1-18-12
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everyone doing? Thank you so much for the Doritos, they were delicious. Also, thank you for sending me that news article and the picture of the Howard family. It was also good to see Jon Carrick again. Also, it was really nice to receive that letter from Brittany. That's awesome to hear that Lucy is doing so good and how much she is growing. I was also pretty surprised to read about how calm that bunny is. I wish I could see this in person! :) I hope all is well with the families in Colorado; also, my wishes go out to Arianne during her first week in Ghana. She'll do great things there! Somebody needs to tell J-Baum that I'm waiting for my monthly issue of "Jess-tice". By the way, mom, did you ever get my letter about the three pics I wanted? Could you also send me Elder Vanwagenen’s mailing address? Thanks!
So something very cool happened this week. Well I’ll first back up a little bit.
Boyd K. Packer once talked about how he didn't see a solution for a problem he was having. He asked about it and one of the other apostles told him that his problem was that he was trying to see the end from the beginning, and he mentioned a scripture from Ether 12:6 saying "... Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
When I first got here, I felt as if I was taking steps into darkness. I had no idea how I was going to learn Portuguese, how I was going to teach with the spirit and how I was even going to earn the trust of the Brazilians here. But I soon realized that I wanted to see the end from the beginning. From then on I learned to walk with faith, know that it’s always darkest just before dawn. As I have started walking in this dark path in faith, I’ve started to learn to enjoy the journey and I'm starting to see the light. I'm finally starting to testify with the spirit rather than just some memorized phrases. I got teary eyed last time I bore my testimony to a mock investigator and after my companion and I finished our lesson and prayed, the mock investigator was crying, the room was full of the spirit and it was such an awesome experience.
Anytime you guys feel like there isn't any light in the direction you are going, but it’s the right choice, continue on with perseverance and faith. I know that you will start to see the light. "Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
I love you guys!
Sincerely,
Elder Smidt X
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