Week 19 :)

Hello Family and Friends,

Well, I can´t believe it, but another week has come and gone, and this one felt like only a day. I literally can´t believe I have been here for 19 weeks, and my second change in the mission is almost coming to a close. I really love Tibas, and I really am gaining a love for the mission and for the people, and believe it or not, the language. I may not speak it fluently yet, but luckily the Gospel is the same in Spanish, it doesn´t change and my love for it sure doesn´t change, regardless of the language I am teaching it in.

I hope this letter finds everyone well, and I am so thankful to each of you for all your love and support through emails and prayers. I truly feel uplifted every day, especially Monday :) This week was a good one, it was filled with a lot of teaching and trying our best to strengthen Tibas. I love my ward here in Tibas, they do all they can to make the missionaries feel at home and like we have a family. They are awesome! And they also all really know how to have a fun and good time, but still show good examples of how to live the Gospel.

We are finally seeing a little bit of improvement in Tibas. The stake presidency has noticed our improvement in attendance at Sac. Meeting and has said that if during march we can reach 115 members in Sac Meeting we can qualify for a new and larger chapel, since our chapel is really small. We have made many goals to work as hard as we possibly can to help the members of the ward achieve this goal. A lot of time in the mission people guage success only on baptisms and think that unless you have a number of baptisms every month you are not having success. My comp and I have found this to be very un true. Although having baptisms is great and a true sign of success, it is not the only sign of success. Our job as missionaries is also to strengthen our wards and recent converts, whether they are ours or not. We have felt since in 2 months we have only had 2 baptisms that we have failed in Tibas, that the work that President has entrusted us with has amounted to nothing, but in reality the church attendence has improved, and is improving amazingly every week. We went from 60something to now almost 90 in Sac Meeting. We may not have the strongest area in the mission, but we are doing all we can to improve.

We had a baptism on Saturday, my 2nd baptism in the mission, and this one was very special. Aida Vargus was baptized by her son Alberto after he and his family had been inactive for 18 years. It was such a spiritual experience. Especially when Aida stood up in front of everyone after her baptism and bore her sweet amazing testimony. She was definitely one of the souls that was prepared by our Heavenly Father, and it was no accident that we found her and baptized her. I have no fear in my mind that she will remain a strong and happy member of this amazingly beautiful Church. I will send some pictures of this amazing occasion.

This week also we went on divisions with the Zone Leaders and for some odd reason the APs (assistants to the president) all came to Tibas and we went on divisions to do interviews and to do some work in Garabito and Tibas. I was very lucky to go on splits with one of the APs, his name is Elder Galarza, he is from Mexico and has 20 months in the mission. He is an amazing example to me of how missionaries should be and act at all times. I hope to teach and testify just as he did on our very short, but very spiritual exeperience on splits. We went and contacted in Tibas, and although we had little success, I felt spiritually uplifted and ready to take on the rest of the day.

We finally cleaned our SUPER dirty house this week, and I wasnt the only one to do it, I got help from the other Elders in the house. Only because one day during studies we received a call from the Land Lord, who said he wanted to come and check up on the house. We scheduled an appointment for tomorrow so he will be coming, so maybe, just maybe we might get some hot water in this house business. I will definitely keep you all updated on this big news, haha.

This week I found a really amazingly spiritual talk that Elder Holland gave to the missionaries at the MTC in 2000. He spoke about how central to this work, this church, and everything that Latter-day Doctrine has to do with the Atonement of Christ. And how as missionaries, we can better incorporate this precious doctrine to help our investigators receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said something to the missionaries that I will never forget and something that I would like to share with you. He said something that applied to the missionaries in that talk but can be applied to everyone of us who are facing the same battle in this life. He said that there is always at least one moment (maybe more) in your mission where you will have to get a little taste of Gethsemane. As a missionary you will have what they call your own personal Gethsemane. Not to say that we will have even the 100th idea of what it was like for our Savior, but we will have a moment where we are tested, and we will plead with our father and ask for any other way out. There will be moments where the people we entrusted will often "fall asleep" in our times of deepest despair. Because as messengers of his truth and of his message, and his Atonement, we must get even the slightest taste of what he did to make this all possible. A member of the Branch Presidency in the MTC always said to us "You cant lead people somewhere you haven´t been"...That is so true, we can´t lead people to partake of the fruits of the Gospel unless we ourselves have stayed and had a really awesome taste of the fruit of the Gospel. We can´t expect people to accept the Atonement and accept our testimony of it unless we have had even the slightest, tiniest feeling of what it was like for our Savior. I believe that in every life, sometimes more than once we may feel like we are kneeling at the foot of the olive trees, begging for a way out, and feeling at the absolute worst we ever have. Although we will never have to do what Jesus Christ himself did, we will have those moments of despair, but we will also have the moments after the passing of Gethsemane and after the passing of the events of Calvary where the sun will again shine, and we can stand up, pick our selves up, and continue on in this journey of ours. Whether or not I have really been in my own personal Gethsemane during these past 2 months, I do not know, but I do know that no matter the depths we´ve sunk in, there is always a way out, and there is always a spot with more sun. I know that spot can be found on the solid ground of the Gospel.

I have seen heaven´s hand in my mission every single day I have been out here. I know that he lives and knows every single one of his children. He knows our thoughts, our desires, what we are capable of, what we arent capable of. He knows our doubts, fears, insecurities, strengths, hopes, dreams, everything. And most of all, He knows how to help. I know that He lives and that His Son, Jesus Christ lives, and directs this church on the earth through a Prophet. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the way to eternal life. I know that there is only one name and that is Jesus Christ, whereby we can be saved in the Kingdom of God. I know that we have a Prophet, a living director between us and heaven to lead and guide us while here in this world growing ever more wicked with each passing day. I know this with all that I am. I am so grateful to be a servant and give two years for him who gave absolutely everything he could possibly give. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony that I now have. I am grateful for the help that I have receieved from Heaven, I couldn´t make this journey on my own, without that divine help.

Well Family, I am doing well here with each passing day. I am learning SO MUCH I can´t believe there was that much to learn. I am trying my best to be the missionary that my Father in heaven and you all expect me to be. I Love you all with all that I am. Stay strong, until next week.

Elder Falor