Disfrutar la mision

Hola familia!

It sounds like you're all having tons of fun! Tell Max and Scout and everyone that I say hi. It sounds like everyone is super busy. I guess that's just what happens when school's about to start. How does Cassidy think the band is gonna do this year? I can't believe you're actually selling the store. I've grown up with either Sports Outlet or Pedersen's. But change is okay. That's one of the main points of being a missionary.

Elder Charles is already leaving! He's going to be a zone leader up in Laredo. The rest of the district is staying the same though. Elder Charles has only had one companion for more than one transfer, but I guess that's because he has a lot of people to bless and a lot of work to do.

So we finally got some good rain this week. It was a nice break from the endless sun we've been having, but I don't think it's going to last more than a week or two. The only thing is the little family picture I had in my wallet got dead. The next time you send a letter, it'd be awesome if it had some laminated family photos in it. It's awesome showing a picture of you guys when talking about how the gospel blesses families and that families can be together forever.

My birthday happens to fall on P-day this year, so we'll probably buy some pizza or something to eat as a district. Plus, it's Mexican Independence Day, So I'm sure we'll be getting fed well that night. I really don't need anything from home. They've got all I could want right here. HEB (the Texan grocery store) even has Oh's cereal, which is awesome.

It's awesome that you're all putting so much thought and hard work into helping the missionaries. There's nothing more exciting for a missionary than a member who's excited about missionary work, except for like baptizing people. Did I mention we don't knock doors in this mission? Unless we find someone sitting outside, which doesn't happen too often in Texas heat, everyone we teach comes from member friends. We teach members a lot out of Preach My Gospel, different principles that we study all the time to help them have more confidence in their ability to spread the gospel. Maybe you could start doing family home evenings out of Preach My Gospel, since there's a ton to learn in there. Remember, if we have the faith to open our mouths, as long as we're continually treasuring up the words of the gospel, God will help us know what we need to say. God has chosen the weak things to overcome the strong, and the foolish to confound the wise.

There's a talk that they give all the new missionaries called "The Fourth Missionary." I wrote down who gave it but lost the paper; I think it was some mission president somewhere. (The talk was given by Lawrence E. Corbridge - here's the link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34660140/The-Fourth-Missionary ). Hopefully you can find it. I've learned a ton from it, especially this week. It talks all about giving all of our heart, might, mind, and strength to God as we serve missions and what that really means. He says the only intelligent thing to do is to surrender our will, our every thought to God and only wanting to do what God wants us to do. Bringing our will in line with God's is the only way to "disfrutar la mision." Otherwise, we'll always be fighting within ourselves between what we want and what God asks, and even if we work hard in spite of that, we'll feel resentment and discomfort the whole time. He says this is the only way to grow and be changed during a mission. If we let Him, God will empower us, teach us, and shape us into someone so much better than we can become ourselves.

I love all of you guys sooooooo much and I pray for you each and every day. Always remember that we are children of God with more potential than we can imagine. Make every day an adventure!

~Elder Young