Trav's Letter

What up family how are ya>?! This week had some major ups and downs as usual :) Last monday night we went on exchanges with some people in our zone. They are struggling a little bit to get their area going, so we were hoping to really tear it up while we were there. I got to go with Elder Kaumaitotoya (from fiji!) and we stayed in their area. It was a lot of finding and stuff and it was a little different doing english work, but still the same rush ahah that's for sure. They really are not as nice though i gotta admit. But we ended up going over to this lady named Lynn, and she was like oh man i have been waiting for you for so long! Apparently they talked to her last week but since then they've had no contact and she had been praying that we'd come back all week. So we go visit her and teach her a little bit more about the book of mormon and how it could help her in her current situation and then invited her to be baptized. She said yes!! She was like yea that's definitely what i want to do. It was soo awesome and it was cool to have that miracle on exchanges in an area that really needed it. I can't say i really did anything either, it was completely the Lord that prepared her for us to come that day and he was the one that touched her heart. It was such a spiritual lesson too, everybody was crying haha :) i guess that's not really funny, but it was really cool. We had a pretty good day and we foudn some potentials too that will hopefully spark something. THen we switched back at our dinner time. Like i was kind of saying before, I have been thinking a lot about righteous desires, and my will versus' the Lord's will. Elder K and i have been talkin about it and how our desires are 99% of the time righteous, good desires. Like baptizing Heavenly Father's children, of course that's a good thing, but i'm praying constantly that i can be humble enough to accept what the Lord would have for his children. It's hard to really take myself out of the picture and completely rely on His will. Especially now where i'm getting more confidence with my teaching andspanish and i find my self caught in my own pride sometimes and it's just bad news haha. I've been trying really hard to think and focus on what the Lord would want. It's just hard to discern sometimes between something that WE want, that's good, and something different that the Lord wants, that may not seem as "good" at the time, but in the long run is the absolute best thing. There is a cool scripture chain that puertas and i came up with that we were studying in our companionship now. I dont know if you're interested but the scriptures are mosiah 28:1-3 alma 17:11,16 alma 26:30 Alma 29:1-9 helaman 10:3-5 and 3 nephi 7:16-20, 24 I was thinking about my desire to baptize. Honestly, i want to be the best missionary that Heavenly Father wants me to be. I know that i have the potential, through the spirit, to change soo many lives. I feel like the Lord has blessed me with so much, talents and a testimony, for the sole purpose of bringing his children unto the Savior Jesus Christ and helping them accept his gospel. And yet, i find myself struggling to really help people change. I think in my head i have been so concerned about baptizing people, that it has almost desensitized me to loving them in the full capacity. That has been another thing i've prayed for, a greater capacity to love His children. But with the scripture chain, the sons of mosiah and alma DESIRED to go out and serve that they might be 'instruments' in the hands of the Lords that they might be the means of bringing SOME soul unto REPENTANCE. I think of their thought process and how they couldn't have gone out there just to baptize the most people amongst their brothers. It's not a competition. But they went out, hoping that they could bring some soul unto repentance. Their joy must have been so full with each convert they saw come unto Christ. And they probably didn't expect any success and yet they gave everything they had regardless because they couldn't bear that any human soul should perish. They understood the doctrine of christ so well and the atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ, that they couldn't bear that anyone should perish. I love that scripture. Then in helaman 10 it talks about how Nephi always sought the will of the Lord and that he would grant unto him his desires because he would never ask anything contrary to his will. Then in 3 nephi, we are to bring souls unto repentance, not just baptism. I think i had the 2 mixed up or backwards. We are helping people to repent through the savior Jesus Christ and ultimatly go live with Him again. And baptism is just one of those steps that is necessary in the repentance process. I felt like in my head, everything i did built up to baptism, when really baptism is just a fruit of repentance, that is necessary as Christ taught us. I don't know, sorry for the rambling, it makes more sense in my head haha but i gotta go. Sorry for the tangent haha! This week is gonna be really good. I just found out that i get to teach in front of a couple zones down here in the south or oregon on the 29th of this month. I'm teaching about revelation through church attendance and teaching that concept through the 5 lessons that we teach people. I'm pretty excited and kind of nervous but it'll be great. Elder K and I are still doing well together and i love him to death. I'm doing my best to be the missionary you all think I am. That's something president always stresses: "be the missionary your mom thinks you are". Me encanta esta obra y amo al senor. Se que la iglesia es verdadera y nuestro padre celestial nos da pruebas para fortalecernos. I love you guys so much and thank you for the support! I hope you have a good easter and will miss bein there with you. The church is true :) Love elder edwards