Wednesday, August 29

Dear Family, 
I am sorry this is late but today we went to the temple so P-day was switched and I didn't have an opportunity to notify you.  The temple was a really good experience today, I learn so much every time, and the things I learn go right in hand with the things I study.  We still don't have a whole lot going on.  I gave an 18 minute talk on learning and teaching through the Spirit on Sunday.  It was a good experience, and I really think it went well.  It is hard to write a talk on scratch paper, editing is impossible and stuff.  I had a bunch written down with quotes and all, but when I went up there, I hardly read any of it except the quotes.  I was speaking through my knowledge and through the Spirit, and everything flowed so great and it was really complete.  I hadn't planned on doing that, but I did and it was awesome.  I had about 9 minutes on my paper, but I guess I was just able to expound so much more, and all, and include things as they came into my head.  Aside from identifying scriptures, I started the talk the night before.  I spoke in our second ward, which was nice because I could focus more on the sacrament in the first.  During Sacrament meeting in the first ward, my thoughts turned to my gratitude for my family, and then a quote from a scripture just popped into my head and wouldn't leave.  The scripture seems kind of insignificant, but I guess my interpretation and how it fit into my life right now made it stand out a lot more, and from the get go I had felt inspired to share it with all of you.  It is Doctrine and Covenants 33:1 "Behold, I say unto you, my servants Ezra and Northrop, open ye your ears and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The meaning of the last part was what was popping in my head and I loved so much.  The Spirit tell us our true desires...As we live in a way that shows faith, invites the Spirit and helps us grow...not only does the gospel lead us straight forward to Salvation and having an eternal family and all, but it makes us want it too.  If someone lacks motive to strive for these  things, having the Spirit in their life sets them towards their hearts true desires.  Satan confuses and blinds us so much as to what it is we truly want, and it has been such a blessing for me on my mission, to be able to live under the Spirit's constant care...and be able to know that everything that I am doing, is to direct me towards the things I truly want.  So many people live each day without progression, and work to satisfy the things that hardly matter...As we live righteously, it's not that we simply find happiness, but the commandments no longer bother us, the Spirit fills us, and we know exactly what our desires are, and that we are successfully working directly towards something that we know we want and will bring so much happiness.  As we grow, our visions of our goal draw so much nearer, making their glory so much more manifest.  So many people do not have that guidance or that hope...that faith to lead their lives in a happy way.  So I don't know why I felt so inspired to share this, I find great and applicable scriptures and meanings everyday...but as I thought about my family I just felt so strongly inspired to share this one.  So I hope it helps at least one of you.
So, to answer dad's comments, a ghetto bird is like the police helicopters that fly over the hood looking for people.  Last Monday after I finished emailing, I had my first contacting semisuccess.  I said hi to the woman waiting by her car and she asked what church we were from.  She had just heard about Mormons and missionaries, our service, the church welfare, and food storage, and was planning on watching that thing on NBC that was going to show that night (update me on that).  She lived in Henderson so we gave our number and all, but she is far from us.  She was curious and asked us for something to read, so I gave her a few pamphlets, and described them really quick.  She was Baptist and I guess mostly curious about our church's more secular successes and all.  She was really grateful for what we were doing.
So to finish up, it rained all day the other day which was fun.  It FLOODS. Someone died riding down a gutter on a mattress and drowned, they never found him.  It didn't ever rain that hard and it was only like 5 hours.  You can see so far out here, a lot of times we see rain and lightening way in the distance but never hear anything or get any rain.  It's disappointing.  We heard a ton of gun shots the other night when we were getting home.  We went with a kid in our ward to pull a palm tree the other day, that was fun.  We had 3 people with pickaxes and shovels just killing the roots for 2 hours, and then hooked this huge Ford F250 to it, and it still pulled his truck backwards before the tree finally fell.  And then we couldn't move it once it was down, but the kids said they came back and finished it all up.  I am sorry, there is so much more I want to say, but I have hardly any time.