FINAL FORT WORTH THOUGHTS ...

Easter Morning Breakfast: 4 bowls of Menudo (intestine soup)!

The following are excerpts from a letter Elder C sent to Ali and her familia. Thought you would like reading some details about his Arlington/Fort Worth experience as Elder C leaves for Merida Mexico Monday morning.

Regarding Arlington where he served the longest (nearly 3 months), he explained that most of the people are Hispanic or African American and mainly live in apartments. He said it’s basically like Mexico with Mexican music always playing and people speaking Spanish. The area they covered on bikes is about 9 miles square. Although he wanted to visit Cowboy Stadium, no one else wanted to go, so he’ll have to visit later in life!

He had a powerful message about the importance of Seminary. He said that even though he listened, he didn’t take full advantage of the chance to really learn and study the scriptures and so he asked all teens to use the blessing of seminary (we’re lucky in Utah that it can be part of the regular school day rather than early morning) and really develop a love for the scriptures which he has now that he’s a missionary.

This is an example of him listening to and acting upon the Holy Spirit:  they had an opportunity visit a member’s home on a Sunday and they had a non-member relative visiting from Michigan (maybe Elder Rushton can follow up with him!) and although he had heard the missionaries before on previous visits, he hadn’t shown interest. This time, Elder C felt prompted to speak about a subject that he typically wouldn’t do and it touched the man’s heart to the point that he has committed to baptism. Elder C reminded us that it’s important to be WORTHY to receive promptings; it’s important to LISTEN to promptings and most important, it’s important to ACT on promptings. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift we can receive in this life.

He said there is absolutely NOTHING that he doesn’t like about the mission. Members typically feed the missionaries Mexican food. However, his breakfast and lunch consisted of tuna, eggs, oatmeal, pickles, carrots and BBQ sauce so he welcomed the dinner offers!  He said that the food is INCREDIBLE and that there must be some SPECIAL ingredient because everything tastes so good. He thinks that the special ingredient is LOVE because many of the people have to sacrifice significantly to feed the missionaries.

When asked if he ever has “down” time he replied, “not really, I try to stay busy all of the time reading the Liahona, studying the scriptures, and practicing Spanish". He said that the mission is his passion and joy and that he left everything behind to give all that he has to the Lord and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

In his letter, you can sense his gratitude for having the blessing of serving in the Fort Worth area but also the excitement for now being able to serve in the Mexico Merida mission.

We look forward to hearing about his new experiences in Mexico!