Mighty Winds of Change

November 18, 2013

My Dear Family and Friends!!

Another week is here and as I sit here I do not know what to say. A lot has happened this week and nothing all at the same time.

Starting with the sad news:

Yanita and Charice broke up with us. We called them Saturday night to see if they were going to church and they told us they did not want to meet. They told us that they had been doing some research about the BOM and feel it is not for them. They really want to focus on studying the Bible. I am really sad but I know that we did all we could do. It is sad to me how much false information people can find out.

I remember reading the BOM yesterday for the sole purpose to know if it was true again. As I was reading I smiled at how good it felt to read! This book is the word of God and if all would read it with a sincere heart and real intent they would know it is true.

On Friday we went English Boarding with the elders. We all split up and went around passing flyers and we ran into a man from the Philippines. He told us how worried he was for his family back home. We offered to say a prayer with him and then he left. It is so sad to hear about all the devastation in the Philippines. :(  

We were able to have dinner with our recent convert Zhu Mei Ling and her non-member husband. We and the elders went. The seating was arranged so that the girls sat at one table and the boys sat at the other. The Elders were able to have a great lesson with the husband!! He is willing to continue to meet with them!! We were also able to meet with our RC. She is doing well! She is the most energetic women I have ever meet. We had hot pot with her!! OH MY GOODNESS so so good!!!! I will miss that in America!! She was saying won't you miss this when you go home. I told her yes. The only problem is with Hot pot you always end up eating WAY WAY to much! Especially with her because she just keeps saying eat this and then telling us to try this!

We were able to meet this really cool girl on Saturday while out tracting. She was about to get on her moped to go home. We taught her pray and a little about the BOM! We were able to give her one. She took our number and we hope that she gives us a call this week.

I have decided that before the end of my mission I want to read all the standard works.  I have made a game plan to accomplish this goal. The plan is to have the Book of Mormon and new Testament read by Christmas.  Then I can have from after Christmas to May to read the Old Testament and D&C / Pearl of Great Price.

I am really enjoying reading the New Testament at this Christmas season. It is such a joy to read and remember the reason for the season. :)

This week to develop my faith I decided that I wanted to study more in depth. I started with looking up faith in the Bible Dictionary.  It was interesting because nothing hit me like I thought it would. One thing I realized is that it is hard because you cannot measure faith. you can measure charity by if you increased the amount of service you did or did not gossip, etc. I have really learned that faith is very personal. However, doing those small things (prayer, scripture study, obedience) our faith will grow faster. I am seeing my faith increase in small steps.

I know this is God's church restored again on the earth. I know that God appeared to Joseph Smith and restored his church through him. I know that through the power of God Joseph Smith translated the BOM. I know the BOM is the word of God.

Love,

Sister Latimer