12/27/2010

Hey ya'll!

Hope your Christmas' were fantastic! Mine was amazing. I was able to spend some time with my Dad and Joe and Bobbie and my niece Megan...it made for one of the most memorable Christmas' ever. There really is something special about family and the holidays. I hope each one of you had a similar joy.

This week my companion and I have two baptisms scheduled for Saturday! We're so stoked! Our investigators, Patty and Steven are amazing. It never ceases to amaze me at how much investigators can gain a strong testimony of the truth. It strengthens my resolve to continue to believe and it strengthens my faith and testimony.

Patty, a girl that requested the missionaries from mormon.org is amazing. She loves learning about the gospel and is so ready and willing to commit to living it. It is so incredible to teach her...most people we have to explain things or give an extensive background to set up for a principle but we can honestly teach her just about anything and she'll believe and love it. It feels kind of weird...like there should be more of a challenge behind it! With more people like this, missionary "job security" could become an issue :)

Everyone would love Steven...but Levi would especially. He loves video games and "anime". And he is quite the reader. He has read nearly half of the Book of Mormon in a month's time. He asked me to baptize him this saturday and I am so excited to see him and another one of Heavenly Father's children enter into such a sacred promise with Him. I can't imagine how he feels. Steven is a stud and it's an honor to be able to help him along his journey here in life. I feel so privileged to have been a part of even just one person's life changing events. What a miracle it is!

I love you guys...it was so wonderful to hear your voices (well some of them....grrrr) and to talk to you. I hope you continue to have great joy in your lives on a daily basis! God Bless!

12/06/2010

Dear Family,

Well, with a week after the last one I told you about, it would seem hard to top. But this week was arguably just as amazing. I have come to the conclusion that there is something to this place Greeley, Colorado. Perhaps it's in the murky water, or the well manured farm soil, or maybe it's in the distinct cow aroma that fills the lungs on a windy day. I'm not sure what the cause of all these wonderful things is, but I am sure that this place is different from any other. There's a special vibe one can easily pick up from spending just a few moments on the streets and talking to the people. It's exciting and exhilarating. I love to be here.

Thank you for writing back last week. It meant a lot to me to hear from each of you and to hear about your reaction. I thought it was pretty cool to share this with each of you and I hope it touched your heart the way that it touched mine. Well, it probably wont, but it might come close :)

I wanted to also tell you that I was praying one night this week and I was praying for you, my family. As I did I felt this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for all that each of you have done for me. I reflected on the many experiences and lessons I have been able to share with you and felt very blessed. I ponder more on it as I continued to pray and then felt again, an overwhelming feeling, this time of comfort and strength. The feeling came and I immediately felt strongly that it was the Lord's way of helping me to feel your prayers offered on my behalf. I felt so humbled and grateful. What an amazing family I have! I love you guys and miss you terribly. I am so grateful for your prayers, your thoughts, your emails, your letters and packages, everything! Thank you for being so good to me.

I love you guys! I pray for you! I hope you have a wonderful week! Merry Christmas!

--
Elder Cabrera