Purpose

Date: July 11, 2012

Area: Santiago, Chile

Companion: Elder Barnes

Hola Familia!

Well, it sounds like you have been busy there in SD and Zambia with everything, not all good news but you´re all alive and thats what counts right? Man, those pictures of Dad look pretty bad! You´re supposed to ride on top of the bike, not launch yourself onto the ground! =) I hope you knocked some sense into you though! =) haha. But seriously, i´ll be praying for you to get better, that looks pretty bad. I´m sorry! But you´re like the opposite of Michael Jackson, he wanted to go white and by the look of your hip it looks like you´re going black! But take it easy Dad. Now you have an excuse to have Cutler do everything around the house for the next while so take advantage of that!

Mom, you´re always such a great support so the truth is that I know that Dad will be ok. He´ll be back to normal in no time!

CJ, I liked the pictures of your eagle project. Finally you´ll be able to DRIVE!!! Wow! I don´t know íf ill ever feel comfortable on the streets of San Diego again =) But thats exciting, its a big step towards manhood my young padewan. Good work. And the owl boxes look terrific, good goin!

Lindy, it sounds like you had a great experience there in Zambia, I don´t really have time to respond to your questions but I´m goign to print off your emails and respond for next week! It made me so excited to see you there in those pictures, I know that it was a wonderful experience for you and that you grew so much there, just take that and run with it, keep changing and getting better every day! I know you see things differently now but you just have to adopt that into your everyday routine and accept the change. But now I think you understand why I got mad at everyone when we went to Souplantation and everyone was wasting all the food =)

I am feeling really great, just in a great mood right now. I loved the conference yesterday that we had and everything President taught us. He talked about about receiving blessings that are hard to get. (Such as changing bad habbits, sometimes healings that medicine doesn´t have an answer for etc). He talked about 9 principles to help us recieve those blessings but the one that really stuck with me is that if it is something against Heavenly Fathers will, then it will not come, no matter how hard or bad we want it. We should try to understand His will and then put our will in line with His. But learning His will is what is sometimes hard, we can turn to the scriptures, our patriarchial blessings, personal prayer and personal revelation to help us understand his will. He talked about many other principles but I really liked that one.

The truth is that I feel like I am growing so much changing, more than I have in all my time previously in the mission. I am so greatful for everything that I have been learning recently in my studies, the realizations I have been coming to, the way in general I feel about the work and especially about my companion, Elder Barnes. I feel that I am progressing and I love the feeling! This week something wonderful happened with Elder Barnes and I. It was after we had gotten home last Monday but we just started to talk and he came out with some of the concerns/problems that he has been having in adjusting to life and it was great to be able to talk with him because he has the exact same concerns/problems that I had and is experiencing the same things that I experienced. Ever since we were put as companions I have noticed that we are really pretty similar. But talking that night we both realized why it is that we are companions and that there really is a lot that we can learn from one another. I know that I can help Elder Barnes, just like he is helping me, and am greatful that Heavenly father would trust me with the responsability and ability to do so. It feels great to know why we are companions. I love him and he helps me everyday. He too, is progressing so much and I just feel so blessed in general right now.

I am just happy right now. Life isn´t always easy, it is filled with problems and unexpected turns but I feel peace in knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us and that plan is always for our good. I love knowing that he has purpose in all that he does and he won´t lead us astray. I feel so blessed with everything that is going on in my life right now and I feel that it is a blessing to see the things that you at home are going through. They aren´t always easy things but I know that in the end they will always be for your good so you just have to lean on the Lord and use the experiences and time that he gives you to grow closer to him and to change yourselves. I love you all so much,

Les amo,

Elder Jaromy Holland