warmin' up

Slam on the brakes! Time is really starting to go too fast. It couldn't have been a week ago that I was writing my last email! This has been a great week, and my enthusiasm for the work just gets increasingly larger the longer I am here. Both Elder Argyle and I agree that the end of our missions will come too soon.

The heat is coming back already! I miss Utah weather. We're getting up to the 90s .... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ....

I am really loving getting to know the missionaries in the Mesa Zone. There are some great, powerhouse missionaries that just pump out good results. They're out meeting people and teaching and extending commitments and seeing the fruits of their efforts. I am grateful for the chance to see their work and learn from it in how I can improve my own missionary skills. And then there are others that just don't seem to understand the gospel. Their lack of understanding affects their work ethic, their effectiveness, their desire, their results, their spirit, and attitude. I often wonder how this will translate over into the rest of their lives. President Craig says that everything we do in the mission is a foreshadowing of the rest of our lives in almost 100% accuracy. I wish these missionaries would understand correct principles of the gospel, so their future will be sound with their Father. I worry for some ....

Then I begin to think, "How can I avoid falling into the same traps as other people?" This is a question that has been in my mind since the beginning of my mission with my trainer. I saw his actions and began to worry about my mission. He was teaching me how to be a missionary like him, which I frankly didn't want to be. I thought a lot about the moves and tactics I had to take to avoid the same pitfalls. "What will I do to avoid the same self-destruction?"

This introspection has helped me a great deal. As we learn truth, we must stick to it as exactly as we can. It is a tragedy every time we justify ungodly behavior. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. Christ clearly was not teaching about self-mutilation, but rather self-discipline and self-instruction. What is the source of offense? Identify it, and cut it out of our lives. I am highly grateful for the Atonement of our Savior, that allows us to seek support in finding a better way--a more god-like life. No impure thing can enter into the presence of God, so we have great need to purify, refine, work, and beg for the mercy of God in helping us change. Otherwise, we have no hope, for alone we will never be pure.

Miracles do happen as we act on our faith. I've seen it and I know it is true. We have faith, we act on it (naturally) to pass the trials of our faith, and miracles are wrought as a result of our faithful action. It is the recipe for a miracle--that simple. We have no need to doubt the power of God, and that's the truth. There is no fear in faithful living, and no sorrow in true understanding.

There's another rant--I apologize if you want to hear about my mission .... I end up just going on spiels fairly often. I hope you gain something out of my blabbing. I love you, family. It will be joyful to see you again, even though I don't want to rush anything .... Thanks for the examples you have always given me. Bye for now.

-Elder Sam Bostwick