255 miles since being out

What a week, what a week. Let's start with the obvious, since it's me, and it happened this week. The election. Gosh dang. Really? Man. I can't believe it. Haha like you said Austin, gut check for sure. Cool experience though came from it though that I'd like to share. Sooo I'm not sure if I've ever really let on to how much this whole "the country has two clearly different choices to make" slash "which path will the country go" has meant to me, but it has. In the sense that future hopes and dreams are riding on what happens. Make sense? Hah I just reread that and I don't feel like I explained it well enough but I can't think of a better way to explain it. Oh well. Anyways, Tuesday night, word got around the missionaries that Romney lost, and it's an understatement to say that I was dissapointed. Devastated might be too strong a word, but somewhere near there. It put me in the dumps for a while. 

Such were my thoughts/feelings when Wednesday night I was knelt down and prayed and you could say I poured out my soul to Heavenly Father. I knew that as long as I was in this state of mind and mood I wasn't going to be an effective missionary. As I was praying, some lyrics to a hymn came to mind. They kept on running through my mind over and over but I couldn't remember which hymn it was! I finally found it on Friday. 'How Firm a Foundation', verse 3. These were the words that came to my mind as I was praying. "Fear not, I am with thee, Oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand." Talk about having your prayers answered. So I really don't care now what happens. I love too the message that was shared in your stake conference back home. Be a wise optimist. Christ commanded to be of good cheer. Happiness is a choice, and a commandment, no matter our circumstances!  It's so easy to say that yet -- the application of it so much more difficult. I appreciate though what Austin told me to do. Find something to smile about each day. Look for the Lord's hand in our lives.

Bishop Causse, in a CES Fireside just recently spoke and gave a talk called "We Are the Architects of Our Own Happiness". Wonderful talk. He labeled 3 principles of happiness. 1. Recognize personal worth. 2. Become who you are. 3. Trust in God's promises. We can do all this through the Gospel of Christ. Through the Atonement, we can feel of God's love for us, and realize that he cared enough for us to make that great sacrifice on our behalf. I love what Tyler said, "it's awesome to realize i'm probably experiencing 1/24591384571390482739046712349578134985723498239867349057813490578234905782390485719034857239046872390485723904857190348572349082739067 of what my Lord felt when he took everything I have gone through, am going through, and will go through on Himself. " When you think about that how could you not feel loved?? As we apply then the 5 principles of the Gospel of Christ, we become who we were meant to be. We become the person God sees us as, not the individual we limit ourselves to be.

The last principle of happiness comes from trusting in God's promises. Which is the simple definition of hope. Pulling from Tyler again, cause I love it, Faith------> Hope--------> Happiness-------> Peace. It's beautiful how the Gospel answers have answers to life's questions and is the way for us to have happiness in life. That's why we go on missions!! Hymn #324. Check it out. Also search "The Value of a Full Time Mission" Goood good stuff.

Well Elder Shayne M. Bowen is coming to our mission this Thursday, I'm sooo stoked!! It's going to be intense, I already know it. I'm going to take so many notes. This last week though not much has been going on. Our investigator pull is ever so slowly dwindling. Elder Townsend isn't afraid to go tracting for a few hours a day though so y'all ready know what we're gonna be doing! Gotta teach them Baptists, J-dubs, Methodists and Holy Rollers! We've been biking alot lately. As of today, I've biked 255 miles since being out.

Oh, please send out some gloves and ear muffs, or something to cover my ears. And the reason i'm asking is because it's getting cooolllddd! 40-50's. Haha and apparantly it's only supposed to get colder. Haha now I realized I've got nothin on Mr. "it snowed first day of conference!!!" but i'm tellin you what, this fetchin wind out here is bad. No if's and's or but's. No joke, no matter what direction you're biking it seems you're always biking into a headwind. Still haven't figured that one out yet... Other than that everything is the same! It's good to hear about home, nice to see life is still going on. I love y'all and ALWAYS remember the church is true through and through!! LOVE YOU!!!!