Parker - June 4

Hey Everyone! 

This week was fun. We've just been keeping at it. 

The cold hit us this week with a bunch of rain too, and we have one radiator in the apartment that doesn't work too well. So even though it doesn't get as cold as in the States, literally zero buildings have been built to insulate heat, so we still freeze our butts off at night if we don't sleep right next to the radiator we have. Also showering is a daunting task. 

But anyway, we've been visiting people and trying to help them out. Something pretty awful happened this past week with some members. Basically there's this one house that is home to like three families. The grandparents and the little children they're taking care of. (The little kids that are over eight are baptized). That couple's son and his family, (only one of the grandkids is a member.) And the couple's daughter and her family, (all members, really nice). So, the son and his wife (as his sister, the member, describes them) are cruel to their kids, and are anti-mormon. Their kid who's member got baptized after turning 18, when he no longer needed his parent's permission. And he started going out with a girl from church and spending less time with his family. 

And this past week, they basically kicked him out of the house. It's kicked up a hornet's nest. The grandparents are furious because it's their house, and they shouldn't kick anyone out. The son and his wife are so prideful and stuck up that they can't see that they've done anything wrong and are blaming everybody else but themselves. The sister feels terrible cuz she's tried for years to try and mend the scars that her brother has caused with his apathetic attitude, and all for nothing. The bishop is pretty apathetic too, to helping him, cuz he blames the kid's relationship with the girl and spending too much time with her for the kid's situation. 

So yeah, it's been an interesting week. 

So, lately I've been studying a lot. (I'm a missionary, I gotta study). And well, it's all about trusting in The Lord, and being guided daily by the Spirit. We really gotta trust in the Lord. And learn to forgive as it states in Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-11: 

9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

11 And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.

In other words, it is more important for us to forgive and let God judge our righteousness and the righteousness of others than for us to forfeit our keys to Heaven. It also has to do with the Higher Law that Jesus taught. To turn the other cheek when one strikes us. To go two miles with him who obligates us to go one. To give not just our cloak, but our coat as well. 

I've also been studying what true fast is, and the real blessings we receive when we obey the law of the fast. (It's Isaiah 58, the whole chapter, so good). 

But basically I wanted to draw attention to a particular blessing that fasting grants us. 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 

It's promising us that we'll be able to break the bands of iniquity. Overcome sin, addictions, or oppression. It gives us spiritual power. 

Sorry this letter's a little all over the place. I've got a lot on my  mind. 

But yeah, love you all!

I'm hanging in there!

Elder Blaylock