June!!!!

Family!

I was glad to here that you enjoyed being with Kim and Alex. The sorrow and the missing is kind of part of things I suppose, but you can overcome that. Ever since I heard a talk about "being here" or "be where you are" or something like that I have applied that to my life. The talk was about cell phones and how we should not be using them when we are with people, hence, "be where you are." Do not put your minds in Arizona. If your minds are their you will miss the blessings around you. I have discovered that missing something creates an empty space and you cannot receive the fulness of what is happening at the moment. Personally, I do not believe that Heavenly Father misses us. He only feels sorrow when we separate ourselves from him by sinning (spiritual death). When you look at the relativity of time and view with an eternal perspective you know that whoever you miss you will be together again. This is just some thoughts I have had and it has helped me on mission. For myself, I do not miss home at all. It is because I have my mind here and I am focused on the work, blessings, and things I can do here. Of course I think of all of you, but I do not let myself dwell or miss what is home. This way I can be fully engaged here for my season.

(p.s. I think your first paragraph was cut off. It was about to talk about the zoo, but then it stopped.)

This week was average work wise. We were just working this week. Nothing amazing and nothing horrible. We did not do well in finding, but our lessons was great! It was a great week for me because of my interview [with Pres Dube] and now I truly feel good. Which is so great. Honestly, I do not see President as a General Authority (he was called to the Seventy in the last conference) or even a Mission President. I see him as a friend... Although my companion told me that this week was hard for him and he now has some goals he wishes to work on. He told me that he feels like he is slacking. So I hope I can help make this next week POWERFUL for him! Thank you for praying for me. I am still working hard. I cannot rest and just say all is well in Zion.

(we asked for prayers for our safe trip to Az and he asked us to pray for him to remember to pray ☺) Thank you for remembering to ask to remind me! It helped! Heavenly Father is so great!

Dear J-Man,
Hi! I love you! So what you are telling me is that I have to wait double my life to see it happen? What the fetch! Ha Ha! Oh well, I guess it will help me work on patience I suppose. Man, patience is POWERFUL! My companion and I were at a members home for dinner and they had some Conference CDs so we popped one in. We listened to President Uchtdorf's talk on patience. Woah! He talked about a test that was done on children and the test ended up proving that those who are patient will be more successful in life. One thing he said that I loved was that "patience masters the soul." And from the Doctrine and Covenants we learn that the soul is the combination of spirit and body! Man, I was freaking out! I really want to work on patience now. I am glad you enjoyed AZ! I would really love to go swimming some time, but I cannot. How did you rip your toenail? It seems all of you are seeing more animals than me. Ha Ha! It seems like everyone is seeing more animals than me! Jordan, you need to make a real effort to do your scripture studies with mom. What is more important? Playing with Alex or listening to your Father in Heaven. Give Him at least some time to talk to you through the scriptures, okay? I love you like NUTS ma brudda!
I love you more than the distance between us.
Jake


Dear Rachel,
Rachel! I love you too! Do not worry! I am almost half-way to coming home. It is not much longer now. Soon we will be together. I will be very happy to see you again. That is POWERFUL that you did so much with Kim! You had a lot of fun! Too much fun! HA HA! You are always playing with Toby and my cat. I am sure they are very happy their friend came back. I love you like nuts ma sista. Next time.
Jakey

I am glad that you were able to enjoy what you could in Arizona. I guess (a friend) moved back there.  She sent me a dearElder telling me about it. Maybe if she is still there when we visit I can stop by her place. She says she is planning on teaching kids English in a foreign country though, so I do not know when she is planning on doing that.

(confessed to Jake that we prayed daily but didn't do much scripture study this past week while we were in AZ) I apologize now, but I am going to give you a bit of fire. I was kind of disappointed to here that you did not have a "spiritual trip." Is spending time with them more important than spending time with Heavenly Father? You said that you could not do much there and that the middle of the day you did not really do anything. I know we get caught up in things, I am guilty of that myself, but is the relationship we have with Heavenly Father just a routine that we follow. Is it something when our plans get frustrated we put Him at the bottom of the list. I have been doing all I can to make prayers and scripture study important to me. Often times my schedule/routine gets frustrated and I do not get to do my studies in the morning, so I have made it a goal that I study at least for a half an hour a day. If I do not have time in the morning I make time sometime in the day. I give up eating lunch to feast on the words of Christ. I am not perfect and I very disappointed in myself because I have not studied everyday since I have been on mission. I want to take scripture study with me when I go home. I do not want to fall into the missionary routine and when I am off mission I will stop. I need your help when I get home, so lets work together on making scripture study important, okay?

I love you and our Heavenly Father loves you, so lets love Him back.
Thank you so much for everything. I look forward to your next email. Again, I apologize for giving you fire, but I gave it because I love you. We need to do more. I love you all like nuts! Tell Grandma and Grandpa I say HELLO and that i look forward to their letter!

Keep the Faith

L O V E
Elder TOM