4/3/10

Hey Family,

Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes! You guys are the best. It means so much to me to hear your words of encouragement. My birthday was stellar. Even though I am in a singles ward I got cards and a birthday cake and even had "Happy Birthday" sung to me. The members in Fort Collins are amazing. This is such a strong area of the church. The members are faithful and full of love and support the work. It has been an amazing an amazing 5 months.

Last Thursday we had a mission conference with three other Zones up in Laramie, Wyoming. It was so cool! I have been praying really hard to find things that I can improve on because I feel in many ways that I have hit a wall and haven't been progressing. The trainings that were given by my mission president and his assistants were exactly what I needed to hear. It never ceases to confirm my faith that Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers when experiences like this happen. I know when we go to HIm seeking counsel it comes-but not always in the way we would like it to. We have to search for it. I spent many nights on my knees in frustrated and impatient prayer looking for answers on what I was doing wrong because I had felt that I wasn't doing all that I could. Well answers do come, but on the Lord's timetable and whne He knows we'll listen. One of the lesson we taught this week to members of our ward has been on what the Lord expects of us to make our petitions become a reality. While reading in Ether 2 about the Brother of Jared (hey...that's me!) I learned that more often than not the Lord expects us to come up with the solution and go to Him to confirm our conclusion and to get His stamp of approval. Hence His unique response to the Brother of Jared was "What will ye that I should do...?" I can imagine it more as "what do you want me to do?". A similar experience was felt by Oliver Cowdery while attempting to translate. He took no thought save it was to ask, yet there is so much more to prayer than just kneeling and vocalizing our needs. It's in the doing that our prayers are answered! I was having dinner with one of the counselor's in our Bishopric and we were entreated to his son's mission stories from his service in France. He told us about his mission president who was trying to organize transfer for the whole mission and was having a difficult time and didn't seem to be making progress. He would pray and think and ponder but nothing would come. The story is told from the perspective of an Elder who was working in the Mission Office who would occasionally glance into the mission president's office and see him pacing and obviously troubled. Suddenly the mission president threw open his door and rushed outside to the lawn. He located the lawn mower and began mowing in his full suit, coat and all, in the middle of summer. A few minutes later, he rushed back inside leaving the lawn mower running, and bolted to his office. Ten minutes passed and he emerged from his office and casually commented that transfers were finished. That seems like an odd story but I think the point of it is to see that inspiration and answers to prayers come when we are doing something. I have found this to be true.

How amazing is General Conference?! I love it so far and can't wait for the following sessions. I am so grateful for living prophets. I have learned so much as I have found answers to question I approached the conference with. I love finding answers to questions. The lord is so loving and merciful to provide us with such answers.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter weekend-it's the greatest holiday ever. It signifies so much. I love you all and wish you the best.

--
Elder Cabrera