Christ. This week also we ate with a member and we were talking about doing something for Elder Ochsebein who will be going home conference weekend. She gave him a nice compliment and said how she thinks that he will be a great father and that she has always admired his testimony, because he didn’t get active in the church till he was 17. I told Elder O this one day, a couple minutes later he lit up and said how something in his Patriarchal blessing talks about that. I thought about how important it is to give praise. I love the classic Og Mandino ¨when I am tempted to criticize I will bite my tongue, when I am tempted to praise I will shout from the roof tops¨. This compliment meant the world to an Elder who is going home and I am sure wonders if he has touched the lives of people like he wanted to. I would like to encourage you all this week to look for ways to tell people that they are doing something good. Be sincere. Positive words change lives and help people feel there true worth.
Dad- Mom said you hurt your back digging someone out on their snowmobile at Redfish last time you went up… How is your back feeling? That is not a very fun pain to deal with. I am sure that you had a wonderful time with your siblings this weekend in Boise. To think everyone flew in, drove up, and spent the weekend together is just amazing. What a special time for Uncle Alan. I thought about you and what a special week this was for you. I hope that you enjoyed it! Thank you so much Dad. I hope that you have a successful week this week. Spring is rolling in there sooner than you know it! Thanks for being not only a father but a best friend to all of us. I love you Pops.- Go get em.
Mom- I was thinking that the train wreck was on the news up there. It was big here. They closed everything. It was really sad. Sounds like you had a busy week and you will have one again this week. Thank you so much for the letters every week. They mean so much to me. I love the little updates and it helps me know what to pray for. You are so amazing in your service to others. The thing is that you get so much joy out of it...selfless service. Yeah, sometimes two years seems long. But we are eternal beings; it is less than a drop in the bucket. Eight months out scares me! I got to pick it up! ;) I love you Mom. I was praying this week in the morning and felt a zinger moment. I could picture you praying and felt your love and prayers in my behalf. Thank you.
Mikesell- Oh that is rough to wait like you are having to hearing from BYU. I know that it will all be good in the end. I sure love you. I am glad you had a good time with Jake. Does Jake know about the Book of Mormon? Try and get him to ask you some questions before you talk to him about it. That makes it easier to teach him. He is a great young man and his potential is huge. I hope that track is great. Hey, just work your tail off. What do you got to loose!? Tell Coach Nordquist hello for me and that I am running strong. I sure love you Mikesell. Thank you for your giant example and influence in my life. You are just incredible. Thank for being my best friend. Learn a lot in seminary now that you have it this trimester!!
Brennen- Hey there my tennis playing bro! I am so proud of you for making that decision. That is awesome! I hope you just eat it up! And Drivers Ed starting this week! That is awesome. I hope that you just love that. How is seminary? You do still have it this trimester? I love you so much. Keep doing the REAL good things in life. Love you man! Thanks so much for your email.
Alex- Last game man coming up! Live it up! Are you going to do track this year? I sure hope so!! Keep strong in the face of all the things that you face. Elder Yarger and I were talking about the huge temptation that our brothers are facing. He was a brother the same age as you. I can not possible tell you enough how important it is to stay close to the things that matter most in life. I love you buddy. Keep being awesome. May heavens richest be yours! Mom says you sleep in my bed the night before a game- yea - thats okay with me!!! Maybe its good luck!?
McCall- Hey there little angel! How is life going for you? Thank you for your story of the pillows with Allie. That sounds really fun and thank you for telling your teacher my name. You are so sweet. I love you Cally. Have an awesome week. You are so great. Have a fun family home evening!!! You are the best Cally!!!
Well I love you all so much. Thank you all for your prayers, kind words, and just being you. I hope that you have the best week ever!!
Life is what you make out of it!!
¡¡¡CHAU!!!