THAT"S THE SPIRIT, MY FRIENDS.

Heyho, howdy!

WELL, it snowed again. Rats.

I really don't feel like its been an honest 7 days since last Tuesday, someone must be messing with the earth's rotation or something - maybe the earthquake in Chile affected more than they thought (we heard it actually moved the earth's tilt like 5 milimeters, intense...)

Jeffrey, feel free to clean up my side of the room. We have a whole house here to clean, so...

Lets see, what happened this week... good lessons, exchanges (other missionaries almost crashing our car, good stuff), met a guy who alternates between being Dan and Danielle, etc... I'm way tired, can't really think straight, I mentioned that we have two missionaries that moved in, and that the prank potential would go up... well, it certainly has, and its been war for 7 days straight. Pretty awesome, buckets of soapy water on top of half open doors, messing with the power breaker while people are taking a shower, slamming a twinkie in someone's face, many belt wars (painful), hiding and scaring people, setting alarms for 3 am, running in and waving a flashlight in sleeping people's faces while dragging them and their sheets toward the stairs, leaving live worms on people's desks... its all pretty epic, and probably should stop... but hey, what can you do?

Two baptisms this coming saturday, Leticia and Leslie, the ones from the hospital. Very solid. Leticia calls us her "angels" kinda weird, but she says she feels the Spirit way strong when we are around. Should be good.

Well, Miss Frary is getting hitched?!?!?!? That's pretty crazy, but expected. Actually, I KNOW Lehi Yanez's parents, and his brother - his brother's family goes to our branch, also called the Yanez family (Ja-nyez). The parents visited here once, nice people, very funny. Madeleine mentioned she had come up here to Layton a few times, and the Yanez's were talking about some girl at BYU that knew his brother Lehi, that she'd always come up and their two kids would go crazy yelling "Maddie!" It was pretty weird when we figured out we knew the same people. I figured she was getting married pretty soon, they should come up and do it in Ogden, that'd be sweet to go attend! I wonder how that'll work, if she'll be learning Spanish... hopefully Lehi speaks English too. Haha. Best of luck to 'em, that's crazy!

FIX BOOMPF.

Man, those stories are hilarious. Good times, don't miss high school at all, good job with the fence Alex.

That's cool Holly, seems like a lot of people are bringing up the Church when they're around you! You're doing a good job being a missionary, we're proud of you here!

Steven... missionary?... everyone's growing up FAST.

Layna is smart, Shamra should take pictures and send them to me of Europe, and I knew about Kayla's mission thoughts. Awesome!

Wow, I'm kinda without things to say today, so I guess we'll wrap this up. We met a man yesterday that basically was a friend of Korihor [a man in the Book of Mormon who denied there was a God]: I don't believe in a God, you can't prove it, show me a real miraculous sign and I'll believe, its all just garbage, I don't need God and I can figure out my life best on MY OWN. It was intesne, we spoke of feeling the Spirit, of faith, but he just couldn't accept that. Hardened. He had let life and things get to him, and now can't feel the Spirit, can't accept that type of answer, has no faith. I think we take for granted how much faith we have in the Lord. Some people want signs, but if even they have them, they won't believe. In contrast, if we believe, I know we will see signs, miracles, things outside our control. We taught a lady yesterday, strong in another religion, but we shared our testimonies the best we could about what the Prophet Joseph Smith saw, and that God lives and of His truth - and as has happened weekly to people that we teach for a year now, she said "I feel something... peace. Tranquility. It just came while he was talking..." That's the Spirit, my friends. I've seen people try to "convince" or speak with great emotion or eloquence, and it doesn't produce the same thing that simple, sincere, heartfelt testimony does: the Spirit enters the room, children stop crying, loud music next door gets softer, and everyone feels peace. I know that God lives. I know that this is the truth. Its not always easy to accept and live it, its not easy to share it, its not easy period, but its true, and its worth it. As we put the Savior first, have faith in Him, and move forward obediently, I have faith we will receive answers. Everyone that I have asked to do that, and they have done it sincerely with effort, recieves that witness. I know its true. Share it with your friends!

Love, Elder Thelin



(I got here in the mission field 1 year ago....)