Jan. 4, 2012

Hello!

How is everyone doing? I cant believe its already Wednesday again! I will just start this letter from where I left off last letter. For Pday last Wednesday, Elder Lee and I went to the Museum of Natural History in D.C. It reminded me of the time we went to New York and went to the Museum there. It was really nice and I learned a ton. We saw about 30 LDS families there that day. Every time we walked around a corner you would hear "Hey Elders!" or "look mom the missionaries" it was pretty cool to see so many members there. After that we just went on with normal missionary stuff. I went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week. I was with Elder Greiner who is from Idaho and has been out about a year and a half. Everyone seemed to have a pretty good Christmas around here and a good new years as well. Not very many people came to church though. For some people i guess its a little difficult to make it to 8:30 church in the morning after New years... We have started to teach Carolina's mom this week so hopefully she will continue to progress towards baptism. We are excited for her. Other than that not very many things have gone on this week. We have just been checking on referrals and things like that. I'm starting to write in my journal daily and trying to talk in Spanish more. Ive already been able to see a difference in my Spanish since we last spoke on the phone a week and a half ago. Sorry this week wasn't very excited but I did get a letter from PJ Davies (me and him were really good friends and then he moved to California) he got called to Nashville Tennessee. He seemed like he was pretty excited so it was cool to see that. So how is the new year going for everyone? What are your goals? I hope they're good ones! In district meeting this week we learned about becoming a "5 dollar missionary" Which pretty much means being the best you possible can. The Zone leaders shared with us a story about a kid who would mow this old ladies lawn every week. The maximum amount of money he could earn was 5 dollars which would require a perfectly done lawn. At first he was content with getting a 2 dollar lawn or a 3 dollar lawn but then he decided to give the 4 dollar lawn a shot but no matter how hard he worked he couldn't get the 4 dollars worth. Then one day while he was sitting around it clicked in his head that if he wanted to get the 4 dollar lawn he would have to work as though he was working for a 5 dollar lawn. So that's just what he did. He worked the entire day on this lawn using all sorts of tools and methods to make it perfect. In the end he had done the 5 dollar lawn. We learn from this story that we truly have to try our hardest in order to become the best. We cant be content with anything lower than that. Even though it may be impossible to be perfect even as Jesus is perfect, we still have to try. The word impossible is only an invitation to try harder. The Lord has promised us that with Him by our side we can do all things. I believe in that promise. I hope you guys continue to work hard to be true disciples of Christ. Your doing great. keep up the good work and keep smiling! The future is as bright as your faith. Never lose that faith! well I will talk to you soon. I love and miss you!

Elder Gleed