Week 81 in the Field - Everyone Got It, Mangos, and Seaward Guns

Weekly Letter May 2nd 2016

Hey guys; I hope you all had a great week.

This week as zone leaders we emphasized the importance of meeting the mission goal as a zone and this week for the first time ever every area in the Motagua zone met the mission goal which is pretty exciting.

Marisol, the lady who told us that she knows the church is true but started to go to another church attended church with us this Sunday which was cool.

In the past few weeks we've been able to reactivate two small families which we're really happy about.

It's mango season here is Teculutan and since like half the trees in the city are mango trees and each tree can produce hundreds of mangos we haven't had to buy very much food this week, haha. Everyone here seems to be an expert in mango-ology so we use mangos as a conversation starter with people. I can now tell a pig mango and a Tommy mango apart by looking at the trees and have probably tasted mangos of every type and stages of ripeness. Current favorite is a pig mango when it's "sazon" which is right before it's ripe. The texture of one of these mangos is comparable to the texture of a strawberry and despite not being 100% ripe it's still orange on the inside and has a nice tangy flavor. 10/10

Anyways, everything's going good here. My companion is pretty cool and we get along really well. This week we have a mission conference with Elder Ochoa of the Seventy so we'll see how that goes.

This week I'd just like to share a quick story I read in a talk by Neal A. Maxwell. Elder Maxwell explains that many years ago in wartime the British built an impressive fortress to defend the coast of Singapore. The Japanese came to invade and they happened to do so by land. Tragically, all of the guns at the fortress were pointed seaward and were of no use to the British when the attack finally came. In the end the British lost their impressive fortress. Elder Maxwell proceeds to inquire, "Brothers and sisters, do we have guns that face only seaward?"

One potential application of this "guns pointed seaward" principal is in regards to temptation. Perhaps as members of the church we are well armed to attack the temptations of pornography and drug use and yet remain defenseless when it comes to the temptations of jealousy and gossiping. The examples are endless but the application clear and simple: examine your lives and cover any weak spots.

I love the counsel given in the book True to the Faith:

"Fill your life with goodness. You have so much good to choose from that you do not need to partake of evil. When you fill your life with goodness, you leave no room for anything else"

May we all apply these principles in our lives is my prayer.

Have a great week!

-Elder Dawson