Lynn and JaAnna Nelson Family: Week 94 from Mexico

12 June 2011

Hola! Six weeks and counting. I guess you could say I'm getting a little trunky.

This has been an interesting week. We found out on Tuesday that one of our workers at the temple, Bro. Carlos Almaguer, passed away on Sunday. Just after giving his testimony in his ward he sat down and within a few minutes was gone. The members thought he had just gone to sleep but when they tried to wake him found that he had passed away. He was over 80 and lived a full life. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Lynn was talking to him and he asked Lynn how old he was. When Lynn told him that he was 62 he said that he had a son his age. He got married when he was 17.

Lynn and I worked the morning shift this week and on Friday took the place of the presidency. It's not too hard to do in the mornings. We were especially busy at the temple on Saturday with all sessions over full and lots of youth for baptisms.

Friday night we were able to attend the farewell party for the Carlos and Ester Trevińo family. They will be heading to their new assignment as mission president in the Verequez Mission the first of July. What a great family. We have enjoyed getting to know them. They have been very gracious host and shown us great love and friendship. We will miss them.

We took Lupita's mom, to the party with us. We give them rides to church on Sunday. She is a very fun person, very friendly and outgoing. As we talked with her she said that when she was a young woman she remembers her father having the missionaries in their home but they never joined the church. So, Lupita's joining the church was not her first exposure to the church. It just encourage her own desire to be baptised. I'll attach some of the pictures I took at the party.

President Romney shared a story about one of his missionaries that leaves me in awe of the faithfulness and strength of that some of our missionaries have.

“As I visited with one missionary who had arrived a few months previously, I asked as I often do how his family was doing. His response was that he was unsure as his family had not returned any of his emails. In fact, his situation became even more intriguing and heartbreaking as I probed more. He related the story of how his father (his parents are not members of the church) had forbidden him from serving a mission, eventually giving him an ultimatum of staying home or being disowned by the family. After announcing that going on a mission was the greatest desire of his heart, his father told him to be out of the house by that evening. This Elder spent the next couple of months sleeping on the floor of a friend’s home waiting for his mission call. He stated that since he has been on the mission, he has not heard from his parents, and had recently heard from his bishop that his family had moved to an unknown location. So there I sat with an Elder who not only had no support from home, but now was faced with the possibility, if not probability, of having no place to go home to.”

Since we received our copy of the conference issue of the Ensign this week I've spent some time this week reading some of the talks from conference. One of the talks I read this week was “Followers of Christ” by Elder Walter F. Gonzalez. As I read it I was reminded of the Elder in the above story. He is a great example of one who is truly a follower of Christ, willing to give up everything to serve Him.

As Elder Gonzalez said in his talk, “Followers of Christ pattern their lives after the Savior to walk in the light...followers of Christ are loving people...[and]...make and keep covenants...When we follow the Redeemer out of love, we are following His own example. Through love the Savior was obedient to the will of the Father under any circumstance. Our Savior was obedient even when it meant great physical and emotional pain, even when it meant being whipped and mocked, even when it meant that His enemies would torture Him while His friends abandoned Him. The atoning sacrifice, which is unique to the mission of the Savior, is the greatest expression of love ever...Truly loving Christ provides the required strength to follow Him.”

I only hope that I can come a little closer to being a more faithful follower of Christ. I know that through service to God and keeping our covenants we will have the strength and faith we need to overcome any trial in this life. May you also come to know this to be true as you strive to show your love for Christ and what He was willing to do for you and for me because He loved us.

May your week be a good one. May you feel God's love and protection in all you do and may you also strive a little more to show your love for your Savior.