February 7, 2011

Thanks for the letters haha:)
I'm glad to hear the kids are owning in sports. I'm sorry to hear Uncle Tom isn't doing too well, but God's will shall be done. You never need to call the President, no matter how bad anything ever happens, even within my own immediate family. An email will always be enough. He has too many other things to worry about.
Dad, it's sorta funny imagining you hooked up to a machine to sleep. hahahaha good luck, I'll have to try it out when I get home. Fortunately, I think that gene (from both of you) skipped me. I sleep all night every night and my comps haven't heard me ever snore, they say I just sometimes laugh in my sleep. They say it's creepy, but it's not like I try to.
It's interesting hearing about your crazy weather changes there, we are going through the same thing. 3 days ago, it broke 120, and then the following morning, we had frost and I wore a sweatshirt in studies. People here are super paranoid too,and so all they talk about is how the world is going to end in 2012. I've gotten tired of explaining that it's not, so anytime people ask if it will end then I just say "I hope so" now :) The times are sure changing fast, though.
I also couldn't believe Kayli's schedule. Dang, it's weird to think how close she is to graduating.
I'm glad you found a connection to Quinn! That's so cool! I can't wait to hear his stories when he gets back. That will be super fun!
This last week we saw many blessings long-awaited for. Elvira was baptised and bore her testimony and promised in her testimony to prepare to serve a mission. This week she has divisions a couple times with the sister missionaries here in Tbo. Her desires to share the gospel have influenced me a lot already and she is going to change a lot of lives. This Sunday Leonardo gets baptised. His buddy Jhonny was inactive, but on Saturday we asked him to come to the baptism to say a prayer and he came, then on Sunday he came, and all Sunday afternoon he went out to work with us. He went inactive because he was told he can't serve a mission a year ago because he has a brain tumor and takes heavy meds to keep problems down. On Sunday he gets to baptise his buddy. Sunday night we also found a youn g blind man. He was military officer that because of diabetes he lost his vision a year ago. Military has huge benefits and he sold his big farm out in the country and now has a BEAUTIFUL home where he lives alone. His older brother comes every morning and night to make food and clean a bit. We challenged him to come to church on Sunday just to feel the Spirit and he thanked us for helping him to believe in God again. Jhonny did such a good job he taught most of the lesson.
We had been given 15 families to reactivate and this last week we had time to really focus on 4 of them. All came to church Sunday and the ward JUMPED to greet them!!! The bishop stood in the doorway (he's such a stud, he stands outside the church every sunday morning to greet people) with a HUGE grin on his face. The chapel was full and 2 of the less actives couples went up to bear testimony. We are using them to find new people too. One man is named Miguel that has (and his wife and 5 kids) been inactive for 4 years due to alcohol. His family haven't all come back and his wife gives little support, but he has repented and prepared to baptise his daughter on the 19th! And then we also found the brother of the stake president inactive and him his wife and 4 kids are coming to church and he will baptise his daughter on the 26th!
Also, we found a couple that are already married, he was raised in the church but went inactive around age 8 or 9 and was never baptised, and his wife has a ton of family in the ward. They went for the first time to church yesterday and the ward was so welcoming! Tonight we have a lesson with them to give them a baptismal date for the 26th. President Heaton is going to spend the afternoon on divisions with us today, because tomorrow is zone conference! I LOVE zone conference.
We have been doing a reference activity with the members and have 7 members families working with their neighbors without us. They are visiting regularly 22 people and teaching them the lessons we taught them, preparing them to hear us. It's so much more effective to joyfully teach members how to find references than to be one of those missionaries that complains how lame the ward is because they don't automatically work. I've learned a lot about how to get people excited and working in the mission and I am stoked to apply that to the rest of my life.
Well I wrote the novel today, just because I have so much to say I actually wrote the whole 30 minutes haha I love you all so much and I pray for you daily. The church is true. Jesus is the Christ, and we are to be his disciples. When he told us that, it was a commandment, not a simple invitation. I love the Lord and I know he is carrying you through each and every one of your trials, be it big or small. Just be worthy of that or you will lose it, and we cannot afford to lose it. Never be a murmurer.
Elder Magnusson