Preaching Fourth: October 2009

Arturo Edgar Carvajal age 23 of Plano, TX, lost his life to brain cancer on Tuesday September 22, 2009. Edgar was preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2006 when they discovered his brain tumor. Little did any of us know that Heavenly Father would call him to serve a different type of mission; one he would serve beyond the veil. He was born in Colombia on May 26, 1986 and later moved to The United States in 1994. He enjoyed making people laugh and was well known by his trademark-smile. He was a kind-hearted and patient young man who loved his mom and was proud to be her only son, her only child. “I will not doubt, I will not fear; God’s love and strength are always near. His promised gift helps me to find, an inner strength and peace of mind. . . His Spirit guides; his love assures that fear departs when faith endures.” (Hymns, p128) We love you Arturito. Till we meet again Edgar!

Elder Trey Nelson
California Roseville 1-10
Elder Nelson was recently transferred to Grass Valley, California, probably his last area before he comes home in three months. He is excited to have a new greenie companion and continues to work hard and share a funny story each week. Just before his transfer, we received a letter from his ward mission leader in the Granite Bay area which reads, "Brother & Sister Nelson, I have been your Son's Ward Mission Leader for the past 3 months, and had to email and tell you what an incredible missionary you have raised. We were very sad to have him transferred this week but know the Nevada City Ward (Auburn Stake) will be greatly blessed to have him. Your son has really helped the missionary efforts in our Ward and through his efforts we have had some great success. He has been a great example to our youth and is an excellent teacher. We will miss him very much, especially his singing, and again want you to know what a great missionary he has become." We were so happy to hear such high praise.

Elder Skyler Thiot
New York New York South Mission 5-10
Elder Thiot continues to serve with a smile on his face in the Brooklyn area. He has been in the same area since he arrived in January and couldn’t be happier. Here are a few quotes from his recent letters. This week we were able to visit a lot of the member’s home’s and present a new member missionary work plan. They are such an amazing ward, and they are always helping us teach and retain. During the sacrament yesterday I was looking at all the new people that are attending the church; it helps me realize how great missionary work is! This week really was fantastic, and I love every minute out here. The highlight of the week was on Wednesday. The new mission president just made a brand new rule, which you are allowed to go with recent converts to the temple for baptisms for the dead. We decided since the rule was effective as of Wednesday, to take advantage. We made some phone calls, and we had an awesome trip. 6 of the members of the ward got to go do baptisms for the dead for the first time. It was SENSATIONAL! Afterwards, they were all glowing, and were so happy about being able to go. It is such a blessing to have a temple so close by. Can’t say it enough, but I love it out here! I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world! It is such an amazing city, and such a great work. I love my companion, and I love the area, I couldn’t be any happier! I know that it is only by truly repenting that each of us can return to our Father in Heaven. Something I learned this week that I didn’t think about before, is that in everything in this world, to be the best at something means you’re in an elite group. It’s like a pyramid, with the best at the top being the fewest. But that isn’t how salvation works. The atonement provided the opportunity to repent for all! It is so perfect! I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be able to hear the words of a prophet again. This is the most excited I have ever been for conference!!! I love y'all so much.

Elder McKay Crandall
Puerto Rico San Juan East 6-10
Elder Crandall said "I feel like I have been raised to the next level. I love it because I feel like I have finally recognized the love the Lord has for me. I can feel it. I feel as I have gained the gift and blessing to trust the Lord in all His choices for me, to "take what comes and Love it". . . I feel really good and accomplished. I am really happy with the progress I have made and I am excited for the challenges that the Lord has in store for me. We teach English class at the church Tues & Thurs. . . and Book of Mormon class on Wed night. We feel that English will be very successful. There are two strong members that are a result of this class. . . They both learned all their English from the class and were introduced to the church there. We hope that through English class and with the help of these two, many more souls will be converted to the Lord. I am so excited to see this work progress!

Elder Jacob Reading
California Carlsbad Mission 7-10
Elder Reading is on the down hill of his mission. He has 9 months left. He recently had a baptism of a young man. His name was Neftali. This young man was fellowshipped by the young men and young women in the ward. He had to wait until he turned 18 because his parents would not give their consent for his baptism. So on 09-09-09 he was baptized and had a crowd of over 100 people in attendance. The youth sang a song from the EFY C.D. Jacob mentioned the spirit was so very strong as he entered the water of baptism. During the time he was changing back into his clothes, Jacob and his companion showed a video about Gordon B. Hinckley and his testimony of Joseph Smith. Then Elder Reading and his companion bore their testimonies and invited every in attendance to read the Book of Mormon. At the end after all the talks, Neftali went up and bore his testimony. Jacob said "It was amazing; he had such a strong testimony." He also had another really great experience this past week. It was about 8:30 in the evening and they were making their way home. They say a young man on the curb. They went up and began talking to him and of course began talking about the church and the kid, named Kyle seemed interested. He said he was waiting for some friends. A couple of minutes later, 2 other kids showed up. They were smoking and had tattoos about their body. They began criticizing my wonderful Elder. They began cursing at the Elders as they continued to teach. They talked to Kyle and these 2 kids for about 30 minutes. The kids left and they asked Kyle if these were the friends he had been waiting for, and he said he had never met them before. They gave Kyle a Book of Mormon and their phone number and he said he would call. He had a lot of friends at school who were Mormon and he was interested to know more. Elder Reading said "I guess that goes to show you the field is white already to harvest. The Lord put him in our path even though we were tired and I was not feeling well and we were going home for the night. I am grateful we were paying attention.

Elder Christopher L. Martin
Santo Domingo West Dominican Republic 1-11
Elder Martin is really getting the Spanish language down well. He writes half of his emails in Espanol. He writes, "I’ve started making brownies for my investigators who do the commitments we leave them. Giving rewards for those who do good! Here we’ve been having a lot of success. We had 2 more baptisms this weekend and we will have 2 more this week! The Lord truly is working a ton of miracles here in Villa Altagracia. I found a scripture . . .that changed me. Its in 3 Nephi 18:20, and it says that whatever we ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, if its good, and if we believe, we shall receive. When I read this, I caught a wind of faith, and asked Heavenly Father for the gift of faith in Christ. The next day, I remembered an experience I had earlier on the mission, and as I was reviewing it in my study journal, I felt the Spirit so strong! I was filled with the same feelings as I felt in that one experience, a strong confidence and faith in Christ. I felt such joy and peace. I know without any doubt, that the Lord does answer prayers. I know God lives and loves us. I know Jesus Christ is our Salvador, and that if we follow Him with full purpose of heart, we will have everlasting life. The gospel is true and the church is His kingdom on the earth

President and Sister Martin & Adam
California San Fernando Mission 7-12
President and Sister Martin: have been very busy. We were supposed to have a slow week after our Mission President's Seminar, but that did not happen. We have decided we never have slow weeks here. Elder and Sister Bruce C. Hafen came to our mission on a mission tour. They were just delightful. The theme they chose was the Atonement. All of the Missionaries read the talk "Beauty for Ashes." by Elder Hafen. We combined Zones so we had only two Zone Conferences. We had Elder and Sister Hafen as houseguests for the three days they spent with us touring our mission. We learned so much from them. The week after our mission tour was the aforementioned seminar. It was held in Newport Beach. Elder D. Todd Christofferson was the member of the 12 Apostles who came. He was accompanied by President L. Whitney Clayton and Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy. It was so wonderful to have them teach us what we should be doing. Their lovely wives came too and held a break out session with the Sisters which was very uplifting. It was also fun to meet with the other California and the Hawaiian Mission Presidents and their wives. A wonderful surprise was discovering that one of President Martin's zone leaders from Argentina, President Steven Watros, was a fellow California Mission President. We enjoyed meeting Elder Nelson's and Elder Reading's Presidents and their wives. They had high praise for both of them. Then, Dr. Blanch (our area medical advisor), called to appologize about not getting back to some of our ill missionaries. He said he had to make an emergency visit to the Carlsbad mission. An elder had split his head open and had to have 21 stitches. I had to ask if his name was Elder Reading. I was so relieved when it was not. Our daughter Camie and her sons Benjamin and Joshua came and stayed with Adam while we were gone. We are so blessed to be serving the Lord.

Adam: Today Adam was the youth speaker at Church. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he had said "yes" to that assignment. He finished helping with the Sacrament and came to his seat beside me. I had been sitting there wondering if he knew his name was on the program. I quickly pointed it out to him. He had forgotten. I told him he could just give his testimony. I was proud of him that he would march up to the front of the Chapel and take his seat beside the other speakers. He was the first speaker. He explained that he had forgotten he was to speak. He then proceeded to give a wonderful extemporaneous talk on the assigned subject of forgiveness. He told a story of how a young Nazi prison camp survivor was able to forgive one of her tormenters. He then bore his testimony. I was so proud of him!!! I was getting a lot of compliments about him throughout the rest of the three-hour block of meetings.

Elder Adrian Etherton
Idaho Boise Mission 8-11
Elder Adrian Etherton entered the MTC on August 19th. He was able to take part in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple dedication on August 23rd. That was a great experience. He learned much, made some great friends, and was ready to preach in the great Idaho Boise Mission. He has been in Idaho since September 8th. The town that he is serving in is called Kuna. It's a small community outside Boise. He has been able to serve and teach since arriving there. And has been able to get out on his bike and enjoy the wonderful weather. Elder Stepherson his companion has been showing him the area. He loves his mission!