Family!
Surprise! Bet you didn't think you'd be getting a letter from me huh?!? Ha oh well, how in the world are you? I guess I'm writing because as much as I love email time, one day a week is not enough time to write you especially when everyone else wants to talk too but don't worry, you ALWAYS come first. Hmm...what to tell you. Life here is still super great especially because I just finished my first transfer! Basically every 6 weeks are transfer calls and we just got them on this last Thursday. Nothing too crazy happened though. I'm still in Riga with Elder Bland and it's great. As far as Latvia goes, you can get transferred to Liepaja, Riga or Jelgava. Not too many places to go. I don't know if I told you already or not but there's only 13 Latvian Elders in the whole mission. Man, I can't believe I'm actually one of them. It makes me ponder sometimes just how much Heavenly Father really does know. He sent me to one of the strangest missions on Earth to learn a language no one really knows and to be 1 of such a select few to teach the gospel to the people here. I'm definitely getting humbled every single day out here. The language is still coming along but of course it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I'm finally starting to understand people more and more when they speak, which is the nicest thing ever. The Latvian people, for the most part, aren't interested in interacting with anyone-but especially not missionaries. Needless to say but...Challenge Accepted! My favorite time ever is when we're on the bus and I'll start asking someone close how their day was, at which point they see my name tag and smirk and probably wave me off but they always forget one thing-we are on a bus. They can't run away and I'm not going anywhere! Haha, I promise I'm not a weird missionary but once they see that I'm just a normal kid with a beautiful family they almost always open up and start talking with me. We teach as much as we can but sometimes I'll just have a nice chat with them and let them know we're real people with (kind of) normal lives. It's wonderful to hear people say, "Wow, Mormons aren't as bad as I thought!" SOOO rewarding. We really are just working everyday, all day and sometimes I'm stupid and feel like all our work isn't doing anything real until I realize something very important that I want to share with you that I think everyone in our family could use. Buzzy-listen up! Nathan-put down the IPad! Alex-stop cuddling with Dad! just kidding. Lizzy-no more homework! Court-you too! Mom...love you!
Anyway, here it is. There are always times where we have negative thoughts about ourselves. Whether they be harsh or minor, they do occur. When we don't do as well on a test as we'd like, or we feel like we don't measure up to what we "need" to be, whatever the position may be ie. Husband, Dad, Mom, Wife, Sibling, Friend or even Missionary. These thoughts come and this is what I discovered. Does your Father in Heaven, the all powerful and all loving God, really want you to think bad about His choice and precious child? No. He. Doesn't. If those thoughts aren't coming from Him, it's not too hard to figure out where they are coming from. Satan, we know, wants all men to be miserable like unto himself. If we allow ourselves to beat ourselves and think we're any less than a literal child of God, then we let him win. I've come to understand that when I have any type of negative thought, sneaky little Satan is the one trying to pull the strings. Don't let him! Just smile and he loses instantly. Now don't get me wrong. We need to be always striving for improvement in whatever field we are in, but this can ALWAYS be done in a positive and constructive way just like our Heavenly Father wants us to do. God created us to be happy so why should we ever be anything else? Granted, I know this isn't the easiest thing but consider this. Would Satan try to throw a stumbling block in the path of someone already doing his will? In my opinion, we receive temptations, feelings of doubt and insecurities, and taunts from Satan when he realizes we're on the Lord's path. If he is trying to throw us off, we must already be on! How big of a motivation push is that?? Satan, the great tempter, is so threatened by us and our potential that he feels the utmost need to try and knock us down from what he knows we can become. He knows how great we can be and every time he tries to stop us just remember that it's because he wants you to switch teams. It's so easy sometimes to find imperfections in ourselves but I want you to STOP. Always strive to be better. Always strive to be a better person than you were a day before. Always strive to find opportunities to grow and enhance who you already are. I love you all so much and I really want you to know that. I think of all of you everyday and you're always in my prayers. I miss you loads guys. We really do have the very best family in the whole world and I wouldn't change it one bit. Keep working hard back home because I promise I am here. You all really are the best. I'll talk with you soon! Es Jus Milu
-Elder Connor Webb
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1 comment:
What a great letter! He sounds like he's doing wonderful out there and learning lots. It's neat to hear that he's one of 13 learning that language!! What a special opportunity. Thank you for sharing. It was very uplifting and cool to read :) :)
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