Hola a todos! This week went so quickly. I remember sending out my email from last week. It’s been really good here in the Payson area. We had quite a few lessons this week. One of my favorite lessons though was with the D family. They are such great people and their testimonies of the Gospel are so strong. I really loved this lesson because they have a young man whose name is P. Now this young man has some disabilities but that isn’t the point. The point I am trying to make is that this family has been so kind to me and my companion.

It is so much easier now working with the Spirit after serving a mission almost 2 years. I have learned to trust my companion and to do what the Spirit directs while I have been out. Recently I have been studying about Pride and C.S Lewis has a quote about pride which says: 

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I have recently learned that pride steals your happiness and joy. It is very easy as a missionary to think all about yourself but Gordon B Hinkley’s Father once said: “Forget yourself and go to work.” This is exactly what I have been trying to do these last couple months. When I first heard about missionaries going out to serve and teach, I thought all they do is teach lessons and make friends with those they teach. A few months ago, I learned that missionaries must make friends with the members because through the members is where most of the missionary work is done. Recently the lessons we have had with our friend B have been in at least at 5 different family homes. Most of the members in the Mogollon ward here in the Payson Arizona area know her now and each Sunday they will come up to her to see how she is doing. This shows me that many of these members are trying to eliminate pride from their lives. This is excellent because in the scriptures we read in Matthew 10 about Jesus Christ instructing the 12 apostles on how to do missionary work:

Verse 9:.

“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

This truly has been a remarkable 22 months and as I come up on 23 months in less than 2 weeks I plan to continue pushing forward with a steadfastness in Christ. Many of you are excited for me to return home and I honestly do not know what to feel. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is the Redeemer and Savior of the world. I know as the world gets darker and darker that the coming of Jesus Christ is 2 steps closer than before. STAY STRONG MY FRIENDS!! LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL IN LESS THAN 2 1/2 weeks! May the Good Lord be with you all this week and Remember to hold Fast to the iron rod because it is the word of God. Love yall!!!