Week 38 in the Field - Mendez Family, Street Contacting, and Resurrection

Weekly Letter 13 July 2015

Hi guys, I hope you've all had a great week.

This week Elder Alarcon and I have been working hard with the Mendez Family. The mom, Marilu, was baptized 5 years ago. She has a testimony but not a great understanding of the doctrine of the church. Ronny is her son and he has a little bit more knowledge and was baptized three years ago. Mariela was recently adopted as a member of the Mendez family and has not yet been baptized. Marilu and ronny have been inactive for a few years but they have come to church these past two weeks. Marilu is excited about family history and Ronny and Mariela (ages 18 and 17, respectively,) are excited to serve missions. They are all super nice and feed us every time we go over. They always read their assignments and are inquisitive but faithful. Mariela will be baptized soon and we are helping the two of them with their desires to serve missions.

This week in sacrament meeting we were pleased to see Carlos Perez and Victoria Cuellar give talks. The former is a thirteen year old recent convert and the latter is a lady who we helped reactivate. They both gave great talks and are progressing a lot.

We've been meeting a lot of cool people recently through street contacting. The other day we met a lady who works in a bakery. Her husband is in jail and she wants a closer relationship with God so she wrote her info on a piece of paper and told us we could pass by Monday at 8:00 PM. She seems really receptive and we have our first appointment with her tonight. We also met a guy named Carlos who has aunts in the United States who are members and they sent him a Book of Mormon and he has a lot of questions. Overall street contacting has been going well.

I'm doing well here and I love reading your emails. I love studying and teaching and meeting new people. I love the gospel and I love the mission.

I'd like to share a quote I read this week by Howard W. Hunter who said: "The doctrine of the Resurrection is the single most fundamental and crucial doctrine in the Christian religion. It cannot be overemphasized, nor can it be disregarded. Without the Resurrections, the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a litany of wise sayings and seemingly unexplainable miracles - but sayings and miracles with no ultimate triumph. No, the ultimate triumph is the ultimate miracle: for the first time in the history of mankind, one who was dead raised himself into living immortality. He was the son of God, the son of our immortal Father in Heaven, and his triumph over physical and spiritual death is to good news every Christian tongue should speak."

How grateful I am to follow in the steps of a master who not only lived but lives, a teacher who not only spoke but who speaks, the Lord of the vineyard who not only labored but labors. The man Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus the Christ. How honored I am to bear his name and to be his duly appointed servant.

I hope we all might be able to more frequently and more profoundly think upon Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

I love you all, have a great week.

Elder Dawson