Hey mom, Thanks for the little notes of inspiration they are perfect reminders of you and what you want for me. Elder Holmes is pretty sweet. We think we might be companions in the CTM but we don’t really know. The plane ride has been super bumpy. Good thing I don’t mind flying. J Well I’ll add 2 this before I send it but I Love you! Mike. k- so Elder Stockton is my companion, He is from Las Vegas and he is super sweet. He likes music a ton and sings sometimes. The food not so great, but we deal with it. They say that the food is better in the field –we will see. Ok –tell “D” that I now know how crazy the drivers are here. We watched this bus drive up the curve onto the sidewalk and go halfway down the street to get past this accident. It was pretty crazy! Love you all! Mike
Fam, OK so we know I don’t like to (wright? right?)write… letters mostly cuz I can’t spell. But I love you all so I’m going to keep you posted as best I can. The CTM is amazing. I love all the elders here. We have so much fun, but it’s also hard core learning. All we really do is eat, go to class, eat, go to class, eat, go to class. And that’s it. The one thing that is driving me crazy is that SaoPaulo looks so cool from our window, but that’s all I get to see ever, is the view from the window. All we really have gotten to see has been from a distance but today is Preparation Day (they don’t want us to use slang) so I might get a little more to see. I’m going to write you an email so we will see how that goes and I’ll write more. Tell all the Kids I love them & tell them to All Be good. Love, Mike
I would also like to share with you a quote that has helped me get through adversities in my life. I first heard this while doing sprawl drills at wrestling practice coach Lou told us that if we could tell him who said the quote we could stop. The quote is:
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
This quote is by Theodore Roosevelt but at the time none of us knew that so we got to continue conditioning. I have come to realize that this quote means to me that if we don’t try and if we don’t have adversity then we will live in the gray twilight without doing mighty things we cannot win glory without this test and the adversity that comes along with it we cannot gain eternal glory. Adam and Eve learned that by partaking of the fruit they would experience pain and adversity but through this pain they would gain joy and glory. And that through this we can receive Gods greatest gift of Eternal Life that we may live in the presence of God.