"IN GOOD WE TRUST"

Buenas Dias Familia,

Hey! How is everything going? Thanks a ton for the emails, I love them! It´s hard for me to believe that there really is that much snow in Utah right now! Sheez, I´m sweating like crazy! The weather is perfect, nice and warm during the day, sometimes a little hot, and nice and cool at night. All of the people here are always saying how they´re cold, and are asking me if i´m not freezing with my short sleeve shirt on... haha Then I tell them there is a bunch of snow where i´m from and they realize i´m just fine!

Christopher and Tanner, I love hearing about your basketball games, it sounds like you are doing awesome! Keep up the good work, remember who you are and you can tear it up and do anything you set your mind to. I´m serious, if your weak, shy, older brother is in Guatemala teaching people the gospel in Spanish, you studs can do just about anything! It´s all about our Savior Jesus Christ, and like I ALWAYS say, just keeping him central, and we can do anything.

That brings me to my next point. I was riding on a bus this week, and up on the front of the bus it had painted, ¨In Good We Trust.¨ This was painted in English, i´m not sure why, but it really got me thinking. One of the biggest challenges we have while teaching the people here is helping them realize that this church is the one and only true church, with the AUTHORITY restored on the earth today. There is no other way by which we can return to our Heavenly Father and be saved! It is the Priesthood Authority that gives us the ability to perform the ordinances necessary on this earth (i.e. Baptism) in order to make the covenants necessary to be able to really grow and become who we have been sent here to become.

People are confused. Just like Joseph Smith back in the day, people don´t know how theý re supposed to find the truth and what they´re going to do when they do find it. If they aren´t ready to receive it, they don´t even realize it when they´re staring two of Jesus Christ´s representatives right in the face hearing the truths. A lot of people have just decided to go to the church in their neighborhood, and to just be good! They can just be good, put their ¨Jesus Lives¨ and ¨God is Love¨ and all kinds of other stickers about Jesucristo on their cars, and hope for the best. We have been teaching and finding people like crazy, trying to emphasize the Authority! When the Zone Leader heard our numbers he thought they were the numbers for our District, not just Elder Muñoz and I (we have a small district with the Office Elders and Assistants, so the numbers aren´t usually too awesome, but that was just funny to hear).

Well, about the Familia Marroquin!(The family we contacted that I had a chance to contact before but didn´t) We had a lesson with them this week, and I left their house feeling like someone had torn my heart out, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. Seriously, I was already imagining him as Young Mens President, he´s such an amazing person, but they just aren´t ready. He is Catholic and has his beliefs, and just decided he was only listening to us just to find out about other churches. He was going out of town to Panama for a really long time (That was the part that made my companion sad) and decided to tell us he wasn´t interested in believing our message, but he just liked hearing it. It was a really good, spiritual lesson, but man, that hurts! It´s alright, they´ll come around someday, i´m sure.

I got the package of pictures, WOW! I LOVE pictures. I don´t think there is anything that can make a missionary happier than a bunch of pictures! Thanks a million.

We found an hombre named Israel Ramirez, he is WAY cool and totally ready to hear our message. He was talking about how he wanted to come to church with us, and it was way cool. Well, We had to teach him in his little Pinata shop, and we had to squeeze in there around the pinatas! haha Well, lets just say It was an interesting experience teaching Lesson 1 with my neck all tweaked teaching through Barney´s Legs. hah

Yesterday we were bearing testimony of the importance of families, and how important they are. I bore testimony, and was talking about how I remember being able to feel and know of the faith of my parents through their prayers when we would pray as a family, and I taught about how that strengthened me. I just want to say thanks a ton, that hit me really hard yesterday, and I´m so thankful for your examples.

Thanks for the package and everything! You´re awesome, I´ll be looking for it. I´m glad my email made your day a little brighter Dad!

I love you all so much, I´m so thankful for all you´ve done for me! Your support and influence has helped me a lot, THANKS!

Just know i´m loving life here in guatemala! see ya soon

Elder Melville