Goodness Gracious, it's been a while.
How do you do?
It's been a little rough this week for me. I'm just a little bit homesick and just kinda tired all the time. It's a struggle. HOWEVER, the work of the Lord rolls forward with great success. Our week was very very spectacular and we did some solid things.
We taught this little eight year old whose parents want him to be baptized. We don't want him to feel forced to do it, because obviously that isn't right, but we were able to teach him a little more about who Jesus Christ really is and why it is that he is important. It was very spiritual to teach something of unmeasurable importance simply enough for a child to understand. It was fantastic.
We had a street lesson with our homie Xavier. He's the gentleman who told us to peep his tracks on YouTube. I know I sent a picture but many expressed difficulty finding the exact song. The title of the track is just his name. Good luck. Anyways, by the end of our lesson he told us excitedly that he wanted to be baptized. We were overjoyed. We told him that we'd help him get ready and teach him what he needs to know. His smile was unforgettable.His exuberance makes me very very happy.
We also made this really cool YSA (Young Single Adult) aged kid named Gabriel. He's from Puerto Rico so he speaks Spanish and English, and he's also going to school at The Defense Language Institute to learn Arabic. He's really cool and I love his passion for foreign culture. We spoke with him, answered his questions, and taught him powerfully about Joseph Smith and he accepted an invitation to be baptised as well! I'm excited to get to know him better. He's a really cool kid.
We met Debbie and her wife Dee this week. Debbie is the sweetest Elderly African American woman whose love for Jesus is very contagious. She read some scriptures with us and said a prayer. When we were finished she asked if we would come back. Her wife was less friendly but didn't object to another visit. I'm excited to see them again.
We talked to our friend Victor from North Korea again. His stories are crazy and his outlook on existence is very bleak. As we've talked with him, we mostly just chat about everyday things to help him with English but we've also been able to discuss some very deep and meaningful questions with him. Very incredible human.
I've been thinking a lot about unconditional love. Specifically the unconditional love of our Heavenly Father.
Lots of people have told me during my experience here that if our Heavenly Father really loved us he wouldn't ask us to do all these extra things that can be really difficult and that we may not understand.
As I pondered on these thoughts I was reminded of a very important and influential mentor in my life. I'd like to imagine that from the very beginnings of our journey together he saw great potential in me. Throughout our time together he asked me to do lots of hard things, many of which I didn't fully understand at the time. But I trusted him. And I trusted that he loved me, knew my potential, and would never ask me to do anything that wouldn't make me better.
Bradley Wilcox said in our last General Conference,
"God loves us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way."
Just like my mentor, our Heavenly Father sees such grand potential for us. He loves us more deeply and completely than is comprehensible to us in our current state. He rejoices in who we are, but he also sees what we can become. He gives us instructions and asks us to do hard things that we might not understand. But as we trust Him we will begin to see he will never make us do or experience anything that will not eventually help us achieve our potential.
I encourage you to Trust Him. I promise you he will never lead you astray. You will see his love in your life even more abundantly than you do now.
Here are some songs for you amigos:
Sour Candy--Melt
Young Adult--Ritt Mommney
Black Sheep--Martin Sexton
Up and Up--Coldplay
Things Happen--Dawes
Darling--Christian Leave
Tamji Hal--Grape Choice
Hey Hi Hello--Danny and Alex
A couple songs that are very dear to me in there.
I love you all so so so much. I can't express.
I wish you a fantastic week.
Farewell…
Elder Winegar
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