Never Lose Hope in Jesus Christ

Tenakoe Whanua,

I probably horribly misspelled that! WEIRD how much things have changed! I think it’s a pretty reoccurring subject that comes up when I email home and receive emails from you guys. The CHANGES that are happening, It's funny.  A lot of them are bittersweet, but honestly, I can’t remember any of them being negative except for that dent Collin put in the car while backing out. J  Correct me if I am wrong. There could be more.

So, I really do appreciate all your letters, especially Mom’s.  When I first heard she was doing it from her phone I thought, "Oh great, another short one," especially when I saw the big font. I snickered because I thought she just made the font big so her letter would not look so small. J It wasn't, and when she told me she typed it for 1 hour and 45 minutes I was impressed. I LOVE YOU MOMMY.

Happy Kiwi Fathers Day Dad. We just celebrated it yesterday in the beautiful land of NZ! I had a real cool sacrament meeting regardless of the bummer turnout on our end... I finished the Book of Mormon once again on my mission. I was reading in Moroni 9:25 I believe (sorry I don’t have a copy on me—what kind of missionary am I?!). As I read Mormon's letter of encouragement to his son, Moroni, encouraging him even though he had faced a lot of things that would cause most to lose hope, quit or give up, that he should never lose hope in Jesus Christ! It made me think of my daddy and all the good things he has done for me.

This week we had a great lesson with a member family... We visited them last week and encouraged them to help move the missionary efforts forward in the branch with whatever they could contribute. Right before we left they said, “Elders, invite any of your investigators for a dinner at our place.” SO WE DID! We invited a less-active mom and her daughters to dinner at their house (part-member family). We had dinner, the family enjoyed their time, and right when we finished the Mom knew what was going to happen so she asked our spiritual thought to be short. In a little bit of a panic (we had planned to teach the whole plan of salvation), so last minute I decided to just focus on one aspect of that plan—the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We turned to Alma 7:11-13 and explained that each of those things that Jesus suffered he did out of love so that he can succor or know how to fix the problem whether it be pains, sickness, infirmities, temptations, weaknesses, sins, and even death. The girls and even the mom got really into the lesson along with the member family. They couldn't hold themselves back and added a few points and their testimony.

I sure do love good ole New Plymouth and all the people here. I am sorry I have to keep this relatively short. I promise I will have something better next week but to make up for the shortness of the letter I will send a few pictures (which he didn't!). Good luck with Collin’s mission call!!!! I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!!!

Love,

Elder Ward