After General Conference

Hey Everyone!

     I hope you all enjoyed General Conference! I got to watch it in two different stake centers, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. I was pleased to hear about the announcement concerning the age qualification change of missionaries, and I'm looking forward to hearing that the priests in my home ward will prepare to go on their missions as soon as possible. There's also been a need for more sister missionaries as well, so were excited to hear that they have to wait less time to serve a mission. Great News! If any of the talks touched my heart the most it would be Elder Holland's speech on Peter's life changing conversation with the Resurrected Christ. One of my MTC teachers shared with me this same talk given by Elder Holland when he spoke to missionaries in an MTC in Mexico on this very topic. I loved how he said that "The crowning characteristic of love is loyalty" I don't think there is any other way that we can show our love to Christ than through our loyalty to do what he asks of us; Keep the Commandments; Love others; and Share the Gospel. Once we have taken upon the name of Christ upon us at baptism, there is no reason or excuse to go against doing what is against God's will. Christ's atonement marked the beginning of a Christian life, not the end! I was so glad to take part in such a great conference. Anyway concerning this week, it’s really going to define if we are going to baptize this transfer. Luis has been really sick this week with a bad cough, so it’s been hard to meet with him and help him completely prepare for his baptism this coming Sunday. He has expressed his desire to be baptized this Sunday, and he even got online on Sunday to watch all the sessions of Conference while he's recovering. As long as we are able to keep daily contact with him, and have his baptismal interview this week he's set to go. Dad wants to know more about him, so Luis is 21 and he was born in Guatemala, but moved over to LA when he was a really young. From what he's told us is that he wasn't a good influence on his peers or his family while he grew up through high school, but after dropping out of school for a couple years, he finally realized he needed to make a change. In the past couple months he's had 3 jobs and has been going to school to get his GED. He graduated a couple months ago and now he's in a college trying to get a degree in literature. The missionaries found him the transfer before I came in, and he's had interest in the gospel for a while, but he was so busy with school and work that we could hardly meet with him. One day he told us he quit his job so he can focus more of his efforts in school and to make more time for us. Before he met with us, he was about to baptize in to a local church by his house, but he didn't when his mom told him that once he got baptized he could go back to the way he was before. When we invited him to be baptized, he told us that he was really to make the change, and he knows that the gospel has truly inspired him to live better. He lives with his parents and 2 younger sisters. We haven't really gotten to know his family, but Luis has expressed to us that since we've met with him, his parents and sisters have seen improvement and a change of heart. We have plans to teach his family this week to explain what Luis will be committing to do with his baptism. The ward has been really good with him as the last couple times we've invited him to play soccer with us on Mondays. He loves it a bunch!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week y Paz a vos!

Os amo tanto!

Elder Marrott