> Subject: Re: > From: robertatwood@myldsmail.net> To: telliehike@hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 22:22:36 +0000> > >
hey mom,> well this week was a really short one, but the work was a little bit harder, because the people here are really scared of the flu, and the government is making it out to be worse than it really is, but we are a lot safer in torreon than a lot of other places, because the virus lives in humid and cool places and torreon is the opposite of that. and they say that the heat here kills the virus. but my health has been really good lately, (knock on wood). well nothing really funny happened this week, we just walked in the hot sun for hours and hours this week and i am a lot redder, i don´t tan, i just get more red, and i am wearing sun screen everyday, i think i need to put it on two times a day. but yea with all of the people saying we couldn´t come over this week, we still had the opportunity to teach. we had an opportunity to teach those two old people that you were asking about that were from a different faith and the minister put bad things in their head, when we taught them, we taught them about the restoration again so that they could understand it better, it was really cool, the spirit was definitely there to testify to them that this is real. the part that was really cool was when we taught about prayer, they were so excited to hear that God really listens and that God really answers, the lady knew that God answers prayers and had a testimony of that, she told us that her religion doesn´t teach that though, I felt as we were teaching them that they are definite baptisms, but it all depends on their answer, and i know that if they pray, they will receive their answer that this is true. we have another appointment with them tomorrow and we are going to challenge them for baptism, so tomorrow will be interesting. well the kids that had the baptismal date couldn´t be baptized this week because of the flu, here in mexico right now we can´t have big gatherings of people, so we postponed it until this sunday. For this reason we didn´t have church this sunday, it felt weird to not have church, but we went to the houses of many members and with the permission of the bishop we gave the sacrament to the members and shared some scriptures and sang hymns, and that was about it, then we went to the next house. this week was pretty fun, i don´t know why, but it has just felt like our lessons have been a lot more effective. well mom i don´t want to say too much because i want to be able to talk on sunday. i will call on saturday to confirm the time, because i am still not sure on what time, but you are going to call the relief society president´s house. are you going to invite kim? your decision is fine with me because you know it is mother´s day. well mom, i love you sooooooooooooooooo much, i hope that you have a great week, make sure you take precautions this week and keep yourself healthy. i love you and have fun this week also.>
love,> robert shane atwood
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:50:20 +0000> >
hello friends and family,>
well this past week was more or less really lazy, because this week was easter and easter here is the whole week, and everyone are on vacation and a lot of drunk people in the street so we tried to plan so we wouldn´t have to be in the street that long, but that only help until saturday night, on saturday i did splits with a priest in the ward and he is just a little guy, but we went out and we taught some really cool lessons and when the time was up and he needed to be in his house. so we were walking to his house and then this drunk guy told me to come over, so i did, and then he had me help him get up and so it did, then he put up his fists like he wanted to fight and said, lets go. i then said to him i am not going to fight you, you can´t even stand. then he said o.k. and tried to shake my hand really hard using all of his strength just to hurt me, but it didn´t hurt, but to be nice and to not make him mad i acted like it hurt. he laughed and then he almost fell over, then his friends came out and said don´t talk to that idiot, and told me to come over, and so i did, and i talked to them about how i am a missionary and how i am from las vegas, and they were all shocked that i was down here in mexico just to serve them and they said that they had a lot of respect for me. but then the drunk came up to me again and grabbed my arm, and squeezed my arm really hard and then i again acted like it hurt and i said wow this guy is strong, he must be a wrestler in the wwf. then the drunk guy looked at me again like he wanted to fight me, and then he took a step towards me and he almost fell, but luckily he caught himself on a tree, but then i said sit down before you fall, and i took a bucket, and i flipped it over and i made him sit down, and then i talked with his friends and they are really cool, and then they told me when i really want to talk about God, with out this drunk, i am here every day and you can come whenever you want, and they said i am always welcome, but then the drunk guy went over to this priest and put his arm around his neck really tight and then i went over to him and grabbed his arm and put my other hand on his neck so that he would let him go, so he did and we left, but it was funny, because this drunk guy wanted to fight us, and through this we got a really cool contact, i really hope something good happens with the drunks friends. but this whole week, we taught some really cool people, all of our investigators are progressing really good. the family of seven, just have a hard time getting everyone ready for church on sunday´s, but they really want to go. All of our investigators are overcoming such great trials, and i know that through this, they overcoming those trials, you can see the difference every time we visit them, and the only way that they have changed is through their faith and prayers and willingness for change. well i don´t have too much time today, but i love you all and i hope you all have a great week, oh yeah well today i have transfers, i am still in the same area, but i got a new companion, his name is elder martinez. well i love you all> love,> elder robert atwood
hello friends and family,>
well this past week was more or less really lazy, because this week was easter and easter here is the whole week, and everyone are on vacation and a lot of drunk people in the street so we tried to plan so we wouldn´t have to be in the street that long, but that only help until saturday night, on saturday i did splits with a priest in the ward and he is just a little guy, but we went out and we taught some really cool lessons and when the time was up and he needed to be in his house. so we were walking to his house and then this drunk guy told me to come over, so i did, and then he had me help him get up and so it did, then he put up his fists like he wanted to fight and said, lets go. i then said to him i am not going to fight you, you can´t even stand. then he said o.k. and tried to shake my hand really hard using all of his strength just to hurt me, but it didn´t hurt, but to be nice and to not make him mad i acted like it hurt. he laughed and then he almost fell over, then his friends came out and said don´t talk to that idiot, and told me to come over, and so i did, and i talked to them about how i am a missionary and how i am from las vegas, and they were all shocked that i was down here in mexico just to serve them and they said that they had a lot of respect for me. but then the drunk came up to me again and grabbed my arm, and squeezed my arm really hard and then i again acted like it hurt and i said wow this guy is strong, he must be a wrestler in the wwf. then the drunk guy looked at me again like he wanted to fight me, and then he took a step towards me and he almost fell, but luckily he caught himself on a tree, but then i said sit down before you fall, and i took a bucket, and i flipped it over and i made him sit down, and then i talked with his friends and they are really cool, and then they told me when i really want to talk about God, with out this drunk, i am here every day and you can come whenever you want, and they said i am always welcome, but then the drunk guy went over to this priest and put his arm around his neck really tight and then i went over to him and grabbed his arm and put my other hand on his neck so that he would let him go, so he did and we left, but it was funny, because this drunk guy wanted to fight us, and through this we got a really cool contact, i really hope something good happens with the drunks friends. but this whole week, we taught some really cool people, all of our investigators are progressing really good. the family of seven, just have a hard time getting everyone ready for church on sunday´s, but they really want to go. All of our investigators are overcoming such great trials, and i know that through this, they overcoming those trials, you can see the difference every time we visit them, and the only way that they have changed is through their faith and prayers and willingness for change. well i don´t have too much time today, but i love you all and i hope you all have a great week, oh yeah well today i have transfers, i am still in the same area, but i got a new companion, his name is elder martinez. well i love you all> love,> elder robert atwood
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
> Subject: Re: > From: robertatwood@myldsmail.net> To: telliehike@hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:07:59 +0000>
> > hello family and friends.>
well this week has been a really good week. we had a baptism on sunday and it was just awesome, i had the opportunity to baptize this kid of 14 years. we have been teaching mario for some time and his family is all members except for him, but his family are inactive, he has been going to church lately and has come to the knowledge that it is true, he was so very excited this whole week to be baptized, he couldn´t stop thinking about it. but it came to the day of his baptism, he started to get nervous. he then asked me, what am i going to do if i sin again, i can´t be baptized twice, then i told him no te preculpas or don´t worry about that, that is why we have the sacrament. the sacrament is like a mini baptism all over again, through this you can be clean of your sin again, just like with you baptism, if we take of the sacrament worthily God will not remember those sins anymore, then he got the confidence to be baptized again, then after i baptized him, i asked him, how do you feel? how does it feel to have all of your sins taken from you? he then told me that he didn´t feel any different, and then my jaw dropped, then he said just kidding, he told me that it is something that he could not really explain, it was like an overwhelming feeling of love and peace. he said that i really feel clean, it is so awesome when we are baptized, it is the first covenant that we make with God, a covenant is a two way promise. and through this promise we can be forgiven of our sins and we open the door that leads us to God, but it isn´t the end, we progress and we try to better ourselves and we make more promises and God always makes a promise in return. i can´t describe the overwhelming spirit that was in the baptism of someone that you taught that knew little to nothing of God that now knows the greatest thing, that you are his child and he wants you to return to Him, and that through this he can return to live with him.> but other than the baptism we have had many opportunities to teach the people the Gospel and see many changes in the lives of many, there is one person named gustavo, he has problems with smoking and drinking, but he has been cutting it out little by little and i swear every time that i see him i see more of the light of christ in his face, yea the mission is crazy awesome to be able to witness all of this, but there are also other crazy things that happen too, the other day i was walking and there was this dog underneath a car and i couldn´t see the dog, but when i walked by the dog jumped out and bit my leg, it didn´t bite hard enough to do anything but i was in shock that i dog finally bit me after all of the dogs that have tried to bite me, the first one to actually do it, was a little tiny dog. o.k. that is about the only thing that is crazy in the mission. Mexico is starting to get pretty normal to me and i can´t notice if something is really different that i can really write about. but back to the investigators. pedro still has a hard time getting to the church on Sundays, but he really likes the church, i haven´t had a chance to talk to him about that lately so i will have to talk to you about that next week, well Julio the other that is going to get baptized this week, he really likes the church and all, but he said that he need a profound answer to his prayers to know that it is true, then we taught him through the spirit we can know the truth of all things and we told him the fruits of the spirit and what he would feel. we also told him that the spirit answers in many different ways, but the Lord will always answer in a way that is best for us. by what he has told us what he has felt,( he felt love, peace, and other feeling really good.) it sounds to me that he has already found an answer. this happens a lot in the mission, people feel this in their prayers, but they sometimes don´t put two and two together, they don´t realize that they have received an answer. i sure hope that he receives an answer and i can´t wait to see what happens, well i have to go for now, i hope you all have a great week. >
love,> elder robert atwood>
> > hello family and friends.>
well this week has been a really good week. we had a baptism on sunday and it was just awesome, i had the opportunity to baptize this kid of 14 years. we have been teaching mario for some time and his family is all members except for him, but his family are inactive, he has been going to church lately and has come to the knowledge that it is true, he was so very excited this whole week to be baptized, he couldn´t stop thinking about it. but it came to the day of his baptism, he started to get nervous. he then asked me, what am i going to do if i sin again, i can´t be baptized twice, then i told him no te preculpas or don´t worry about that, that is why we have the sacrament. the sacrament is like a mini baptism all over again, through this you can be clean of your sin again, just like with you baptism, if we take of the sacrament worthily God will not remember those sins anymore, then he got the confidence to be baptized again, then after i baptized him, i asked him, how do you feel? how does it feel to have all of your sins taken from you? he then told me that he didn´t feel any different, and then my jaw dropped, then he said just kidding, he told me that it is something that he could not really explain, it was like an overwhelming feeling of love and peace. he said that i really feel clean, it is so awesome when we are baptized, it is the first covenant that we make with God, a covenant is a two way promise. and through this promise we can be forgiven of our sins and we open the door that leads us to God, but it isn´t the end, we progress and we try to better ourselves and we make more promises and God always makes a promise in return. i can´t describe the overwhelming spirit that was in the baptism of someone that you taught that knew little to nothing of God that now knows the greatest thing, that you are his child and he wants you to return to Him, and that through this he can return to live with him.> but other than the baptism we have had many opportunities to teach the people the Gospel and see many changes in the lives of many, there is one person named gustavo, he has problems with smoking and drinking, but he has been cutting it out little by little and i swear every time that i see him i see more of the light of christ in his face, yea the mission is crazy awesome to be able to witness all of this, but there are also other crazy things that happen too, the other day i was walking and there was this dog underneath a car and i couldn´t see the dog, but when i walked by the dog jumped out and bit my leg, it didn´t bite hard enough to do anything but i was in shock that i dog finally bit me after all of the dogs that have tried to bite me, the first one to actually do it, was a little tiny dog. o.k. that is about the only thing that is crazy in the mission. Mexico is starting to get pretty normal to me and i can´t notice if something is really different that i can really write about. but back to the investigators. pedro still has a hard time getting to the church on Sundays, but he really likes the church, i haven´t had a chance to talk to him about that lately so i will have to talk to you about that next week, well Julio the other that is going to get baptized this week, he really likes the church and all, but he said that he need a profound answer to his prayers to know that it is true, then we taught him through the spirit we can know the truth of all things and we told him the fruits of the spirit and what he would feel. we also told him that the spirit answers in many different ways, but the Lord will always answer in a way that is best for us. by what he has told us what he has felt,( he felt love, peace, and other feeling really good.) it sounds to me that he has already found an answer. this happens a lot in the mission, people feel this in their prayers, but they sometimes don´t put two and two together, they don´t realize that they have received an answer. i sure hope that he receives an answer and i can´t wait to see what happens, well i have to go for now, i hope you all have a great week. >
love,> elder robert atwood>
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
hello family and friends.
well this week was awesome. i received a new companion. his name is elder avila. he is a mexican from chiapas. he is really cool he is really tiny. he is about 100lbs., but he is a really hard worker. we have beenhaving some big success in this area. not much out of the ordinary hadhappened this week but we could definitely see the lords hand in every step of the way. the first thing that happened is that we got a call fromthe zone leaders that one member had been sick and is in the hospital inour area. so we went down to the hospital to find that this lady had a tumor the size of an orange on her throat. so we explained to her about faith and through faith and the priesthood you can be healed if it is thewill of the lord. i then told her what ever happens trust what the Lordhas in store for you. because this life is a life if probation and the life to come is where all the Gold lies. we then gave her a blessing andi anointed and i felt so much love in that room. and the cool thing aboutthat was there was another person who had blood poisoning and she was cleaning out her blood and she was in a lot of pain. but her mom saw us giving the blessing and after the blessing with her she said can you givemy daughter a blessing. her daughter couldn't hear anything becauseof the pain, but right when we started the blessing you could just feelsome relaxation in her body. you could feel her temperature drop a little.it was so awesome. that was a huge testimony builder that the priesthoodreally is the power of God given to his children. i know that if we have faith.and it is the Fathers will, everything is possible.we then left feeling like we never wanted to sin again because of the strongspirit that was in there. but we are human and i am sure we did sin=again. but another thing that happened this week is that every time we =thought we had nothing to do besides nock doors, there was someone to teach.you could tell that these peoples hearts were being open to the messagethat we brought. i just hope that one day that they will pray for themselvesthat they could know the truth and i know if they pray i know that they will receive the answer that this is true because this is the only true church on the face of the planet. if everything goes as i hope this transfer we are going to have five baptisms. Mayela prayed the othernight about our message and she told us that she feels it is true and sheknows it is true, but right now she said she can't go because shefeels that right now she has a responsibility to take care of her mom, whois really sick. we offered to teach her but then she said it would be no use because she has alshymer. but tonight we are going to teach herthe plan of salvation. and we are going to tell her that she can live with her mom after this life. i know that she will be baptized one day, but if she has prayed about this thing with her mom, and she has receivedher answer, i can't say anything to stop her from doing that, i can only just teach her and show her that i care and i will always be there for her family. the other baptism that we might have is gustavo. he isabout 25 years old and he drinks and he smokes and we just taught him the word of wisdom and he has been trying to cut these things out of his life. i don't know how that went, but i will give you an update next week. but you can just see the change on his face at what joy the gospel brings in his life. when we first saw him he looked all down and didn't like to talk much, but now he doesn't shut up and you can just see a brightness on his face. seeing this makes all the trials of a mission disappear. nothing hard matters and you are just satisfied with the happinesswith other people. well pedro is the baptism that we were supposed to have this week. pedro is about 24 years old his parents are really faithful in the church. pedro has been having some problems with taking the decision of being baptized. because his friends keep telling him that he should wait longer and learn more, but he tells us that he knows that joseph smith is a true prophet and he knows that this is the true gospel. i then said to him that yea it is little time that you have been learning about the church, but you have prayed and asked a perfect source to know if this is true, you have asked God and God has told you that this is true and this is what he wants you to do. if you are worried aboutwhat you friends think, don't be, if they make fun of you for doing the right thing, are they really your friends. then i explained the talk of gordon b. hinckley. how there was this boy who felt like leavingthe church because of the persecution from everyone. but then he said you know it is true, you know that joseph smith was a prophet, what elsematters. but yea that is about it. but nothing else matters if this church is true, because you can have the assurance that after this life there is something great in store for you. i know there is a greater/happyperfect life after this one. well i have to go. i love you all and i hope that you have a great week.
love,elder robert atwood
well this week was awesome. i received a new companion. his name is elder avila. he is a mexican from chiapas. he is really cool he is really tiny. he is about 100lbs., but he is a really hard worker. we have beenhaving some big success in this area. not much out of the ordinary hadhappened this week but we could definitely see the lords hand in every step of the way. the first thing that happened is that we got a call fromthe zone leaders that one member had been sick and is in the hospital inour area. so we went down to the hospital to find that this lady had a tumor the size of an orange on her throat. so we explained to her about faith and through faith and the priesthood you can be healed if it is thewill of the lord. i then told her what ever happens trust what the Lordhas in store for you. because this life is a life if probation and the life to come is where all the Gold lies. we then gave her a blessing andi anointed and i felt so much love in that room. and the cool thing aboutthat was there was another person who had blood poisoning and she was cleaning out her blood and she was in a lot of pain. but her mom saw us giving the blessing and after the blessing with her she said can you givemy daughter a blessing. her daughter couldn't hear anything becauseof the pain, but right when we started the blessing you could just feelsome relaxation in her body. you could feel her temperature drop a little.it was so awesome. that was a huge testimony builder that the priesthoodreally is the power of God given to his children. i know that if we have faith.and it is the Fathers will, everything is possible.we then left feeling like we never wanted to sin again because of the strongspirit that was in there. but we are human and i am sure we did sin=again. but another thing that happened this week is that every time we =thought we had nothing to do besides nock doors, there was someone to teach.you could tell that these peoples hearts were being open to the messagethat we brought. i just hope that one day that they will pray for themselvesthat they could know the truth and i know if they pray i know that they will receive the answer that this is true because this is the only true church on the face of the planet. if everything goes as i hope this transfer we are going to have five baptisms. Mayela prayed the othernight about our message and she told us that she feels it is true and sheknows it is true, but right now she said she can't go because shefeels that right now she has a responsibility to take care of her mom, whois really sick. we offered to teach her but then she said it would be no use because she has alshymer. but tonight we are going to teach herthe plan of salvation. and we are going to tell her that she can live with her mom after this life. i know that she will be baptized one day, but if she has prayed about this thing with her mom, and she has receivedher answer, i can't say anything to stop her from doing that, i can only just teach her and show her that i care and i will always be there for her family. the other baptism that we might have is gustavo. he isabout 25 years old and he drinks and he smokes and we just taught him the word of wisdom and he has been trying to cut these things out of his life. i don't know how that went, but i will give you an update next week. but you can just see the change on his face at what joy the gospel brings in his life. when we first saw him he looked all down and didn't like to talk much, but now he doesn't shut up and you can just see a brightness on his face. seeing this makes all the trials of a mission disappear. nothing hard matters and you are just satisfied with the happinesswith other people. well pedro is the baptism that we were supposed to have this week. pedro is about 24 years old his parents are really faithful in the church. pedro has been having some problems with taking the decision of being baptized. because his friends keep telling him that he should wait longer and learn more, but he tells us that he knows that joseph smith is a true prophet and he knows that this is the true gospel. i then said to him that yea it is little time that you have been learning about the church, but you have prayed and asked a perfect source to know if this is true, you have asked God and God has told you that this is true and this is what he wants you to do. if you are worried aboutwhat you friends think, don't be, if they make fun of you for doing the right thing, are they really your friends. then i explained the talk of gordon b. hinckley. how there was this boy who felt like leavingthe church because of the persecution from everyone. but then he said you know it is true, you know that joseph smith was a prophet, what elsematters. but yea that is about it. but nothing else matters if this church is true, because you can have the assurance that after this life there is something great in store for you. i know there is a greater/happyperfect life after this one. well i have to go. i love you all and i hope that you have a great week.
love,elder robert atwood
Monday, February 23, 2009
> Subject: Re: > From: robertatwood@myldsmail.net> To: telliehike@hotmail.com> Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:05:42 +0000>
> hey mom, >
how is everything going for you. well i am going to re-read your letter and try to answer all thy many questions one by one. my week was really good it was really short, shorter than normal. i think it is because my comp and i have been trying extremely hard at being exactly obedient. like we try not to let one rule pass us by. like waking up and moving right at 6:30. and planning the full 30 minutes and doing our studies the best we can. it has made the difference in our week that is so incomprehensible. i think that is how you spell it. the past few weeks we weren´t as obedient as we should be. then i realized that we weren´t being obedient and it was like a smack in my face. i said to myself it is really easy to fall in this rut of disobedience if you let little rules slide by. in this few weeks, we had success, but we didn´t have all the success that we should of been having. we just had average in our numbers and you know me, i just always want to succeed in what ever i do. i looked at that as a booster. we started being obedient and we just found so much more people to teach and when we would teach we taught with conviction. i could tell they felt the spirit when we taught because i felt it. if it was a changing point in their lives it was a changing point in mine. i realized for myself once again that it may seem easier to take these shortcuts and do stuff the easy way and slack off a bit, but actually we aren´t happier when we do this. the only way that we can be truly happy is when we do the things how the lord wants us to do it. not how we want to. It will always be better the Lord´s way 100% of the time. i don´t have any doubt about that. I just feel like we have the spirit all the time now and like i never feel depressed. it just makes missionary work so much easier when you have all the blessings of the spirit. well next question. i sent two different ones to kim so you can invite her over and come and look at hers and yours. wow, mom you have no idea how fast my mission is going. sometimes it feels like i have been a missionary forever, but at the same time it feels like these six months have gone by in just a matter of weeks. i wont get depressed about how fast the time has gone until i have six more months left in the mission, so i will be o.k. for about a year. but after that who knows how i will feel. this just reminds me again that i don´t have anytime to lose. i need to work hard when i need to work and i need to do all i can to prepare and teach these people so that they can have eternal life with God. Their eternal salvation lies in my hands and i can´t let them down. yea i have lost a little bit more weight. but i think the fat is just going to my belly. i hate these good tortillas here. i swear they eat tortillas with everything. the new pants that i had bought were pretty tight when i bought them and now they are starting to get looser. oh and daisy is the dog of zayra(oh and she made a huge comeback. she is getting baptized next week hopefully) oh and with the santa thing i used about two huge pillows and i used a whole bunch of different clothing. it was so hot trying to be santa. i am not too sure who baptized the little santos girl. the problem is that she is afraid of water and i am not sure if she feels comfortable with anyone else. and with ricardo, he hasn´t got baptized yet because he is still out of town, but he is still planning on getting baptized. and the cool thing about that too is that his parents are going to get baptized. oh and so much more people that elder rincon and i found are getting baptized. elder rincon said that it is all thanks to me, but i am not sure about that. he said that his new comp. is really lazy, so he said these baptisms are more yours than his. i don´t really care about the numbers, but i sure am happy that i am seeing fruits of our labor. and that people are opening the door to the way of God so that they can be blessed forever and ever. well mom i think i felt your hug all the way down here because i had a dream you hugged me the other day. oh the guy that we fasted for has a baptismal date for next sunday, but he still isn´t sure if he wants to get baptized yet, but he does like the church a lot and feels it is true, but he just needs to take a few things out of his life first like the things with the word of wisdom. but i am sure that he will get baptized and all next transfer. the other family is doing great. they are still all having a hard time getting to the church and all but they are all pistols. they always remember what we teach and say every time we come over there is such a peaceful presence and when we leave they feel it leave too. i taught them that that was the spirit trying to tell you that you can have this in your home all the time if you are baptized. it is so amazing to have the ability to have the spirit to be with you always. well i have had some other cool experiences this week that i need to tell you also. this week i have been being more obedient and more prepared like i told you before. this past saturday i had divisions with a 14 year old boy and he was so nervous. it was funny because he looked like he was going to pass out when i knocked the first door. but after about 10 doors he got used to it and then i knocked a door that i should have never knocked. i swear it was the wicked witch of the west. she opened the door and said i don´t want to anything with you guys you can basically die for all i care, i don´t ever want to hear about joe smith or your stupid religion i am telling you once and pointed to me i already told you twice and if you annoy me again i will call the police. then i got mad at her and i said calm down i knock doors all day and i can´t remember them all. if you don´t want to listen just tell me no and i will respect that. i have never done anything to you. then we left and i was like i need to have a lesson in this street. i feel that we are going to have a lesson in this street. then i took out a pamphlet of the restoration and then i said we are going to give this to someone in this street. then i knocked two more doors and a lady came out and she seemed so excited to hear this message and i let the 14 year old boy explain the pamphlet and you could see his heart beating through his shirt. then after that i explain fully about the restoration. it felt really good and she seems like a golden investigator and we have an appointment with her in a few days so i will see how it goes in a few days. then we went to lunch and then after lunch we had a few appointments and then an appointment fell through so we had time to knock some more doors. we only had about an hour left until the divisions were over so the first door we knocked i knocked the door of a father of the catholic church and he didn´t let us know that he was a father until we got halfway through our lesson. but when he let us know he was a father he tried all he could to prove us wrong and i was like oh no what am i going to do. my comp doesn´t know that much. then for some reason i knew exactly where all the scriptures i needed to use were in the bible. and i swear if i had not prepared this guy would have smashed me. but i ended up leaving that guy wondering about his religion. he told me that he knew everything about our religion, but he got almost all of his information from a church website. then i quizzed him about our religion to show him he knew nothing and then i told him that if he didn´t get his message from a website of our church, the information probably isn´t correct and you need to look at the information on that. but in the end we respected each other and gave one another a blessing the way that we do it. and then he said if i pass by i can knock his door again and chat and i was like yea, i will because i will have my comp who knows a lot more than me. but i am not here to prove him wrong, just here to show him the truth and he can accept it if he wants. well mom i love you so much and i hope that you enjoy this extremely long letter. i love you>
love,> elder robert atwood
> hey mom, >
how is everything going for you. well i am going to re-read your letter and try to answer all thy many questions one by one. my week was really good it was really short, shorter than normal. i think it is because my comp and i have been trying extremely hard at being exactly obedient. like we try not to let one rule pass us by. like waking up and moving right at 6:30. and planning the full 30 minutes and doing our studies the best we can. it has made the difference in our week that is so incomprehensible. i think that is how you spell it. the past few weeks we weren´t as obedient as we should be. then i realized that we weren´t being obedient and it was like a smack in my face. i said to myself it is really easy to fall in this rut of disobedience if you let little rules slide by. in this few weeks, we had success, but we didn´t have all the success that we should of been having. we just had average in our numbers and you know me, i just always want to succeed in what ever i do. i looked at that as a booster. we started being obedient and we just found so much more people to teach and when we would teach we taught with conviction. i could tell they felt the spirit when we taught because i felt it. if it was a changing point in their lives it was a changing point in mine. i realized for myself once again that it may seem easier to take these shortcuts and do stuff the easy way and slack off a bit, but actually we aren´t happier when we do this. the only way that we can be truly happy is when we do the things how the lord wants us to do it. not how we want to. It will always be better the Lord´s way 100% of the time. i don´t have any doubt about that. I just feel like we have the spirit all the time now and like i never feel depressed. it just makes missionary work so much easier when you have all the blessings of the spirit. well next question. i sent two different ones to kim so you can invite her over and come and look at hers and yours. wow, mom you have no idea how fast my mission is going. sometimes it feels like i have been a missionary forever, but at the same time it feels like these six months have gone by in just a matter of weeks. i wont get depressed about how fast the time has gone until i have six more months left in the mission, so i will be o.k. for about a year. but after that who knows how i will feel. this just reminds me again that i don´t have anytime to lose. i need to work hard when i need to work and i need to do all i can to prepare and teach these people so that they can have eternal life with God. Their eternal salvation lies in my hands and i can´t let them down. yea i have lost a little bit more weight. but i think the fat is just going to my belly. i hate these good tortillas here. i swear they eat tortillas with everything. the new pants that i had bought were pretty tight when i bought them and now they are starting to get looser. oh and daisy is the dog of zayra(oh and she made a huge comeback. she is getting baptized next week hopefully) oh and with the santa thing i used about two huge pillows and i used a whole bunch of different clothing. it was so hot trying to be santa. i am not too sure who baptized the little santos girl. the problem is that she is afraid of water and i am not sure if she feels comfortable with anyone else. and with ricardo, he hasn´t got baptized yet because he is still out of town, but he is still planning on getting baptized. and the cool thing about that too is that his parents are going to get baptized. oh and so much more people that elder rincon and i found are getting baptized. elder rincon said that it is all thanks to me, but i am not sure about that. he said that his new comp. is really lazy, so he said these baptisms are more yours than his. i don´t really care about the numbers, but i sure am happy that i am seeing fruits of our labor. and that people are opening the door to the way of God so that they can be blessed forever and ever. well mom i think i felt your hug all the way down here because i had a dream you hugged me the other day. oh the guy that we fasted for has a baptismal date for next sunday, but he still isn´t sure if he wants to get baptized yet, but he does like the church a lot and feels it is true, but he just needs to take a few things out of his life first like the things with the word of wisdom. but i am sure that he will get baptized and all next transfer. the other family is doing great. they are still all having a hard time getting to the church and all but they are all pistols. they always remember what we teach and say every time we come over there is such a peaceful presence and when we leave they feel it leave too. i taught them that that was the spirit trying to tell you that you can have this in your home all the time if you are baptized. it is so amazing to have the ability to have the spirit to be with you always. well i have had some other cool experiences this week that i need to tell you also. this week i have been being more obedient and more prepared like i told you before. this past saturday i had divisions with a 14 year old boy and he was so nervous. it was funny because he looked like he was going to pass out when i knocked the first door. but after about 10 doors he got used to it and then i knocked a door that i should have never knocked. i swear it was the wicked witch of the west. she opened the door and said i don´t want to anything with you guys you can basically die for all i care, i don´t ever want to hear about joe smith or your stupid religion i am telling you once and pointed to me i already told you twice and if you annoy me again i will call the police. then i got mad at her and i said calm down i knock doors all day and i can´t remember them all. if you don´t want to listen just tell me no and i will respect that. i have never done anything to you. then we left and i was like i need to have a lesson in this street. i feel that we are going to have a lesson in this street. then i took out a pamphlet of the restoration and then i said we are going to give this to someone in this street. then i knocked two more doors and a lady came out and she seemed so excited to hear this message and i let the 14 year old boy explain the pamphlet and you could see his heart beating through his shirt. then after that i explain fully about the restoration. it felt really good and she seems like a golden investigator and we have an appointment with her in a few days so i will see how it goes in a few days. then we went to lunch and then after lunch we had a few appointments and then an appointment fell through so we had time to knock some more doors. we only had about an hour left until the divisions were over so the first door we knocked i knocked the door of a father of the catholic church and he didn´t let us know that he was a father until we got halfway through our lesson. but when he let us know he was a father he tried all he could to prove us wrong and i was like oh no what am i going to do. my comp doesn´t know that much. then for some reason i knew exactly where all the scriptures i needed to use were in the bible. and i swear if i had not prepared this guy would have smashed me. but i ended up leaving that guy wondering about his religion. he told me that he knew everything about our religion, but he got almost all of his information from a church website. then i quizzed him about our religion to show him he knew nothing and then i told him that if he didn´t get his message from a website of our church, the information probably isn´t correct and you need to look at the information on that. but in the end we respected each other and gave one another a blessing the way that we do it. and then he said if i pass by i can knock his door again and chat and i was like yea, i will because i will have my comp who knows a lot more than me. but i am not here to prove him wrong, just here to show him the truth and he can accept it if he wants. well mom i love you so much and i hope that you enjoy this extremely long letter. i love you>
love,> elder robert atwood
Monday, February 9, 2009
mama,
¿ por que tu no me escribiste? todo el día yo estaba esperando para tu email, pero no mensaje. o.k. i was just kidding about you not writing me. well this past week mom has been really cool. i tried to be the tough guy with one of our investigators by eating really hot hot hot sauce. they invited us to go to dinner with them and teach them after so we went with them and they said to me. you eat chile and i was like yea i can eat chile. so i ordered the hotest thing on the menu. it was a habenero hot sauce. it was hot but i bore it like a man, and they were like wow a gringo can eat chile, so they kept on ordering me things that were really hot and i was like nooooooooooooo, but i didn´t let them know i thought it was hot. i think about after the fifth taco i couldn´t feel anything anymore. so i acted all good for that whole night, but when i got home, my stomach was all messed up. i thought i was going to die for about two days. but i feel good now. so how is everything for you guys. well we are starting to see great success in our area. we have about nine investigators right now. one is a huge drug addict and we are helping him right now to quit the drugs. it is really hard for him, but you can see the joy the gospel brings to him. i told him it is not going to be easy to quit these drugs, but i know that through Jesus Christ we can do all things. that is true. what ever problem that we have we can over come it if we just put our trust in the Lord. Not much really happened this week just a whole bunch of knocking doors. i love knocking doors. it is so funny sometimes. my companion and i try to see who can get into more doors and when the people start to reject us we start saying really funny things and sometimes they let us in. But other than that we are starting to work with the members more and i hope this will help progress our work. well i don´t have too much time. i love you mom and who ever else reads this letter.
love,elder robert atwood
p.s. happy valentines day.
p.s.s thank you for the money mom, i found some really cheap pants that cost about $15 each and i bought two. they are a bit long, but i hemned them myself for the moment until i find a place that will hemn my pants.
¿ por que tu no me escribiste? todo el día yo estaba esperando para tu email, pero no mensaje. o.k. i was just kidding about you not writing me. well this past week mom has been really cool. i tried to be the tough guy with one of our investigators by eating really hot hot hot sauce. they invited us to go to dinner with them and teach them after so we went with them and they said to me. you eat chile and i was like yea i can eat chile. so i ordered the hotest thing on the menu. it was a habenero hot sauce. it was hot but i bore it like a man, and they were like wow a gringo can eat chile, so they kept on ordering me things that were really hot and i was like nooooooooooooo, but i didn´t let them know i thought it was hot. i think about after the fifth taco i couldn´t feel anything anymore. so i acted all good for that whole night, but when i got home, my stomach was all messed up. i thought i was going to die for about two days. but i feel good now. so how is everything for you guys. well we are starting to see great success in our area. we have about nine investigators right now. one is a huge drug addict and we are helping him right now to quit the drugs. it is really hard for him, but you can see the joy the gospel brings to him. i told him it is not going to be easy to quit these drugs, but i know that through Jesus Christ we can do all things. that is true. what ever problem that we have we can over come it if we just put our trust in the Lord. Not much really happened this week just a whole bunch of knocking doors. i love knocking doors. it is so funny sometimes. my companion and i try to see who can get into more doors and when the people start to reject us we start saying really funny things and sometimes they let us in. But other than that we are starting to work with the members more and i hope this will help progress our work. well i don´t have too much time. i love you mom and who ever else reads this letter.
love,elder robert atwood
p.s. happy valentines day.
p.s.s thank you for the money mom, i found some really cheap pants that cost about $15 each and i bought two. they are a bit long, but i hemned them myself for the moment until i find a place that will hemn my pants.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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
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
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