Megan's 11-14-10 E-mail

Family! I have a family! I have a mom and a dad! That love me! I have a home where love lives inside! I have siblings that are nice to me, and pray for me, and they don't hit me or talk bad about me, they love me! I have a dad that doesn't drink or smoke! I have a family that has been my support! My whole family are members of the church and are active! I have so many blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not have the ability given me to COUNT all the things that I have been blessed with. This week has been undescribable. I have witnessed a family literally broken apart. I've never seen the things that I saw the past 3 days! They have 5 children, the littlest one being one of my friends. Their father and his sibling, and two other of their relatives have been fighting in a way that is just...unhuman!!! Or else I've just been so sheltered(thank goodness) the days of my life that I didn't know that humans acted that way. The mother and the children were banished from the home, now live in another place, and the father is just left with his sister to continue fighting. I've never felt Satan's presence so strong than when we woke up at 12 am Sunday morning to them screaming. I pleaded to our Heavenly Father that they would stop. I pleaded with him that I could do something for them. I realized more than ever that Jesus Christ could heal their broken hearts if they would just come to Him. I became so grateful so everything that I've even been given, every happy moment that I've ever been blessed with, for a family that I have always had to lean on and that I could trust and that loved me and wanted only my sucess in this life. HOW blessed are WE!!!!!!! Please, thank Your Heavenly Father for all that He, by His very Hands, has given you!!!! Look around, look at your family, look at your wife, or husband, Look at your children! Look at your father, your mother, Look at His Son, that he gave to the world!!!! I love all of you.

Josh's 11-15-10 E-mail-The 5 minute mile!

So this week I was doing a little spring cleaning. It´s spring in Argentina and I found a list of goals I had made when I started the mission! First, I thought how old I was and my second thought was why didn´t I complete these goals…. So very often we dream. It´s natural to dream of things we want to do. We start out wonderfully! We say I am going to do this and this, and yeah! WE start out and plan and set goals. After time what happens? We get busy and our dreams don´t seem like our priorities…..Honestly, sometimes, other things need to come first, but frequently not! It reminded me of High School. I wanted to run a 5:00 minute mile. I got close! I ran 5:01. 'Almost' I believe doesn´t exist in the dictionary of our Heavenly Father. He wants us to have dreams and he wants us to complete them. I believe God first imagined how he wanted the world and than he created it. I once again put these goals. I know they can make me grow for the better. I have very many weaknesses that I feel I need to overcome, right now. I came up with a personal quote. I stole part of it from the General Sunday School´s president talk last year. He had a teacher that drew an arrow that said , ¨Aim High.¨ Afterwards I came up with, ¨Reach Far,¨ Dreams Completed.¨ Don't forget to go the distance!

Josh's 11-8-10 E-mail

We have investigators named Ramon and Maria. Ramon this week became Indiana Ramon! His story is impressive, let me tell you a little. Ramon grew up in Ledesma, which is in Jujuy, but more in the mountains. He lived under a big mango tree with a house made of cinder blocks built underneath. I don´t know why, but at a young age his mother left. Ramon was left in charge of his younger siblings at the age of 9 years old. His father luckily only worked 100 meters away. His father told young Ramon to wave the lantern if they were in trouble and his father would come. The spirit taught me an important lesson at this time. Our Father in Heaven is just waiting to help, but sometimes we have to ask for help. The night is dark and there is danger near the mango tree. When we need help or even feel afraid we can wave our lantern. This could mean the scriptures or praying. I know he loves us and will not leave us alone in the dark. Another story Ramon told was the first time he met his Mom. So some how he found out his Mom lived in Mendoza Argentina. Ramon and his brother to go on a road trip during summer break to Mendoza to find their Mom. They traveled on a truck to Mendoza, dropped off at the terminal and went to go look for their Mom. Somehow Ramon´s brother found a uncle, went to their Mom´s house. When they entered their Mom was sitting in a chair, saw her sons and ran to them. They also found that they had a sister they had not known about. Ramon the next day found work and started to build his Mom a house. I learned another lesson. First, don´t give up hope on anybody. Maybe at times it seems that their future is hopeless, but it´s not. God doesn´t give up on anybody. Why should why? Everybody has the potential to do wonderful things, but sometimes we need the help of somebody else to spark our inspiration. I can relate because of Mrs. Smart.

Mrs.Smart was my sixth grade special education teacher. She saw the things that I could do. We worked hard and dreamed big. She believed in me and thought that I could better things than I was doing. I left special education thanks to my ¨smart¨ teacher. She didn´t just change my life, she helped save it.

Paola and Daniela

Have you ever been able to see a change in somebody? Like they come back from the temple and you just notice something different about them or they came back from primary and they seem happier. This has happened to Elio. He is different. He is preparing to recieve the Melchizedek Priesthood. This has happened with Paola. She is different. She is preparing to be baptized. The gospel of Jesus Christ is just guidelines, they are commandments. When we try harder to keep the commandments perfectly, we change for the better. I don´t know if you remember the family I talked about a couple months ago whose mom died. Well, they are back together now and want to be baptized!!! A couple of the brothers also who didn´t want anything to do with the church before. They want to live with Mom, forever. They want to be members of the church.

Born to be a King...

Josh-
I read the talk by Sister Dalton in the May 2010 conference who told the story about King Louis. His son was kidnapped and his kidnappers tried to have him do vile and horrible things. He would not give in and they asked him why. His reply was ¨ I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king.¨ One of the most precious and sacred truths we have been given is that we are children of God. Do we truly understand what that means? I honestly believe not. If we knew, we would do the impossible. Impossible would not exist in our dictionary.

Josh's 11-1-10 E-mail

This week was adventure week! I have been with the two other elders(Macias and Carter) in my pension and they are great. We have grown really close. We have had to work in both of our areas, so every other day I have been getting to know new investigators and friends. It has been really fun. Elder Gutierrez should return Thursday. I am really proud of him, not very many people who come back home can leave again. I feel I have grown, which is wonderful.

This week I read a talk in the Ensign called the Quest for Joy(Ensign July 2005) I suggest you read it, if you want more happiness in your life. It was given at the MTC, but can be applied to you also. I really enjoyed it and I feel it will change my mission. One story to show the feeling of the talk is, the author's daughter was in a mission and was really sad because they weren´t having very much success. Her companion seeing this, said Sister you cannot be discouraged we are in the dispensation that people have waited for 6000 years. We cannot fail and be discouraged.! So true! I love this time because we know the end result. Satan will fail, we will win. The End. How can we lose hope when we know what we need to do to gain Eternal Life? We aren´t in a video game where we have to look for the secrets. We are here and I know we can win.

Megan's 11-7-10 E-mail

Family!! This week has been full of adjusting, but has been great. Sister Insong seems like she's been a missionary for a long time. She worked in Cebu and helped with the dedication, and talks about how beaufitul it is. I have an assignment for all of you..Will you figure out exactly how much it costs you to get to your nearest temple? A huge blessing is that I am so close to....I can't even COUNT how many temples at home!!!!!!! The pesos that these families have to save over years is eye opening...how can we take for granted our temples!!! How many, just in Utah??? How many of us live in Utah??? Please, GO to the temple! It's so exciting to help those on the other side! I love all of you and I hope that you are reading the Book of Mormon like it's life or death, 'cause it is. Our spiritual death, a life without the spirit, can come quicker than we think! I love the scriptures!!!!!

Melanie's comment: I had to look on the church website to make sure I counted correctly-There are 13 operating temples just in Utah. That truly is amazing. There are two being built-Payson and Brigham City. There will be 73 in the United States after the 7 under construction are completed. If you get on lds.org and go to temples and look at the map, temples truly dot the earth. When Lorenzo Snow was the prophet, there were only four temples, and all of them were in Utah. He knew that one day temples would dot the earth. In 1899, he prophesied, “The time will come when there will be Temples established over every portion of the land.”