LOVE!!!

 So I didn't post yesterday because I was sad we hadn't heard from Chris....lame I know...but this is the crazy worrisome mother speaking.  We did hear from Our Beautiful Girl yesterday....and finally today we heard from Our Boy Christopher.  I hope I recognize him when he comes home...he is growing and changing so much out there....you will understand after you read his letter...so enjoy family and friends!!!

From Isabella Yestersday!

hola familia como estan. esta semana fue genial. well our district leader said our numbers were disgusting and i was like what? we should speak with love one to another. he didnt apologize and i said well those arent numbers they are souls so im very happy with them if we could have done more then i think we would have. he asked if i gave my 100% i laughed and said duh! thats what i just said see i also practice listening it helps when we teach, and i just didnt let it bring me down, well we had interviews with the president that same week and we told him what was said and the president said i think its disgusting he said your numbers where disgusting. he said i give you license to live the pure gospel of Christ and to use words only if necessary you have my permission to care for the temporal needs of the people of bolivia and i know that you are doing it with love, keep it up and dont let anyone tell you you are failing in the Lord´s eyes. i was so grateful for his assurance, i went on to explain that some elders very few of them are very number motivated and that they are missing the point, and that im looking not to sell the gospel but to invite people to come to Christ, i also told him about how many times we work and some of that work just doesnt reflect in numbers. and he told me that his mom when her husband died served a mission and all she ever did was serve the people and that service is the pure gospel of Christ in action and that she was very successful in bring people unto Christ. he then asked me if i could change the mission with my words what would i say and i said ¨love one another as Jesus loved you¨ wow if i could speak and the world would change i would shout this from the roof tops with out sleep. the problem is that many times we believe in Christ but we dont belive Him. we are like yeah it would be great if i served you right now because thats what Christ would do but right now i need to ... whatever else it might be. and i told the president that and he smiled at me and said something that is so true and this is what i tried to share last time and just couldnt find the words i said in my last letter Bolivians are so human but the president nailed what i ment to say he said ¨i dont know if its true of all people but i know its true of bolivians, they wont listen to your spiritual council unless they know that they are loved by you¨ that to me is such a true statement that is so human for me. we love Christ like his apostle said only because he loved us first. and i dont really care what anyone tells me anymore i give account of my actions to God first and my President second and myself third and i know that i am loving these people and im doing it without any hidden agenda. and i also told my president i would like to stay in cala cala another transfer i still need to learn to love the bishop there and i dont want to leave without mastering that he said i will keep you there then, and then i said i want to go back to sucre and have a second chance to do better there with the families i left. and to that he said i´ll see what the Lord says. also janice the shoes fit great i love them they are the best ever. and thanks for paying everything off with that money its what i would have liked gracias and i must share this last night the pres asked me to help his wife with a dinner she had and so i did and for dessert i got to have a brownie yum a real usa brownie... it was great also i hope they send me to sucre because im gaining weight here again. but all the things that dont make me sick are rice potatoes cereal and everyother starch but cochabamba is flat so you gain weight. well anyway i really dont care right now about that too much either.


les quiero mucho
hna florido

Lilliana's Baptism

The only 2 Sisters Paintballing on PDay!

Elder and Sister Dyer (new mission President) and the Calla Calla Ward at Lilliana's Baptism

Raquel's Wedding (Isabel and she became friends in Sucre
 and the Mission President gave her permission to attend the wedding.

From Christopher Today!!!
 
Hi, mom and dad!

I´m really happy that you both wrote me. I´m really grateful for your examples to me, especially in how much you sacrfice. I´m really grateful that you are paying for my mission and I think that it might be the best parenting ever - sending your child to babylon to learn how to be a man. Or at least that is kind of how I see it sometimes. Thank you so much for all that you do, with much sincerity. Thank you for the example you gave me early in my life and that we went to church. Until now, I didn´t know what effect it truly had on me.

I´m a much better person now than I was a year ago(I complete the year in a week!!!). You are the best parents ever.

Also, please forgive me for only writing once or twice by hand and for not writing every week. Please forgive me for so many things that I did. I will never be able to pay you back for what you did. Just know that I love you and I will always love and care you.



Dad, also forgive me that when you were in the hospital, that I wasn´t therewith you more. It was hard for me and I didn´t answer the call to serve as well as I should have. I´ve thought about that a lot in the last few years. And I´m really sorry. Know that I love you, and I think that of all the people in my life, I´ve missed you more than anyone on the mission. I hope and pray that God gives us more time to get to know each other because I think we lost a lot. I used to be very judgemental of you and that wasn´t fair at all. You´re a good father and I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for all that you do, have done, and will do.


Mom, thank you so much for teaching and loving me. I sometimes wished that you had never worked, but that wouldn´t be fair because I think that the work you do has been a bigger example than being at home. And it´s ironic how life develops, step by step. This Sunday in Church, for the first time, I knew that I was saved, that all that I lacked in this life was marriage and perseverance. It was a revelation. I hope, Mom, that you will seek personal revelation in your life. I learned the other day that Joseph Smith said that salvation is not obtained BUT by revelation. Spencer W. Kimball wrote about the Making Your Calling and Election sure, which is that you have saved your place in the celestial kingdom. He stated that it is a revelation that is received in the temple. I know that we´ll be there together, but we need to know the doctrine. I hope, mom, that you would know the scriptures and that you would pray to know your Father in Heaven. It´s something I´m truly forcing myself to do. We also need to help all of my aunts and uncles. They need to come to church. I´m going to write to them all by hand and send it to you. Maybe you could send the missionaries to their houses. I need that my aunt debi, uncle jeff, uncle mike, zack, mandy, jared, nathan, jake, amy and all of their spouses and children are with us. There is nothing more important than our family. Nothing. "You are the light of the world," Christ said, in an exhortation to the Nephites that they would preach the gospel to their loved ones. Mom, learn and preach the gospel to your brothers. I promise you, they will come. But like Isabel says, it starts with love. A love that isn´t moved. A love that is bold, bothersome and buries to the heart. A love of fasting, of temple work, of receiving revelation during the sacrament, so that we might all be together. I have a goal to see them all with me in the temple some day.


Speaking of family, there is nothing that has made me more happy in the week than hearing that Danielle has a boyfriend that´s a returned missionary.  I soooooo hope that they go to church, that they get married in the temple. I don´t know if she reads the website that we have, or how many of my cousins read this, but I want
them all to know that I love them so much. And I´m sorry for being a teenager and for being hard of heart and being weird and indulging myself in strange music and stupid scenes. I hope that they know that I want to know them. Someday I hope that my cousins, my uncles and aunts, my parents and grandparents can
all be in the temple together. If you only knew how special the day that I took my endowments out was. It was the best. I desire a REALLY BIG eternal family. MY work and MY glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of MY FAMILY. I love you all so much. But right now, my work is to bring others unto Christ. Don´t forget that we have blood on our hands if you keep quiet and wonder what would´ve happened. It´s not about being perfect, but about giving your all. 


This is my exhortation that you all might come unto Christ and feel of the relief that he has for you. Even unto my soul, I search every single day. And it´s perfect and worth it. Jesus is the Christ. This is His Church. And I believe in miracles and know that I will live to see the miracle that is a celestial family.  A very big one. :)

This I share, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.
...
Oh! I got clothes. Thank you. I think with that money, I´m going to marry many families and learn to play the piano. :)

I love you, mom and dad. Tell Jared that I love him and that barney sounds really funny in spanish. :)
...
Isabel... I love you, honey. Marry me? Because if you don´t, I will hogtie you and tickle you until you say "I do." Te amo mucho. Recibí tus cartas y son hermosas. Valen más que oro, o cacao, o lo que sea. Te adoro, cariña. Hasta ver. 1 año.