Wednesday, July 13, 2011

7-4-2011

Hola,

Happy 4th of July! It will be strange to not have fireworks or anything, but that's all right. I like Spain too, haha.

Not yesterday, but the Sunday before, we, the missionaries, did a musical fireside here in Sevilla. It was a lot of fun, and it was another good opportunity to share the gospel. We centered it on Christ and the restoration of His church. It went really well and the people said they enjoyed it a lot.

Elder Kirkham, Stanley, and Walton all left, and Elder Ferreira came. He's awesome and I have been speaking Spanish 24 hours a day. It's helping me a lot. We are both really excited about this marvelous work.



I recently read a story about a missionary who had a companion who he got along with pretty well but his companion stunk! He smelled sooooo bad, and this missionary could not stand it. His companion didn't shower hardly at all and he could not understand it. It drove him up the wall. So, he told the mission president about it, how gross his companion was and that he smelled bad and all of that stuff. Then, the mission president asked him, "Did you know that where your companion grew up they had to travel 15 miles to get water? Water was precious to that family. They couldn't waste a single drop." In short, this missionary's perspective changed quickly.

It's easy to draw conclusions about people, especially when we see things that are different from us or that in our opinion "shouldn't be that way". The truth is, however, that we don't know everything. I know that every person on this earth is a special, beloved child of God. I had an experience similar to the one that missionary had, in that I found out something I didn't know before and my perspective, my thoughts toward him changed. It was a humbling experience.

By applying the atonement of Jesus Christ we can change our perspective, our attitude, and our character and put them in alignment with the Lord's will. I know that He lives and loves us so much.

Love,
Elder Fagersten

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