Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009

mom,

i swear that i put in my last e mail that i love you. i swear i did. but oh well i will say it right now because i love you so much that i would say it every week without hesitation. well this week was a really cool week. i almost got eaten by a dog the other day. it came running up at me and my companion and this was no tiny dog. so i tried to kick it in the face, but i missed and i shoved my backpack in its face and pushed it. then my comp and i were trying to get away and then it came back for us and then we turned around and ran at the dog yelling and the dog got really scared and fell to the ground and got up really fast and ran away. yea we felt like men at that moment. then the next day we see that same dog giving this lady some trouble on her bike. she was like get away dog then took this huge rock and chucked the rock at the dog and barely missed. i was like dang how did that old lady throw that huge rock. but the funny part is that she threw that rock into traffic, but the rock didn´t hit anyone's car. but other than that i don´t have that many crazy stories this week. the thing that is really cool this week is that, that last door we knocked on, she is really cool. her name is mayela and her mom is having troubles with life right now because she is almost 90 and about to die. we have been teaching her, but her mom doesn´t have time for us, but that is o.k. but we have been teaching mayela and she is like how is it so easy for you guys to answer the questions that i have had my whole entire life. we said it is because we have the fullness of the gospel and she basically said she believes that this church is true and said that every time she talks with us she feels something different. and then she introduced us to here whole family and now we are teaching her family. they are all so cool and they are all way excited about the gospel. and they invited me to eat and they were all so amazed how i can eat the hot sauce down here and think it isn´t hot. we have had a lot of lessons this week, i love sharing the story of joseph smith. because when people here i saw two personages, they are like wait so you believe that God and Jesus Christ are separate and they are like can you show me in the bible. then i show them, but i the thing i like to tell them the most is about prayer, that is how we can know for sure that God and Jesus are separate. i tell them that i know that through you prayers you can know all things. i tell them i am just a man, i can lie to you right now, but if you ask God, he will tell you the truth, because God never lies, if he lies he would cease to be God. i know that the power of prayer is real and i know that if you put your faith in God, God will give you an answer, and the answer will be simple. it is true or it is a lie. and for me i know that this is the truth and that we have the fullness of the Gospel. well mom i LOVE you so much. i want you to have a great week. i am really grateful to have a mom who love the Lord as much as i do or even more. i want to come to know the Lord as much as you some day. i know that i still have a far way to go, i know this because i am not perfect. i love the savior mom, more than i thought i did. there is a quote that i read today that i really loved. it said to have faith in God includes to have faith in his timing. i know that sometimes as a missionary these people who are rich don´t have time for me right now, and i get discouraged for these people. i know that God has a plan for these people some day and maybe i am just one of the stepping stones for them so that they will want to hear the truth one day. well i have to go mom. i love you, thank you for your faith mom. your faith has helped me become the man who i am today. i love you.

love,elder robert atwood