Weekly Letter - Sunday, October 4th, 2014 (No pics this week though, the computer wouldn't work!)

Family,              Hey everyone!!! What a good week here in the mission, and it certainly sounds like you guys had a great week too.  I think I talked a little about this the last General Conference, but for us missionaries General Conference is the coolest thing ever. It's funny because I keep comparing my attitude to General Conference to before the mission and now, and there are a lot of changes.  Before I was always excited when the final prayer was being given on the Sunday afternoon session, and now I'm super sad....I would love for Conference to be longer. Also before I would sleep during the talks, and now if somebody is making noises or something I get bugged.  I have really come to love our leaders and have come to feel the spirit more while they speak to us.  One of the coolest feelings I get when our leaders talk is the feeling that the spirit gives us confirming the truthfulness of the messages being shared by our leaders. I like how even a few of our leaders talked about that these last two days, how if we search for personal conviction we will receive it...but only if we really want it.  Isn't it awesome to hear President Monson's testimony of Christ...somebody who has actually seen and conversed with him?!  I always get butterflies hearing his testimony about our Savior. It is so simple yet powerful.                     But yeah, other than General Conference this week was good.  It was more of a normal week. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with being Financial Secretary.  Last week since it was the start of a new month, I had to deposit all of the monthly money (Mensualidad in Spanish), and it was the first time, so after that I think now I feel better about everything, because now I have confronted pretty much all of the jobs of a Financial Secretary.  But yeah....so that's nice because now I'm not sooooo stressed out.                       We saw a miracle this last week though of how the Lord is hastening his work and not us.  Me and Elder Beifuss don't necessarily leave the offices to work unless we have a special investigator or something special to do, like eating with the members, so we don't really contact people on the street or anything, but this last week we got a referral from a member from a different ward who told us that his brother's wife wasn't a member but wanted to know the church more and possibly get baptized.  Sadly, we haven't been able to go due to this busy weekend and other stuff that happened, but it is proof to me that the Lord is hastening his work, and we just have to be spiritually in touch to be able to respond to his voice when he talks/whispers to us.                         Also Elder Cooper and I were walking to get a haircut the other day when we found a lady that was struggling to carry a lot of grocery bags...so we decided to help her.  She is Catholic but we found out that she believes in more of the things that we believe in, like how we only worship God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost and not other Saints.  It was a really cool experience and she invited us to come back this next week so we're going to go back to visit her.                        Now I would just like to share a few of my favorite parts from General Conference: I noticed that a lot of the talks were focused on Christ, and so that was an amazing way to start off the conference with Boyd K Packer testifying of the importance of what Christ did for us.   After him was Lynn G Robbins burning our eyebrows with his words about only serving God and not man.  And then to end the session was Dieter F Uchtdorf with his talk about getting our own testimonies, and how God will always answer our prayers.  In the second session I liked Neil L Anderson's talk a lot when he talked about how opposition sends truth seekers to their knees, therefore it is necessary.   I think one of my favorite quotes was in Priesthood session when President Monson said," A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.  He's never going to make it back to home-port." I also liked a lot how a lot of talks today were about personal revelation.  Man...I just liked everything didn't I...and I didn't even mention everything that I liked!!!                         But yeah.....just like how some of the people gave their talks in their home languages, I would like to give my testimony in Spanish:                        Yo se que los profetas son llamados por Dios y que Dios habla no solamente con ellos, sino con nosotros tambien.  Se que la revelacion personal es disponible para todos los hijos de Dios, o sea todos nosotros.  Dios nos ama tanto que envio a su hijo Jesucristo...para morir y sufrir para que un dia nosotros podamos viver de nuevo con ellos.  Yo Se que Jesucristo vive y que si vivimos de acuerdo con las enseñanzas que nos ha dado, viviremos felices aqui en este mundo y en el mundo venidero.  Les amo a ustedes, deseo lo mejor para ustedes y mi familia futura.  Gracias por todo, y que tenga una buena semana!!!! Thanks for everything!!  Have a great week, and remember to do what Richard G Scott taught us to do to have eternal life: Pray always, as a family and personally Read, Study and Ponder the scriptures daily. It is more important than sleep itself! Family home evening EVERY WEEK!!! Don't let your busy schedules get in the way. And Go to the temple often! I love you all so much!!!  Have a great week!! -Elder Loveless