I will start off by saying, (I am) ABSOLUTELY NOT, staying cool. It has been ridiculous how hot it has been the past week! It has just been absolutely scorching. Our appartment only has one swamp cooler, so the living room gets cool, but our bedroom was a furnace. I couldn't believe how hot it was because the members said it hasn't been this hot in over 17 years, and they said it rarely gets to 90, and it was even in the 100's the past week too. It was way hot, we sweated a ton, and it was just...ridiculous how hot it was. We try to stay cool, but it's usually to no avail haha.
I just barely put a letter in the mail today, so it should be getting to you guys around Wednesday or so. I wasn't able to write a letter last week, because I was so busy, and I was also pretty stacked w/letters to respond to. But I was able to write one last night, so that letter has some stuff that would be good to read as well.
This paragraph is in reference to asking Richard if he had been writing in his missionary journal. I actually just barely started writing in my journal again like two weeks ago. I'm not a huge fan of writing, since it hurts my hand, and I already write a ton of letters, but Elder Marcum persuaded me to start writing in my journal again. They are short and simple passages, but I can already tell that I will be thankful for writing in my journal at the end of my mission.
We had a really neat opportunity to have dinner yesterday at a member's house whose children are kind of different. They have a girl who is 21 I think, and a son who is 20 I believe. Both of them aren't as active as they should be, they don't have strong testimonies at all, and the parents haven't really made it a priority to strengthen their relationship in Christ. It has been interesting to see how carnal they are, and how lost they can be as well. It's kind of sad, but they have kind of made the choice to not seek for Christ in their lives, but to put themselves first.
It was such a neat experience because the boy had a friend over who just returned home from his mission about a year or so ago. The returned missionary was exactly the person that I want to be when I return home, and he was so happy, because he put the welfare of others before himself. Although the kids of this particular family believe that things are okay, they aren't truly happy. The prophet Alma said it best when he proclaimed that, "wickedness never was happiness."
It was really neat to share a dinner w/someone who was fresh off of his mission, and has allowed it to change his life, for the better. It's sad to see the young men and women here in Wisconsin who have made wrong choices, because they have no foundation. Just like the primary song of the wise man and the foolish man, if our foundations are not built upon the Rock of Christ, I've seen the lives of the people here slurped up in misery and deception. There's nothing worse than believing that you're truly happy, yet you're constantly searching for yourself.
Christ taught it best when he was talking w/his apostles. I really like the comforting words he offered to Peter in Matthew 16:24-25. After Peter just rebuked Christ for prophesying of his death, Christ says this to him, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosever shall save his life shall lose it: and whosever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Too many people in the world think we have to do it alone, we have to find ourselves on our own, by serving ourselves, by helping ourselves to benefit ourselves, but Christ taught it best when he said to "deny himself" to take up his cross and follow Him. As we do so we lose ourselves for His sake, and he promises us that we will find ourselves. I've personally applied this simple principle in my life of losing myself for Christ, and trying my best to sacrifice on his behalf. As I've done so I've felt him carry me out of my trials, and I've continued to find myself on his behalf. I know this is true.
Love and miss you guys
Elder Gautavai
PS: My letter entails quite a bit so there will be lots of stuff for you to read in that letter as well.
PS: Thanks for the addresses for JP and Coulter. I was able to write JP a letter and will work on getting one to Coulter soon as well.
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