Hey guys!
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Well i got to run. i think we are getting all the zones together again for
a soccer game. got to get pumped!!!! haha. but know that this is the church of
God on the earth today. this work is the work of our savior jesus christ and our
loving heavenly father. he loves us. he loves all of his children and wants them
to return to his presence for every soul is of great worth and is precious in
the eyes of god. My testimony has been strengthen so much in just these 3 months
of my mission and i know the book of mormon is true. i know it without a doubt
in my heart. i challenge all who read this letter to share this message with
your friends and neighbors. open your mouth and just testify of what you know to
be true. it may be scary and a little unnerving but i promise that if you will
do this, the lord will bless you and will work miracles through you in changing
the lives of our friends and families. this is the work of salvation among the
children of men. fortify your testimonies, keep the faith and fight the good
fight. everyone is called to fight this fight. read and reread DC 4. I testify
that jesus is the christ and that he suffered for the sins of the world. He is
mine and yours savior and he loves each and everyone of us. Share this glorious
message with the world. for ¨The Standard of Trugh has been erected; no
unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs
may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of god will
go forth bodly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent,
visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, till the
purposes of god shall be accomplished, and the great jehovah shall say the work
is done¨.
Wow another week gone. Crazy! Hahaha oh i dont even know where to start
this one....just that i am so happy! i love being a missionary! we had a great
week with many blessings from the lord that we saw. but i guess i want to say
thanks for everything first. all the support and love that you all give to me is
such a blessing to me in my life and i am so grateful to have you all in my
life. so thank you. and to all those who have recieved mission calls!!
Congradulations!!!!! this is the best work you could be doing. i love serving my
savior and our heavenly father. i truely love this people and the chance to bear
my testimony to them every day and watch this gosepl change their lives. it is
such an honor to witness all these miracles on a daily basis.
well let me tell you about the week....
the first couple days were just work work work. we had some success but for
the most part it was pretty tough with all our investigators and trying to find
more to teach. we were praying so hard to find some more people and it seemed
like everything was in a sense failing becasue we couldnt find investigators and
what not but the lord answers our prayers after the trials of our faith. he
builds us stronger after we are tried and after we show our faith and
willingness to follow him no matter what happens or trials we face. because
after a long week of trying and trying and trying we were blessed to teach all
of the investigators that we needed to teach and they are progressing just fine!
especially yesterday. sundays here are great but it is a real problem with
people coming to church. members included and yesterday we had a record high of
over 80 people in the sacrament meeting!!! we had a full chapel for the first
time in weeks! we also had 5 investigators show up with 6 menos activos tambien.
in our gospel doctrine class that we teach we had a lot of people show up and
actually give us references for their families and friends. we were so excited
and thrilled. the fast and testimony meeting was so spiritual too and all the
testimonies that were given were exactly what our investigators needed to hear.
it is the simple yet powerful testiomonies of the book of mormon and this gospel
that touch their hearts. you dont need to be eloquent in your speaking or have
an excellent vocabulary to touch the heart of an individual and allow this
gospel to change their lives. Elder Pulido and I got to have that chance and we
bore our testimonies and the spirit was so strong. gosh i love it. have i said
that before??? oh i got to play the violin again not only in sacrament meeting
but in many homes and family nights. everyone really enjoys it...especially me.
i love playing the hymns and it invites the spirit which is the most important
thing. one hermano in our ward told me that he hasnt seen that many people in
sacrament meeting in years and that he says it is all because of my violin. it
really made me feel good and hey if the violin is bringing people to church then
yeah i will play every sunday. what a blessing it is to be able to play. faith
and jake-dont you ever quit.
What else....oh we have been working with this wonderful lady and her
daughter (Gloria and Adriadna) and she has refused and refused baptism because
she has fears and doubts. and we have been praying for her and we planned a
special noche de hogar (family night) with them in the house of one of our
members. i got to play the violin. i played families can be together forever and
she just broke into tears. we talked about families and all the blessings that
this gosepl brings to the family. i share with her pictures of teh family and it
was a really sweet and spiritual meeting. and she excepted baptism for this
saturday. we are praying so hard for her and that she wont get scared off before
saturday! what a blessing.
Oh it was fun this last week to watch all the little peruvian kids dress up
for halloween and see them go around for their candy. oh a we had dia de los
muertos this last week to. it is such a huge holiday here and we took advantage
of the opportunity to teach the plan of salvation to a ton of people in the
cementaries!! haha we passed out plan of salvation phamplets to everyone! it was
a fun day...lots of drunks. hopefully when they are sober they read about the
gospel and hopefully want to change. they always tell us they do. Oh and later
that night some of the members took us out to this polleria (a chicken place
restuarant) and we got to have a feast of chicken and french fries! It was
amazing not to have rice!!! it was really good and we had a great time together.
The people here are so amazing and so loving.
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Well i got to run. i think we are getting all the zones together again for
a soccer game. got to get pumped!!!! haha. but know that this is the church of
God on the earth today. this work is the work of our savior jesus christ and our
loving heavenly father. he loves us. he loves all of his children and wants them
to return to his presence for every soul is of great worth and is precious in
the eyes of god. My testimony has been strengthen so much in just these 3 months
of my mission and i know the book of mormon is true. i know it without a doubt
in my heart. i challenge all who read this letter to share this message with
your friends and neighbors. open your mouth and just testify of what you know to
be true. it may be scary and a little unnerving but i promise that if you will
do this, the lord will bless you and will work miracles through you in changing
the lives of our friends and families. this is the work of salvation among the
children of men. fortify your testimonies, keep the faith and fight the good
fight. everyone is called to fight this fight. read and reread DC 4. I testify
that jesus is the christ and that he suffered for the sins of the world. He is
mine and yours savior and he loves each and everyone of us. Share this glorious
message with the world. for ¨The Standard of Trugh has been erected; no
unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs
may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of god will
go forth bodly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent,
visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, till the
purposes of god shall be accomplished, and the great jehovah shall say the work
is done¨.
I love you all so much. Take care.
Elder Birtcher
1-4-3
Con mucho amor
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