"Be of Good Comfort"

August 10, 2009

Mirëdita! (I finally found out how to do the “ë” on the keyboard. It’s pretty sweet.)

Yeah I remember that piece of his talk! I’m not gonna lie, I don’t remember much else though, but I think I have a copy of the Liahona in our house so I’ll probably read that. But I remember him talking about that. I haven’t really ever done that. When I pray, I try to give thanks for the majority of the prayer (which can be difficult because I definitely have my hard days) but maybe I should try writing it down. I’ll make that one of my goals for next week!

I haven’t got the package yet. It might be in the mission office though. I don’t get mail as constantly as I did in the MTC. I am pretty far away from the mission home so I usually get mail like once every two weeks, but we’re going in Wednesday I think so hopefully it’s there. =)

So Webelos sounds pretty awesome! Oh my heck I laughed about Wil Neves being the Den Chief. Ha ha don’t tell him that, but I thought it was funny. Okay and what in the heck is an Activity Badge? I’ve never heard of that before. Good luck with those boys! I know they will have fun with you guys.

So I’m kinda limited on time today since we had a district trip and so e-mail got pushed to the last thing, but I learned something really cool this week. Basically. . . .I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been struggling a little with homesickness. Not a ton, but every once in a while there will be a day where I will really just miss home. Yesterday I read in Mosiah 24 ( I think it was 24, but maybe it wasn’t) where the people are captive under King I-forget-his-name (yeah I know I’m a killer scriptorian). They were having a really hard time, but they had faith and prayed to God. And God comforted them. Now, the interesting thing is that God said to them, “Be of good comfort. I will deliver you out of bondage.” And then a couple verses later he says, “On the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.” I thought that was interesting because we don’t really know how much time passed between those two verses. The people in all likelihood were in bondage for a long time. It was probably really hard! In the previous chapter, it reads something like the Lord seeth fit to try his people. To try their faith and their patience. So these people had to suffer. It was essential for them to grow in their faith. But God did hear their prayers and he did answer them. That was very comforting to me. I know it’s going to be hard for a while, but I’ve been praying for help to lose myself in the work and I know that God will help me as long as I do my part.

As far as Flamur goes, this week was kinda weird because we found out that he got engaged last week! Which he did not tell us and he just said he was busy and we ended up not meeting him at all last week which was a little concerning. But then he came to our activity Saturday and had a pretty good time. Then yesterday he didn’t show up at church! So I’m kinda confused right now. He is so good. He is willing to accept everything. I guess he was talking to Elder Bullough and asked, “So we don’t drink alcohol?” and Elder Bullough replied, “No we don’t.” And he was like, “Not even wine?” Elder Bullough, “Not even wine.” And then Flamur said the coolest thing ever: “Okay.” He is so willing to do what we ask him to do, but I’m still kinda concerned about what’s going on with everything else. So I’ll let you know more about that next week.

Anyway, I’ve got to e-mail Lindsey! I’ve only got 9 more minutes. Love you mom!

-Elder Swenson

Hey dad,

I'm glad to hear that Alpine Days still went well without the best band on earth playing. ;) Ha ha that's kinda funny that a bunch of old guys played. But what can you do? And as far as a band goes when I get back, let's hope. But I don't know as of right now. I'll work that out when I get back, but I'm sure I will. That is my favorite thing to do.

Man I wish the cold had set in here ha ha. It is so hot over here. But apparently it gets way cold in the winter too. So I don't know if I should wish that upon myself. But it is getting darker a little bit earlier which makes the nights a little cooler. So after about 7:30 it's really nice outside. Sounds like the fishing has been good this season. Did you go to Porcupine more than Strawberry this year? It seems like you didn't go there much before.

Do the Gappmeyer's have a son named Oliver? If so, then I have actually met him. He probably doesn't remember me though, but we've met. And yeah that's a really good tip. In fact, I told that to Elder Bullough a couple weeks ago when we were doing weekly planning. We had basically just been going up to people and saying, "Hey! We're missionaries and we teach people about Jesus. Wanna hear?" But if that is the only way you go about it, almost nobody will listen. So I said that we should set a goal that every door we knock, we have to find out (1) their name and (2) ask about one other thing like for example if they're doing yardwork, ask them what they're doing or something like that. And then you kind of establish a friendly relationship which opens the door for the gospel. We've been trying, but it's been proving kind of hard. Seeing as I can't speak well at all and he's pretty much been doing it that way for his whole mission, it's difficult. And holy cow I'm way excited for Nate! Is he in the Provo MTC? He'll be great!

Well, I love you dad! Hope you have a good week!

-Elder Swenson