Happy 4th of July

Hello my loving friends and family, here we are another week down! It’s so crazy how time is just flying. I am loving life down here in T. So lets get down to it shall we! 

So right now my companion and I are helping and teaching people how to get things organized that need to be. So we are moving the work a long here with the members. I had a meeting with the stake president (this is a man that has a calling to serve over multiple wards/areas) this week to tell him what my plan is... or in other words what’s the plan here for Talanga. He is pumped. We are motivating the members and everyone to take over Talanga for the better! :) So this week we killed it. There were a few different activities and they had turnouts that they have not had here in a while, so they were super happy about that. We are cracking the whip and making sure the people do their home teaching and all. It’s all about verifying. When there is no verification, there is no motivation. So we are helping President out with that. Their Priesthood Conference is this Sunday so this week we spent a lot of time passing by members and less actives to make sure they would go Sunday to campamento for the activity. We had the most out of any ward there... we killed it to say the least :) no big deal :) It’s fun to see the fruits of our labors. I know that this is the Lords work and we are only servants in His hands. When people feel the spirit, it brings action. It is our job to help people feel the spirit and in the end they will change. So we had a very good turnout for the activity yesterday. 

So last week there was someone that passed away. Our good friend O. who we work a lot with, it was his relative. So most of the familia has been kinda down this past week. There doing good considering, but you know how it is when someone passes away…hard stuff. BUT, this week we taught them all about how our Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us. It brightened up the situation a lot. I want you all to know that we have a LOVING Heavenly Father that really does have a plan for each one of us. It’s great! When we really understand this plan and our purpose of why we are here on this earth, our lives are so much better. We will have a different mindset on things and we will grow closer to our Heavenly Father. This family is great and they are doing better. So we will continue to help them all out, and there is a ton of them!

So that brings me to another story. So this week we planned a night to bring all the family together and to have a Family Night. My companion and I along with the Stake President had plans to bring all the familia together and share a very powerful message with them. So it was all planned and all and we still had the activity. We planned for about 25-30 people to come (all familia) and the night that we had planned to do the activity the pastor of their church was going around and talking HORRIBLE about us and the church. He was going to everyone and telling them all these lies so that they wouldn’t go to our activity that we had planned for them with food and all. I was disappointed that a pastor would say unkind and untrue things about Christ’s church.  He was standing near the street by where we were meeting so all the familia and people that were trying to go had to pass him and he was just planting stupid ideas in their heads. In the end we had about 15 people for the noche de hogar and all and it was amazing. The people that were there could feel the love that our Savior has for them and the spirit was way strong. I am so happy that the people that came could really feel our message and love for them. For the ones that didn’t come, they missed out and had to hear from the other family members how well it went. The next day I told them how it was... and that maybe you should have come and not listened to lies about Christ’s church. If you have questions about something  listen to us who actually know what we believe in and know the doctrine of the gospel. I am still a little fired up about it. But we will leave it at that.

I know that this family will be good and that the Lord will comfort them. I know with all my heart. I am so happy to know and feel that my loving Savior has such a specific plan for me. Aveces no understand this plan que Dios tiene para us but I know that he really does have a specific plan. Follow the spirit in all that you do, it will guide you during times of good and during times of turmoil. I promise you that brothers and sisters. 

So this week is going to be a busy one! This Friday we are going to have a boda (wedding) and then they are going to be baptized. I am so happy for them. It’s O’s parents. Also a friend of O’s is going to be baptized as well. O. got ordained this week so he is going to baptize his parents and his good good friend! I am so happy for them! Brother L. has made changes in his life for a while now so that he can feel the influence of the spirit stronger in his life. His whole family has seen a difference. We are so happy for each of them. Nothing better then growing closer to our Savior and seeing the blessings in our life. I wouldn’t want to spend the 4th of July doing something else besides helping a family get married and then having them make such an important covenant with our Heavenly Father. It doesn’t get much better than that! I’ll imagine the fireworks in my head at this point hahah but I am so glad that I can do this on my dad’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!! I am so thankful for such a great father. I wouldn’t want a better example then you. I have learned so much from you and continue to learn from you. I am thankful to have a loving father who is a great example to his two boys. I can’t express my gratitude enough to have such a wonderful dad. I wish you a Happy Brthday Dad! Make it a great day Friday. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING DAD!!! LOVESSSSSSS! 

Well, loving hermanos y hermanas, mucho gracias por todo! Estoy gracias por cada uno de ustedes en mi vida! cada uno de ustedes son un luz en mi vida. sin ustedes, yo no estoy aqui ahorita en mi mision ayudando nuestro hermanos crecer mas cerca de nuestro padre celestial. GRACIAS POR TODO! Tenga un buen dia viernes! Celebrar nuestro dia de independencia en la manera correcto! Ustedes saben! Gracias mis amigos y familia! 

con mucho amor, Elder Long!!!