Hello Everyone!

 
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 11:36 AM
To: Jim And Sandy Bever
Subject: Hi from your Missionary!

Hello everyone!
Sorry I wasn't able to send pictures last week of my Christmas Festivities, but I was able to rob my
companion's camera where he has all of the good pictures. As you can see we did eat a ton. (I '11 send the
other pictures in another email here in a minute).
So it sounds like things are getting back to normal there at home and in Provo. Thanks for all of theemails!
I did receive the letter you sent Sis. Monestel at the Zone Conference and it was perfect. It was
funny, they handed the letters out all at once after we had a gift exchange and the whole room went
silent as we were reading our letters from our families. Then you'd hear an occasional sniffle here and
there and then it just got worse from there, so they said, "okay that's enough of that" and we moved on
the the next activity. But it was really nice to get that from you all. And hopefully Mom doesn't go too
crazy but I'm still expecting to receive a package some time this week ... but no worries, it's more
exciting this way.
I was waiting to hear something about missions from Emily and I think she's got it right. Don't worry
about it. Just know that its a worthwhile experience for all who choose to serve and do so with
preparation and diligence, but its not for everyone. If you're supposed to go on a mission, you'll know.
Well this week, as you should be able to see in the other pictures, we went to a farm of some
investigators that we've been teaching. The husband passed away two months ago from diabetes (its
really common here), and she has a son with a mental disability as well as 4 other children who are all
more or less grown up. So we went and gave service for her family this week. It was pretty "junglie" and
the view was pretty impressive from their farm. So that was fun to get a different prospective on where
I've been living for the last 4 months.
To keep you posted, we do have several baptisms lined up for this month and we are really working
hard. I ts hard sometimes to not see physical results of our efforts but when I stop and think about what
I've been able to be part of here on my mission thus far, its is more than worth it. We have 2 families to
baptize and who have been going to church fairly regularly so we're really excited about that.
We went to visit with a woman and her son who we have been teaching for a while and are almost ready
for baptism (there's a nice experience about how we found them, for another time). Anyway, we stopped
by yesterday and found out that she has been talking with a pretty wild christian church that's really
popular here and now had all of these questions and doubts. It was an interesting experience because I
don't think my companion had any clue how to respond although he really tried, and I was somewhat
dissapointed to hear that she didn't want to be baptized now, but after listening for a little while I said
somthing that I'm not so sure came from me. I told her that I don't know everything but I know enough.
And that seemed to do the trick. I really don't know everything and most of the time I'm clueless on my own,
but find a lot of comfort in knowing that what we have is enough. We'll never know everything,
what matters is what we'll do with what we have.
I hope you all have a wonderful week,
Love
Elder Bever