Lagardo area

Well gang, this last week been's a ton of work and a ton of fun. I'm learning a lot, and receiving interesting revelations as I seek to understand more about core doctrine. I've been reading a copy of "Articles of Faith" by Talmage I finally got ahold of. It teaches mainly things I already know, but the perspectives I gain from the way he explains things are interesting...for instance:

 - "Sin" is generally associated with the Hebrew semantics, which means "to miss the mark", or rather, to have a certain lack with respect to the standard of God's being. But Talmage also defines it as any decision that prevents the development of the human soul. It's like...decisions we make that involve sin are like ladders, in which sin is a ladder that goes downward, and the righteous choices upward. I thought it was an interesting way to look at it.

 - Knowledge is to wisdom as belief is to faith - belief does not assure that one acts, as knowledge does not assure the usage thereof. This helps a lot with helping investigators get out of the rut with, "Ah, but I've already got faith." by showing that they'll apply faith by trying to do what we ask them to. 

 There are many other small things too, but as I haven't taken the time to write them down yet they're not organized enough to write out here. Know, however, that your son is happy and that he's working his rear end off!

 Speaking of which...We baptized Luís, Laís's brother!

 Yeah. Luís overcame a lot of problems to be in the Church, and to top it off...he's the only "firm" young man in the branch for now. We're gonna see if the Lord will inspire his friends to join the Church too - the organization might just get resurrected if things work out!

 There's a lot of work in front of us. We've been working with a lot more people that actually have interest than I've found in many other periods of my mission. I feel that we're finally establishing a pattern, and that through the pattern the Spirit is permitted to guide us. I hope that E. Ralph is my comp next transfer too, because we're learning to work well together. Our conversations on the street are fulfilling and fun. I'm feeling like the team missionary effort now involves more fully the members, and so it is - we had many people in the Church the other day, and most of them are already well-integrated with the branch. 

Splits with the Assistants. :D

 Lagarto is starting to have that familiar feeling that you get when you start to recognize everything wherever you go. The zone's slowly progressing, and I think I know the members here better than the members at home...which is something I'll have to fix when I get home. I can't imagine living somewhere without having a responsibility of some sort for the place now. I don't want to spend a lot of time living anywhere without a calling...I'll need something to keep me focused spiritually when I get home. There's plenty of time to think about that later...for now, I'm happy to be running the spiritual marathon, as a friend once put it.

 So...yeah!

It's been raining like crazy here!

 Hmm...yeah. I hope that everyone's doing well, and that you're all doing your best to learn what the Lord wants you to. He's quite the genius, and it's interesting how He prepares so many small details just to teach something. I'm grateful to be in His care, and how personal He makes it. Life is good.

 As always, I hope that you're all remembering to write! I yearn and hope for your loving stories and strengthening updates. I'll be going now...but don't forget! I love y'all!

 -Erich