11/29/10

Dear Family,

At the approach of this thanksgiving season, my mind was filled with joy and gratitude for several the several blessings I have been so abundantly given. But one blessing in particular seems to occupy my mind when I consider what I am thankful for. A blessing that was manifested just this past week-the day before thanksgiving. A blessing that is nothing short of a miracle, a gift from God Himself, and a tender mercy to me.

Attached are a few photographs with me and some people you probably don't recognize. The first is a picture with me and my biological father, David Cabrera. The following pictures are with my brother Joe and sisters Bobby and Kristen. After a life long search to find my father and his family, I have been led to them.

The story goes like this...

Some of you may not be completely familiar with my story surrounding my father. When I was a year old, mom and my father were divorced and after having moved to California, he slowly lost contact with me and mom. When mom remarried and phillip adopted me, my name was changed and all contact ceased. I have been looking for him ever since.

After visiting with a member of our ward in Thornton, we came on the topic of my family and I told her the story of my family and my father that i haven't been in contact with for over 22 years. Hearing this she was motivated to find him so I gave her what information I had and she set off!

Well, it turns out that he lives in my mission. I found out his location days before i was getting transferred. Not surprisingly enough, my new area covers the area in which he lives in Greeley, Colorado. With his telephone number and address in hand and with a sanction from my mission president, I called and talked to him for the first time last week. We arranged a time when I could come by his home and meet him and my siblings, one of which i didn't even know existed.

I was so nervous. What would he be like? Would he love me? Would my siblings let me in to the family? Would they shun me because i am not brown enough? I didn't sleep all that night. Questions and anxiety plagued my mind.

The time finally came and as my companion and I pulled up to his home, I said a quiet prayer and knew God had already heard my prayers previously to find him. I came to the door and knocked. The cold and the dark of night and the outside were in sharp contrast to the warmth and the embraces and the joy that filled my heart and that soon followed. I found my father! Could you imagine how I felt?! What a miraculous gift! How could I not acknowledge the hand of Gd in this? All of the difficulties surrounding my attempts to serve and even the trials I have faced recently are overpowered by the consuming feeling of love and gratitude I have for this opportunity. What a wonderful Father in Heaven we worship. Needless to say, I love my family. They are each wonderful and loving and have welcomed me into their lives without reservation.

Of all the places in the world I could have gone on my mission, of all the missions in the world I could have served in, and even of all the areas (All 100 of them in this mission) that i could have been transferred to just as this information is made known to me, I come here; to the Colorado Denver North Mission and I come to Greeley. How could there not be a sense of awe in my soul for this?

I hope each of you can feel my love and sense of thanks for making my mission and my reunion with myfather possible. I love you each so deeply and appreciate all you have taught me. I am grateful for a tender parent in mom for raising me in the gospel. I am grateful for Chaleece and her motherly care when mom wasn't available and her friendship throughout my life. I am grateful for the best older brothers any young man could ever ask for in examples. I am grateful for the men of God that they are and their patience with me. I am grateful for older sisters like Taylor who were always understanding and compassionate and grateful. I am thankful for little bro's; for Levi and all his nerdiness and what a good heart he has. There are so many reasons to be grateful. So many reasons for which I have to rejoice.

Love you all. God bless you this week. Please remember this wonderful miracle with me.
--
Elder Cabrera

11/08/2010

Hey Ya'll

I have developed a bad habit of rushing through Mondays and sometimes fore go a weekly email to everyone. I feel terrible. Some of the most wonderful and respected people in my life are those in my family and I think you deserve at least a quick email letting you know I'm still alive and loving life.

Some of the sweetest and most precious moments of my life have occurred on my mission. I have been contemplating why this is. Why do I feel more peace here than at any other period of my life? I've come to discover in trying to answer this question, a principle of eternal worth. It is summed up in this scripture which I have paraphrased:

"whosoever will lose his life for my name's sake and the gospel's, shall find it"

I wonder how much I have really immersed myself in the service of others. I believe that my joy and satisfaction is directly proportionate to how much I lose my life for the Savior's sake and for the gospel which He taught.

I have found happiness in lots of things, but it was never lasting. It would come for a fleeting moment and then slowly fade away and I would have to search again for something to replace it. It was as if there was a big hole in my heart i was trying to fill, but try as I would, nothing could fill it. Everything was temporary. It makes me think of this poem by Robert Frost:

"Nature's first green is gold; her hues are yours to hold,

Her early leaves a flower, but only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief.

So dawn goes down today, nothing gold can stay"

After serving my mission, I don't know if I completely agree with Robert Frost. I think the fact that change is always imminent is true, but I believe there is a lot of gold things that can stay.

A lesson I learned this week relates to giving up your selfish wants and replacing them with desires to serve others. It was what Christ not only taught, but what He did. I am thankful for His example and for His teachings. This is where true happiness lies.

Thank you all for your emails and letters of support. Thank you to those who are making my mission possible with your support. I love you all dearly and pray for you often. I hope the Lord continues to bless each of you in all your doing. God bless!

--
Elder Cabrera