T minus one week!

EMAIL: Saturday, Sept 1, 2012 9:58 AM Guatemala MTC  (I'm a week late getting this on the blog.)

Well, I have been doing great. I usually get all dearelders submitted the following Wednesday. At least, all the dearelders before Monday at noon...I think. So I am still updated on everything that is going on.

And thank you so much Riley, Emilie, Dad, Mom, Missy and Grandma for writing me! I really needed those letters! However, please, send one more Dear Elder this week (Before monday), and then switch the address to the mission home! Cause I go out into the field about a week and a half, and I am so excited! And Elder Jasperson was a little confused when he got letters from you guys, and while they aren{t letters from his own family, I think he appreciates them!

Man, so I have been a little sick today. Starting to get better though.  Sister Nicolayson has told me to sleep, so I won{t argue with that! Ha ha ha. What else, what else. Oh, she told me that BYU beat Washington state. So GO COUGARS!!!!! Ha ha ha.

Ok, this is a kind of a quick change of pace, but I want to get a spiritual thought out of my journal before I am out of time, so here it goes: Wow!!!!  What a day.  Rather, what a teaching experience.  Today we taught our practice investigator Joel.  Joel is very shy and didn{t open up to us very easy. However, he began opening up to us starting yesterday, or two days ago. Today he told us his problem:  He said in the past, he used to pray all the time, but one day, when he was fifteen, he had a bad feeling come over him during his prayer. He said that his friend told him that Joel was wicked and his prayer was unworthy.   Elder Stuart and I were already planning to teach the First Vision, but now with a new twist: we related Joseph Smith{s encounter with the devil with Joel{s. We first taught the background (Apostasy, etc...), and then started on Joseph Smith and his prayer. We taught Joel about the devil. That he is real, and that he causes these feelings of fear, unworthiness and overwhelming guilt in our lives, especially, when we are about to do something important. I bore my testimony about the reality of the devil, his influence to hurt me in my life, and how we need to endure and pray harder when he attacks us.

It was like every night chat with my parents, every piece of encouragement they gave me during my depression came together into a form that Joel needed. Now, I know  that they were right and that all trials are meant to strengthen us, and that we are strengthened to strengthen others.

I felt the Spirit and a love/understanding for Joel that overwhelmed me. There is a real person like Joel somewhere, and I want to help him, SO MUCH!   I was guided by the Spirit and Joel was edified by the Spirit. I love him, and am excited to get back to work.

Another prayer is being answered: I am learning to love others.  Also, I received an answer from God to a question that was really bugging me. I found it in the Liahona for this month, the article is titled something like, ´how do I know if I have been forgiven´. I know that God answers prayers, and that he will always answer in his own time, if we sincerely believe that he will answer. So yeah, my testimony has really been growing, and I have been learning so much. I just want to get out into the field so that I learn and do so much more!

By the way, this week of not being District Leader, was kind of nice, and also kind of hard. And one or two days after I was released, President Nicolayson came up to me and said that two out of my three teachers wanted me to stay as district leader the last three weeks...so maybe I wasn{t so bad after all! Ha ha ha.

Well, I got about eight minutes left....ummmmmmmmmm........I don{t really know what to say more. OH WAIT, yes I do. Missy, since the last letters I got in the PROVO MTC, I haven{t got any other of your letters, minus the Dear Elder you send Saturday, or Sunday. But I expect that they should be arriving soon. Thank you so much for your letter!

Emilie, you are the bomb for you letter, I loved reading every part, especially about Mr. Knappenberger. Ha ha ha. I know he is a different teacher, but I think I learned more effectively from him, than from any other teacher...except maybe Mr. Coxson. So give him a chance, and don}t give him any excuses. Trust me, he doesn{t take unlegit excuses. Just do your best. :) I love you so much, and while I won{t share our little secret...I want to be updated, every day!!!! Or at least every week. Ha ha ha.

Riley, you are the best brother a guy could have! You are an amazing person, and always seem to have a very pure heart. I am glad to hear about humanities and Spanish. I hope you love Jr. High! You can learn a whole bunch from it! I know you will do great, and congrats on your second class!!!

Sara, congrats, on the tail, I love you bird!

And mom and dad. Thank you so much for your love and your news. I gotta go now.

Oh! And Grandma, thanks for sharing your spiritual experiences. I hope to get more time to write out in the field, so hope for more long, more in depth letters in the future.  

And Hermanos Stevenson and Adams, and district, I miss you all!

Elder Welker