21 Nov 2011 - Palmeiras Area (Dad)

[Not getting an email from you on Monday is always a bummer for me. I guessed that it probably had to do with the visiting General Authorities, but I still missed hearing from you.] Well you guessed right. Elder Bednar came on P-Day so they said we could email on the 15th. Unluckily, that was national get-drunk-and-don't-open-any-store-so-that-the-poor-Elders-can-e-mail day aka a national holiday. So President let us use email on Wednesday. [... as a parent it means the world to hear from your son, especially when you hear how much he loves serving. Being a parent--and being a missionary serving others--makes you appreciate and comprehend so much more how our Father in Heaven feels about us.] It is true though, I have felt a part of the love that God feels for each and everyone of us. Especially when people reject us saying that they already have the truth. You just feel sad because they are so sure, but they aren't putting their faith in the right beliefs. Imagine how faithful and powerful they would be if they had the true church and its true teachings.

Elder Bednar did things a little differently. He just didn't talk to us but he asked us questions and had us read 2 of his talks before he came. So he asked what we learned and it was more of a missionary lesson rather than a talk. It was cool. It is always fun to get Q&A time with an Apostle. They always disappoint our feeble, worldly minds though. One Elder asked if Elder Bednar would teach us a little about the Atonement. We were all waiting for angels to minister and see visions and stuff like that. Elder Bednar just told us to get an inexpensive copy of the Book of Mormon, read it a lot for 6 months thinking about the Atonement. Then write a one page paper about what you learned. "Lame!" thought the feeble, give-it-to-me-now part of the brain. He said that he could tell us what he learned, but it wouldn't matter much to us in 3 years. It wouldn't stick, but if we learned it ourselves then we would never forget. Yeah yeah punch our feeble brains out of the way and dust off the ole thinking caps and stuff :) It was great though. He said he has done that for many gospel questions that he has had during his life. So I guess we can all learn something here. Stop waiting for the mysteries and answers to fall from the sky and go out and get them by hard work and brutally subduing your feeble worldly brains with hard work and inspiration! YEAH!