WHEAT PILLOWS

Hey folks!

This week has been pretty good. We have been staying busy with appointments and finding activities, which I am grateful for. We had planned last week to visit Bravedo on Saturday before church the following morning, but we were unable to get a hold of him and he wasn't home. We were hoping to solidify some details about his baptism, and communicate that with the ward, but we weren't able to contact him until it was a little too pressed. We'll postpone the baptism another week, and will be working with the ward to get him there. This should allow us to plan accordingly, but man, I sure hope we can get him there. I hope I still have some sort of credibility when I postpone these things, haha, I have had to postpone them a little too much on my mission.

But yeah, anyways, we've been getting blessed with finding more people to meet with.  One of them was a lady who has moved here from Texas, named Carol, that we have taught twice now.  She says she has had a hard life, and from the sounds of it, she has.  She's an awesome lady and seems open to much of what we have taught, except for baptism, as she has expressed to us that she feels it unnecessary to be baptized again. We had a lesson on Priesthood authority, but I think she still believes what she previously expressed.

We also met with an awesome man from eastern Europe, named Thomas. He is super friendly to us.  He is very strong in his faith in the Catholic church, and we had a solid first lesson with him this past week about the Restoration.  Although he is very devout, he was very respectful and open to our message and said that he would read in the Book of Mormon.  He told us that if he received an answer, he would be baptized, but says he doesn't know when that will be and didn't want to set any specific date naturally because of that.  Hey, that is all we can ask, right?  That is all we need to ask, really.  We'll see what happens.

I'm getting more creative with my meals right about now, because I'm tired of living off of salami sandwiches, bratwurst, and Nougat Bits.  OH RIGHT.  I've totally forgot to explain Nougat Bits to you guys.  It's the greatest cereal I've ever had.  The package description, when translated, says: CHOCOLATE-FILLED WHEAT PILLOWS.  Actually, I will leave you guys with that.  Just trust me when I say this cereal is great.  But the Kellogg's version isn't good at all.

I'm continuing my study with the Old Testament and Book of Mormon.  I've also been reading more General Conference talks to provide a little more variety.  It is refreshing, although our scriptures are simply wonderful and cannot be replaced, to hear the words of modern prophets.  I would say that a little bit of focus in our modern-day scripture is a very good thing for us, combined with our studies of the Book of Mormon and other standard works (I might be preaching to the choir) (I might have been doing that this whole time).  

Perhaps my favorite talk from last General Conference was "O How Great the Plan of Our God!" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  I re-read that yesterday and would just like to share this quote concerning our day of judgment after this life:

"That Day of Judgment will be a day of mercy and love--a day when broken hearts are healed, when tears of grief are replaced with tears of gratitude, when all will be amde right. Yes, there will be deep sorrow because of sin.  Yes, there will be regrets and even anguish because of our mistakes, our foolishness, and our stubbornness that caused us to miss opportunities for a much greater future.

But I have confidence that we will not only be satisfied with the judgment of God; we will also be astonished and overwhelmed by His infinite grace, mercy, generosity, and love for us, His children.  If our dsires and works are good, if we have faith in a living God, then we can look forward to what Moroni called 'the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge.'"

I am grateful for the prospect that we can and will be forgiven by God for our faults, so long as we strive for humility and repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  From another talk from October 2016, we are told that we should continue doing our best, repenting of our mistakes, and never excusing, hiding, or justifying sin.  I sure hope that one day, as we stand before God, we will feel worthy and happy to be there, and be made truly clean through the Atonement and mercy of Jesus Christ.

That is all I've got for you today!

Have a great week.  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Wallentine