The Field is White...

Hey Fam! How is everyone? This week went well. Well, I've seen better weeks, but it was a good week. We had the baptism for Alejandro's family. It was a little bit of a bummer, because it was going to be a baptism for Alejandro, his wife, and his two kids, but due to some past transgressions, Alejandro is going to have to wait until November to be baptized. His wife Ana Rosa, and his son Alejandro Antonio were both baptized. It turns out that his daughter is only seven, so she didn't get baptized. But it was neat to see the baptisms. I got to baptize both of them, and it'll be a great help for Alejandro to see his wife and son progressing in the gospel as he completes his repentance process.

Claudia is doing well. She seems to be growing in testimony each time we visit her, and is also giving us references for us to visit her family members that live in other parts of the zone. She's also most likely getting married soon, so that will be cool.

Francisco is doing ok - more or less. He has an interest in changing his life, but his wife isn't super excited about the whole deal, and they seem to be lacking a little bit of faith, because they still put alot of temporal things as a higher priority than the spiritual things.

The companionship has been going well. I think that one of the greatest lessons I've learned on my mission is how to like everyone no matter what. I'm sure I can still improve in that way, but I've learned alot and I've been trying to put it into practice. I love the Savior's sermon on the mount, because it's really just the key to spiritual and social progress.

I've been thinking lately about the way the Spirit works, the way we interact with other people, the importance of Christlike Attributes, and all that stuff. It's interesting to see that basically everything is based around feelings. The Spirit comforts us. Choosing the right makes us feel good. Sinning makes us feel bad. Developing Christlike Attributes helps us to help others feel good, and that makes us feel good. Even the Atonement of Christ, is a great power that brings us feelings of hope, security and love, and saves us from having to feel alot of guilt, pain, and things like that. It kind of helps me to understand why a simple smile, or really showing someone that I'm here to help them, allows them to feel a little better, open their heart, then feel much better as the Spirit testifies to them of the truthfulness of the gospel. Once the Spirit takes the wheel, it's amazing the things the Lord can do with our lives. It seems like the feelings and the social stuff is super common sense for most people, and for all the other missionaries, but it's always kind of been a struggle for me. I'm just glad we have such a great amount of scripture and modern revelation available today to help us each with our own challenges like that.

This wednesday we'll be going to Guadalajara again for the zone leader meeting. I talked to Elder Jaen today, who is now a zone leader in Uruapan, my old zone. His zone is exploding. They baptized more this month than that zone has been able to baptize in a long time, and last week they baptized twice as much as they had originally set as a goal for the week. Elder Jaen said he's going to give me some tips on wednesday for how to help the zone. That'll be sweet, because I really don't know what I'm doing. haha.

Well that's all for this week. Love you all!

Shash- That's crazy that you've got your own laptop now! Love you! have a great week!

Den- Sweet job on your straight A's! Love you! have a great week!

Dig- Sounds like you had a sweet time in Idaho man. Cool! Love you! have a great week!

Mom- That's fine if that money goes toward the bike thing. Thanks for the updates on everything at home, it's always great to hear about everyone. How's Tanner doing by the way? Is he still planning on leaving soon? Love you! have a great week!

Dad- I'll talk to Elder Tibbits on wednesday about the bike thing and let you know. That's super sweet about the peacocks! haha. That'll be cool to see them when I get home if they don't get eaten. Love you! have a great week!

Nay- That's funny about Philip. He's a super cool dude. Congrats on your graduations and everything! that's sweet that you got to do the musical number at the seminary graduation. You know you're probably like the most musically talented person I know right? Love you! have a great week!

Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Aguilar