"Elder, I hope you know people probably don't read your emails."

Goed day comrades,

We have had a pretty good week!  We have been able to meet and catch up with people who fell off the face of the earth for a week or two, which was good.  Not only that, but upon meeting with two of those people, we were able to get baptismal invitations accepted!  They are both somewhat loose, and could be changed in the future, but both people seemed to be very sincere and understand what we were asking for when we extended the commitments.  We will see how things end up!  Right now we've got three people lined up to be baptized in August.  We will be working with them and praying our hearts out to get them there safely.  I am simply crossing my fingers that we can see some true conversion taking place.

In other news, the Jungs (yoongs) that I mentioned a while back have struck once again!  My companion and I contacted a lady on the street, and as we were talking my companion heard a deafening "BWAAA" behind him, followed by a pair of hands grabbing him quickly before letting go again.  My companion and I, somewhat startled, turned around to see the leader of the jung gang, laughing and asking if he scared us.  He quickly gave us his greetings, then walked away.  His eyes were completely bloodshot, and so...I actually won't make any assumptions.

We had Mission Leadership Council (MLC) this past Friday, which was President Stoddard's final one.  It was a lot of fun to meet up with the other zone leaders and assistants and discuss ways we could improve the mission!  We discussed some things for using time wisely, developing our skills, and overall learning how to be better missionaries.  After, we went on exchanges with the assistants in Frankfurt, and I had the chance to work there for a little bit, which was a LOT of fun!  Many cool people were met and appointments were made.  I feel that every time I have the chance to exchange with the AP's it has been a growing opportunity and I was glad to be able to participate in another one with them.  Frankfurt is also a really cool city.  I would love to go there at some point in my non-missionary future...but, that time is not now.

SO, I was reading in Alma chapter 25, when I noticed something very interesting.  It describes the conversion of many Lamanite people in the country, and their willingness to follow Jesus Christ and keep his commandments.  We read as follows:

"15 Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them.

16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come."

I found this very interesting, for some reason.  I believe that this stuck out to me, because I have also been reading in Mark and Jesus the Christ lately, both of which have either contained or cited accounts of people criticizing Jesus for "violating" certain aspects of the Oral Law surrounding the Law of Moses, and overall rejection of his coming to replace the law of Moses with the higher law.  It appears that certain Pharisees and Sadducees mistook the purpose of the Law of Moses time and time again, and forgot it as a "type of" Christ's coming.  They got so caught up in the little tiny bits and pieces of the law, that they completely missed the big picture!  Then, when we juxtapose the behavior of these guys with the behavior of those converted Lamanites, we see a clearly more blessed example from the latter's reaction and observation of the law of Moses.  Jesus Christ himself, later in the Book of Mormon, visiting the Nephite civilization, spoke unto them about what it means to accept him as the law and the light, and stated: "9 Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life." (3 Nephi 15).  

Okay, so now I'm getting nervous.  First, I'm writing way too much already for only half the point of my spiritual thought and I have realized that nobody is actually going to read this far into the letter.  Honestly, respect to you guys if you do.  Secondly, you are probably asking yourself: "why is this guy lecturing us on the law of Moses? Last time i checked he wasn't an 80 year old Sunday school teacher".  Well boy, do I have a message for you guys!  I learned, while we do not currently follow the Law of Moses, that there are many things today that we can look at with a better perspective.  Every rite, every ordinance, every ritual done in the law of Moses pointed to Christ and His eventual Atoning Sacrifice.  It is not the fact that people sacrificed animals, or performed any other action alone that would cleanse them before God and prepare them, but rather the overall Atonement of Jesus Christ.  The problem with the Pharisees, I personally see, is that they seemed to look to these rituals and laws as the ends of the law, rather than perhaps the means of performance.  They overlooked many of the prophesies and intents made by prophets of old regarding the law, and put in their own understandings of it, relying more perhaps on them.

Finally, my invitation for all of us is to see the true reason behind everything we do in the church.  It may be an ordinance, such as baptism, or the sacrament.  Or, perhaps it is the following of commandments, such as the Word of Wisdom or Law of Tithing.  You will find that each of these things has a connection to the Atonement and can and will serve to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

WOW.  SORRY FOR THE TEXT.

LOVE YOU GUYS.

Elder Wallentine