'Tis The Season 12/15/12

Dear family,

It's interesting, the things that happen to us.  Miracles abound all around us and most of the time we don't even realize them. Most of the time, we also take them for granted.  Many times, I have taken for granted the closeness that I have had with the Spirit.  I sometimes just don't realize his presence, sometimes don't want to, and other times just haven't been paying attention enough to recognize it, even if I have been listening patiently (or at least seemingly so).

We had a relative scare as a companionship this week.  Now we are four, but on Wednesday while heading home, Elder Abaroa got hit by a car.  The guy was driving slowly enough that no damage other than a bruise and some fast pumping adrenaline resulted, but to me it kind of jst threw a few things into perspective that we most of the time don't think about at all.  Elder Abaroa's fine, a little bruised on the right side, but laughs about the experience, and in particular how completely close to a break down the female passenger in the car was.

Then yesterday, I heard from one of our members about the tragedy in Connecticut.  I don't know all the details, but from what I heard there were 30 families affected.  Events like these are those that awaken a sense of the fragility of life.  Dad also commented about the almost accident with Annie and the stairs.  I also have been reminded of all of the people for whom I have attended funerals.  These tragedies bring a sense of sadness and gloom that many times we can let cloud over the understanding that we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We know that it is through the Plan of Salvation put in place by our Father in Heaven that we all have the opportunity to return to once again live in a family bond that can never be broken.  We have the assurance that through living the comandments and always striving to live and be like Christ we will one day inherit the kingdom of heaven.  The whole gospel is centered on Jesus Christ and at this time of year we celebrate His miraculous birth.  While we remember His birth, we should also keep in mind, or perhaps even shift our focus, to the whole reason He was born.

We learn from the scriptures that Jesus came into the world to do the will of His Father who sent Him.  The will of the Father was that a sacrifice be made that all could have a chance to repent and return, spotless and clean, to live forever with Him in glory.  "For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  Because of this, Christ was lifted up, that we may also be lifted up at the last day to appear before our Father and be judged according to our works, that we might receive the reward that we merit.

This last week I had a main focus in my studies about the laws of Justice and Mercy, and this morning studied a little about mercy itself and grace.  Many claim that we are saved by grace, but modern revelation and a deeper look into the scriptures help us understand that "it is by grace we are saved after all we can do," for "faith without works is dead, being alone."  Grace is defined as being a divine help and strength, allowing us to one day obtain eternal life and exaltation--after our own best efforts.

Because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) we need grace to make up the difference.  Grace is only provided to us by mercy, which we only have available to us if we repent.  That mercy is there for us because of the universal and infinite atonement of Jesus Christ, and He wants us to come back to Him.  He suffered all that we will ever suffer and more, so that we would choose Him and return to His embrace.

There was a new mormon message recently put up on the Church website about an unexpected gift, which I have here included in my email.  The message found there is one of utter strength and comfort found at a moment of complete grief and condusion.

The feeling this woman had as part of her experience helped her to realize and feel the infinite love of our Saviour.  I got the chills listening and could feel a portion of what she felt as well.

In many places, the sciptures describe the arms of God as outstreched, open, and full of mercy.  He is waiting for us to come to Him, that we may feel the warmth of His embrace.

As we come closer to this season, may we remember that it is the love of God and Christ, with the atoning sacrifice and eternal life of all as the center, that is the real purpose for celebration.  I know it is true.  Through the difficult moments may we remember the words of the scriptures "Be still, and know that I am God."

I love you with all my heart.  I pray for you daily, and I want you all to know that I am doing my best to serve the Lord, even though there will always be room for improvement.  I'll be seeing you soon!

Elder Dewsnup

P.S. I will probably be here in the mission office almost all day on Christmas.  My bet is that President will want to give us Christmas as a P-Day (more or less) and have us go work on Saturday.  More news will come, but for the moment, I think I'm open to any moment of the day.

This Season 12/8/12

Hola Familia,

So, I just got the two packages yesterday and have been sharing the goodies with the other office folk.  Mom, they love your carmels.  I'll admit I stared for a few seconds at the cheater tie before I actually lifted it out of the box, but I am wearing it right now.  It's actually a pretty good color and pattern.  I like it.  The purple one too.  I really have to ration all of the goodies though, I've already gained weight being here in the offices and I don't want to keep going on with that trend.  So, I'll be rationing what I have... though perhaps not as well as I should.  Make sure there is still a jar of peanut butter and half of the candy left when we make the Christmas call.

P.S.  For said Christmas call, chances are very high (almost guaranteed) that I'll be here in the offices for that call.

Moving on.  It's transfer week.  For us that means all heck trying to get last minute transfer things done before actually getting the information of who's going where, then reorganizing all of our spreadsheets and charts to accomodate the changes.  That and I have at least seven new houses to find, certain problems in some areas that need to be taken care of, closing one house because of electricity problems that haven't been taken care of for months, and the list continues.  It's been a relatively stressful week.  And there are more to come.  Well, that's life I guess.  I've been noticing, with the sometimes unwelcome help of companions, that I don't handle certain stresses very well.  I get very quiet until I have sudden bursts, then I freak out.  I really hope that parenthood isn't just like what I'm experiencing.  If it is... I've still got a lot to learn before I can start.  Good thing that is an adventure that is still quite a ways off in the distance for me.

I've also noticed that I get distracted between the many projects that I have and have problms actually finishing them.  I get focused on one, then something happens that gets me pulled onto another one, and then two days later I find that sheet and go "aw dang, I needed to get that done sooner" then get distracted again.  Mom and Dad, I applaud you for having learned so much to deal with all of us and I'm sorry for all of the trouble and stress that I have caused.  I don't even have to worry about little ones yet.  I just get the grown ups, if not yelling at me, talking very excitedly about their property or worries or this or that, half of which I have absolutely no control over.

Breathe in, Breathe out. ... ... ... Breathe in, Breathe out.  ... ... ...

And now I feel bad that I have just vented and ranted at you all for the last few minutes.  Isn't it just great, the things you learn? ...

And now, My thoughts just took a really big turn...  I should be a lot less worried and a lot more gratefull.  many people don't even have the privilege of worrying about things as trivial as this.  They have bigger issues on their plates.  And I have something that many of them don't, namely the Gospel.  Sometimes I feel like I understand, and then something happens that makes me realize I don't know almost anything.  It's also really hard to really apply the things that one is learning.  My brain doesn't like to think of very many things all at the same time.

This week, I've been very grateful to my companion, for as much as he drives me crazy sometimes, I have really been learning a lot from him and understanding more about my purpose and the Doctrine of Christ.

It is so simple, and yet I tend to overcomplicate almost everything and am a lot more impulsive than I had originally thought.

Anyhow, so the doctrine of Christ comprises of one main thing.  That is found in Moses 1:39 "...this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the inmortality and eternal life of man."  (my apologies if it's not exactly quoted.)  With that as the main doctrine of all things, we understand that He wants us to return to Him, to live in His presence, which is where the ultimate happiness can be found in the enjoyment of eternal life.  Through the atonement, all of us will enjoy inmortality, but only a few will have the privilege of eternal life.  That and we know from 2 Nephi that "men are that they might have joy."  How? by following the Gospel.

It's interesting that the Gospel, or good news, shows us exactly how we can obtain that which God wants for us.  Through the first principles and ordinances--those being Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring faithfully to the end--we can obtain that happiness and joy.  Also by following that, we know that we can eventually obtain eternal life, "which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

(The following scriptures will be roughly translated from Spanish, because I don't have my english scriptures with me.)

Elder Chase came back up north from the southern most state of Argentinea since he will be returning home on Monday and he shared with us some of the things that he has recently learned and studied about the remission of sins that I want to share with all of you.  He started us out in Moroni 8:25-26.  

        "And the firstfruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism comes by faith unto the fulfilment of the commandments; and the fullfilling of the commandments brings the remission of sins; and the remission of sins brings meekness and humility of heart; and by meekness and humility of heart comes the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter fills with hope and perfect love, a love that endureth through diligence in prayer, until the end cometh, when the saints will dwell with God."

So when we are repentant we will be baptized making a covenant with God to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, always remember him, and keep his commandments (sound familiar?). Then he took us to Mosiah 4:11 which says:

         "And again I say unto you, as I said before, that as ye have come to a knowledge of the glory of God, o if you have known of his goodness, and felt his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causes such great joy in your souls, so I would that ye remember  and always retain in memory the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his kindness and long suffering unto you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of himility, calling daily upon the Lord, and remaining steadfast in the faith of that which is to come, which was announced by the mouth of the angel.  And behold, I say that if ye do this, ye shall always rejoice, and ye shall be filled with the love of God and will always retain a remission of your sins; and ye will increase in the knowledge of the glory of him who created you, or in other words, en the knowledge of that which is just and true.

So once we have been baptized and have received a remission of our sins, all we really have to do to retain that remission of sins is to remember; that is, remember the glory of God and His goodness.  If we do this we will always rejoice, be filled with the love of God, and retain a remission of sins.

Then we went to Doctrine and Covenants 76:52.  Speaking of the resurrection of the just and those who are baptized--

         "that, keeping the commantmets, they would be washed and cleansed of all their sins, and would receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands..."

My own little side note here includes 2 Nephi 32 17, where it says that "the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost."  So in order to obtain a remission of sins, we must repent and be baptized, following which we are then sanctified by the Holy Ghost and receive a remission of sins.  Then we continued on through to the sacrament prayers found in Moroni chapters 4 and 5, where we read that we will take upon ourselves the name of Christ and always remember Him, and keep His commandments which He has given us, that we may always have His Spirit to be with us.

So, how is it that we obtain and then retain a remission of our sins?  By following the Gospel and keeping the commandments.

Something interesting about this is that if we then continue our reading in Mosiah 4, once we have retained a remission of our sins, we will no longer have desires to sin, but we will live peacufully.  It is a natural consequence of this that we will not permit our children (or investigators, or friends, or you name it) to go hungry, or naked, or contend one with another, but we will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness.  I had always read that statement as if it were a commandment, but think about it in this light.  Once we have personally obtained a remission of sins, it is a natural consequence to share it and to not let others sin, but help them to obtain the same.  That is what can come when we understand true doctrine.

I remember from back when Uncle Ralph and Aunt Mary came back from their mission in Puerto Rico that he shared something very similar in his homecoming talk.  I still have parts of my notes from that talk too, and the main thing that still sticks out to me is that he used the same quote that I have heard many times here.  True doctrine, understood, changes lives.  A study of the doctrine with change behavior better than a study on behavior will change behavior. (A quote which happens to come from President Packer.)

My mind gets blown so very often with understanding, and then I forget quickly what I have learned and have to wait until I once again am ready and listening for such understanding.  I also happened to open Dad's book As He Is this morning and he talks in one part about how sometimes we don't receive revelation because God is waiting for us to truly be listening and attentive, rather than running off at the mouth while He speaks to us or running out to head somewhere when He is trying to share important information with us.  If we are truly willing and waiting for revelation, we will receive it, but oftentimes we don't know if we are ready to receive it.  God knows when we need to receive it, and that is when He will give it, if we are ready and willing to listen.  I think that was in chapter 4.

So, among all of the stresses that I have been feeling, I have felt moments of truth and love that have made it all worth it.  The Church is true and everything just seems to work out.  I love you all and tell you that even though I have been having a rough time, I know that things will work out.  I may need to be reminded of it often, but it always does.  I always mention you in my prayers and wish you well.  Just a couple more weeks and I'll be seeing you.

Love,

Elder Dewsnup

Happy December 12/01/12

Happy December my dear family,

Sitting here in my office chair with the air conditioning blowing, enjoying (maybe) 82ªF weather with clear skies and a full sun, I think about how you are right now.  All of you for the moment in Montana, listening to the rain drizzle on the windows and the roof, at a wet 42ºF.  I wish I were there.  I like that weather better... You'd better believe it.  I'm not a fan of heat, while mine is blowing on me almost full blast.  But moving on...

The work here is progressing.  We've started teaching this man named Silvio.  I may have mentioned him last week.  He's a pretty cool guy.  He's got a few problems with the Word of Wisdom, but we've been teaching him a lot about hope and repentance.  He just drinks it all in and loves it all.  He reacts really well to ll of the things we share with him, and the way we teach has been slowly changing.

Recently, President Gulbrandsen has been focusing a lot on the talk that President Uchtdorf gave last April in the General Priesthood Session.  The theme was the why as much as the what.  So we've been changing our teaching to include more questions to help the people understand the why behind all of the whats.  For example, the main doctrine of the church found in 3 Nephi 27 tells us that no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God, so to teach about repentance we would read that scripture and then ask something like, "Why do you think it is important to repent?"  In some cases, we first ask "What is the Spirit teaching you?" then follow with a why question to really get them thinking more.  And then we don't always get the same answers and they are really receiving revelation themselves.

As President Uchtdorf taught, the what informs, but the why transforms.  As President Packer teaches, true doctrine, understood, changes behavior.  Many times, we just focus too much on the "what" of the gospel and we don't understand anything about the why?  The why of the gospel is what helps us change to what Dad describes as a "have to" to a "want to."  That is the key to everything in the gospel, and it is also the focus of the new teaching criteria and program for sunday school.  I'm super excited for it because it is exactly that program that will help prepare so many people for their missions now.

Well, it's about time for me to finish because I have five minutes left before we have to leave to teach.  But I love you all.  I hope the sick bug has finally run it's course through and you all will be well the rest of the season.  I want to see more pictures of the kidlets!!  Safe travels Dad!

To all of you farewell.  I'll be speaking with you soon face to face!! (through skype... but still... it'll work)

Love from,

Elder Dewsnup

Week of Celebration 11/24/12

Dear Family,

Since I couldn't join you at the table, here're my "grateful fors"

I'm grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for a family who loves me.  I'm thankful for the beauties that surround us and for the safety we have all enjoyed.  I'm grateful Sarah and Brandon, Annie-Bug and Bee-Bee made it safely to our home, even if they had a little mishap along the way.  I'm grateful for the newest additions to our family, Zayne and Royce.  I'm grateful for the gift of giving and that of sharing.  I'm thankful for a supportive, caring family who does all they can to comfort me from far away when I comment about a bad straight.  I'm grateful for the examples I have been able to observe and learn from in all my brothers and sisters and my parents.

I'm also grateful for agency.  It is something that recently I have been more able to study and understand.  Mostly, and at first, everything that I learned about came from teachings of President.  I learned some more recently that has helped me understand more about the purpose of life.

Basing my studies off of the Doctrine of Christ, found in 3 Nephi 27:13-22, I then ask a question following the guide of President Packer.  Which doctrine, if understood correctly, would change (insert name)'s attitude or behavior? (See PMG 19, quote box).  In each study that I do that way I come to understand the why a little more of each principle, like the word of wisdom, why we're on the earth, and a bunch of other topics.  We have a little bit of a reduced study time being in the offices, but I think I've finally found a way to make it more effective.  It's partly that study that lead me to several things about agency.

The Plan of Salvation is entirely dependant upon agency.  There are two eternal laws, the law of justice and the law of mercy, and those laws take effect upon us according to our own choices and decisions in this life.  The law of justice, by definition, condemns all man to eternal misery.  The law of mercy exists to give us a chance.  The law of mercy, however, will only apply to those who either cannot choose for themselves (the innocent and the youngest) and those who participate in the ordinances set in place by God.  Christ suffered for our sins and misdeeds, even our pains and loneliness, sicknesses and afflictions, just so that we would not have to suffer the full penalty of each.  Because of Him, we have the ability to repent, become clean by baptism and the sacrament, be sanctified by reception of the Holy Ghost, and continued obedience to the commandments for the duration of our mortal lives.

Such a plan provides for the tender mercies of God to apply to each one of us individually and personally.  We have it within us to choose whether or not we will return to live with God.  We are taught by the scriptures that all men who repent and become as a little child will inherit the kingdom of God (see 3 Nephi 11:37-38).  If we choose to let go of hurts and pains and give ourselves over to the will of God (which ironically is that we have joy and return to live in His presence) then we will live with God again.  

In all of the different joys and pains of life, we need to remember how much our salvation depends on us, and not on others.  It's something that is sinking in more and more as I keep going.

As we have continued trying to find new investigators, teach, and invite to come to Christ, we've hit some bumps and run into some roadblocks.  Through prayer and planning, whether in the moment or beforehand, we are able to find those detours.  They are often easy to find, but we stop one step before reaching the finish line.  Let us all press on and give that one final push in all things to be able to be together forever again after this life.

I love you all.  You are part of what keeps me going.  I've heard a saying here.  I have given up two years with my family so that others can be with theirs forever.  It is the truth.  I know it with all my heart.

Mom and Dad, happy birthdays (perhaps late, but not forgotten) and anniversary.  I know Brandon's is in December, but I don't remember the day, so Happy Birthday to you  little early.

I pray for you all and wish you all the comfort that you need,

Elder Dewsnup

--

Elder Matthew H. Dewsnup

 

Misión Buenos Aires Norte

Gral. Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Onward, Ever Onward

FAMILY,

I'm feeling happy today.  On Thursday I had the privilege of baptizing Thiago and tonight Patricio will enter the waters of baptism!  This week has been good in that sense.  Dad mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that when he was in the offices, it was great to balance out those frustrations with the spirituality of proselyting.  It's so true.  Dealing with situations in which less than wise people make certain rash decisions is not fun.  Also getting yelled at or complained to about such rash decisions or mistreatments doesn't make me that happy either.  The spirituality that comes when we leave the office to teach and baptize makes the day worth it.

In the differences that present themselves in the street and the challenging situations, we found a rather large group of young men our age with whom we have an appointment today.  A few days ago, we talked with a lady on the street and asked for her address.  She gave it to us and then continued.  Last night we were praying about where we should go to find new investigators and this lady came to mind.  So we went to the house and knocked.  No one answered.  So we knocked at the neighbor´s house, who said that the lady moved a few months ago and this neighbor didn't want anything either.  We tried asking her for referrals, but she wouldn't give us any.  So we tried the house across the street, at which a frustrated older gentleman came out.  He was a taxi driver who had to leave to work and we had interrupted his quick dinner.  He didn't want anything either, but he gave us the name and address of a lady down the street.  We didn't find her, but we talked with a group of about four young men two doors down who were in the front yard of their house finishing some yardwork task.  We started talking with them about Jesus and about how prayer can bring miracles and answers.  They were intrigued and invited us to come back today when their whole group of friends will be there, about twenty strong.  These are potential priesthood holders who can serve missions!!!

!!!!

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

!!!!

Yes I just did a wave of exclamation marks.  THIS IS SO EXCITING!  Okay, now to move on.

Patricio and Graciela were married yesterday and Patricio will be baptized tonight by his son-in-law.  It was a great wedding and Elder Abaroa made a wedding cake for them.  Don't think professional, but think of a decent cake.

Anyway.  I need to get back to updating contracts.  P-Day won't be much of a P-Day this week.  I have some things I need to catch up on that will be taking a bit of time before we go to our lesson with those young men.  I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hugs all around!!!!

Elder Dewsnup

P.S.  When will you be doing the next family shoot?  Christmas?

This Season 12/8/12

Hola Familia,

So, I just got the two packages yesterday and have been sharing the goodies with the other office folk.  Mom, they love your carmels.  I'll admit I stared for a few seconds at the cheater tie before I actually lifted it out of the box, but I am wearing it right now.  It's actually a pretty good color and pattern.  I like it.  The purple one too.  I really have to ration all of the goodies though, I've already gained weight being here in the offices and I don't want to keep going on with that trend.  So, I'll be rationing what I have... though perhaps not as well as I should.  Make sure there is still a jar of peanut butter and half of the candy left when we make the Christmas call.

P.S.  For said Christmas call, chances are very high (almost guaranteed) that I'll be here in the offices for that call.

Moving on.  It's transfer week.  For us that means all heck trying to get last minute transfer things done before actually getting the information of who's going where, then reorganizing all of our spreadsheets and charts to accomodate the changes.  That and I have at least seven new houses to find, certain problems in some areas that need to be taken care of, closing one house because of electricity problems that haven't been taken care of for months, and the list continues.  It's been a relatively stressful week.  And there are more to come.  Well, that's life I guess.  I've been noticing, with the sometimes unwelcome help of companions, that I don't handle certain stresses very well.  I get very quiet until I have sudden bursts, then I freak out.  I really hope that parenthood isn't just like what I'm experiencing.  If it is... I've still got a lot to learn before I can start.  Good thing that is an adventure that is still quite a ways off in the distance for me.

I've also noticed that I get distracted between the many projects that I have and have problms actually finishing them.  I get focused on one, then something happens that gets me pulled onto another one, and then two days later I find that sheet and go "aw dang, I needed to get that done sooner" then get distracted again.  Mom and Dad, I applaud you for having learned so much to deal with all of us and I'm sorry for all of the trouble and stress that I have caused.  I don't even have to worry about little ones yet.  I just get the grown ups, if not yelling at me, talking very excitedly about their property or worries or this or that, half of which I have absolutely no control over.

Breathe in, Breathe out. ... ... ... Breathe in, Breathe out.  ... ... ...

And now I feel bad that I have just vented and ranted at you all for the last few minutes.  Isn't it just great, the things you learn? ...

And now, My thoughts just took a really big turn...  I should be a lot less worried and a lot more gratefull.  many people don't even have the privilege of worrying about things as trivial as this.  They have bigger issues on their plates.  And I have something that many of them don't, namely the Gospel.  Sometimes I feel like I understand, and then something happens that makes me realize I don't know almost anything.  It's also really hard to really apply the things that one is learning.  My brain doesn't like to think of very many things all at the same time.

This week, I've been very grateful to my companion, for as much as he drives me crazy sometimes, I have really been learning a lot from him and understanding more about my purpose and the Doctrine of Christ.

It is so simple, and yet I tend to overcomplicate almost everything and am a lot more impulsive than I had originally thought.

Anyhow, so the doctrine of Christ comprises of one main thing.  That is found in Moses 1:39 "...this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the inmortality and eternal life of man."  (my apologies if it's not exactly quoted.)  With that as the main doctrine of all things, we understand that He wants us to return to Him, to live in His presence, which is where the ultimate happiness can be found in the enjoyment of eternal life.  Through the atonement, all of us will enjoy inmortality, but only a few will have the privilege of eternal life.  That and we know from 2 Nephi that "men are that they might have joy."  How? by following the Gospel.

It's interesting that the Gospel, or good news, shows us exactly how we can obtain that which God wants for us.  Through the first principles and ordinances--those being Faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring faithfully to the end--we can obtain that happiness and joy.  Also by following that, we know that we can eventually obtain eternal life, "which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

(The following scriptures will be roughly translated from Spanish, because I don't have my english scriptures with me.)

Elder Chase came back up north from the southern most state of Argentinea since he will be returning home on Monday and he shared with us some of the things that he has recently learned and studied about the remission of sins that I want to share with all of you.  He started us out in Moroni 8:25-26.  

        "And the firstfruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism comes by faith unto the fulfilment of the commandments; and the fullfilling of the commandments brings the remission of sins; and the remission of sins brings meekness and humility of heart; and by meekness and humility of heart comes the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter fills with hope and perfect love, a love that endureth through diligence in prayer, until the end cometh, when the saints will dwell with God."

So when we are repentant we will be baptized making a covenant with God to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, always remember him, and keep his commandments (sound familiar?). Then he took us to Mosiah 4:11 which says:

         "And again I say unto you, as I said before, that as ye have come to a knowledge of the glory of God, o if you have known of his goodness, and felt his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causes such great joy in your souls, so I would that ye remember  and always retain in memory the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his kindness and long suffering unto you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of himility, calling daily upon the Lord, and remaining steadfast in the faith of that which is to come, which was announced by the mouth of the angel.  And behold, I say that if ye do this, ye shall always rejoice, and ye shall be filled with the love of God and willalways retain a remission of your sins; and ye will increase in the knowledge of the glory of him who created you, or in other words, en the knowledge of that which is just and true.

So once we have been baptized and have received a remission of our sins, all we really have to do to retain that remission of sins is to remember; that is, remember the glory of God and His goodness.  If we do this we will always rejoice, be filled with the love of God, and retain a remission of sins.

Then we went to Doctrine and Covenants 76:52.  Speaking of the resurrection of the just and those who are baptized--

         "that, keeping the commantmets, they would be washed and cleansed of all their sins, and would receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands..."

My own little side note here includes 2 Nephi 32 17, where it says that "the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost."  So in order to obtain a remission of sins, we must repent and be baptized, following which we are then sanctified by the Holy Ghost and receive a remission of sins.  Then we continued on through to the sacrament prayers found in Moroni chapters 4 and 5, where we read that we will take upon ourselves the name of Christ and always remember Him, and keep His commandments which He has given us, that we may always have His Spirit to be with us.

So, how is it that we obtain and then retain a remission of our sins?  By following the Gospel and keeping the commandments.

Something interesting about this is that if we then continue our reading in Mosiah 4, once we have retained a remission of our sins, we will no longer have desires to sin, but we will live peacufully.  It is a natural consequence of this that we will not permit our children (or investigators, or friends, or you name it) to go hungry, or naked, or contend one with another, but we will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness.  I had always read that statement as if it were a commandment, but think about it in this light.  Once we have personally obtained a remission of sins, it is a natural consequence to share it and to not let others sin, but help them to obtain the same.  That is what can come when we understand true doctrine.

I remember from back when Uncle Ralph and Aunt Mary came back from their mission in Puerto Rico that he shared something very similar in his homecoming talk.  I still have parts of my notes from that talk too, and the main thing that still sticks out to me is that he used the same quote that I have heard many times here.  True doctrine, understood, changes lives.  A study of the doctrine with change behavior better than a study on behavior will change behavior. (A quote which happens to come from President Packer.)

My mind gets blown so very often with understanding, and then I forget quickly what I have learned and have to wait until I once again am ready and listening for such understanding.  I also happened to open Dad's book As He Is this morning and he talks in one part about how sometimes we don't receive revelation because God is waiting for us to truly be listening and attentive, rather than running off at the mouth while He speaks to us or running out to head somewhere when He is trying to share important information with us.  If we are truly willing and waiting for revelation, we will receive it, but oftentimes we don't know if we are ready to receive it.  God knows when we need to receive it, and that is when He will give it, if we are ready and willing to listen.  I think that was in chapter 4.

So, among all of the stresses that I have been feeling, I have felt moments of truth and love that have made it all worth it.  The Church is true and everything just seems to work out.  I love you all and tell you that even though I have been having a rough time, I know that things will work out.  I may need to be reminded of it often, but it always does.  I always mention you in my prayers and wish you well.  Just a couple more weeks and I'll be seeing you.

Love,

Elder Dewsnup

To Life!!! 11/10/12

Dear Family,

To life, to life, L'Chaim!  L'Chaim, L'Chaim, to Life!!!

Ce-le-brate the times COME ON!!!!!!!

So what the heck, your welcome.  Glad to have you with us!

Two wonderful welcomes are being celebrated among us, and I'm sure that we'll be mentioning it a lot.  Well, there are ten months, plus a little, before I come home.  That's enough time for another surprise!!!  Just Kidding!  You wait all you need...

So, we had the auditors come in yesterday to tell us if what the things we're doing are good or bad.  I found out that I haven't been doing some things right, so I have a lot of catch up work to do.  And that catch up work is now going to be taking up the rest of my "P-Day".  It0s really hard to get all the dtuff done when everything is top priority and needs to be done now.  So I'm sorry, but this letter is gonna be really short.

We soon need to head out to begin our proselyting time, we have a full night tonight, which is a pleasant change.  We also have two baptisms planned for next week.  So as Zayne and Royce have entered into this life as new creatures, so are two of our brothers here soon to be reborn spiritually into a new life following Christ.  More details will come next week.  It's time to get moving.

I love and pray for you all!!!!

Elder Dewsnup

P.S. Chances are really, really high that I'll be here in the office for Christmas so I'll have easy access to the computers here and webcams to use for our Christmas chat.  Will you all be in the same place this year?

--

Elder Matthew H. Dewsnup

 

Misión Buenos Aires Norte

Gral. Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Pictures 11/3/12

So Here are some pictures of things that are here.  There's a picture of a flower I liked, a picture of the Temple, and a picture of one type of Argentine pizza

These pictures are of my district before transfers, and my office family before the Castañedas went home.

The Holler after Halloween 11/3/12

Dear Family,

So, Halloween isn't a big holiday here.  I think I saw one person dressed up that night, and another yesterday... I think people are just a little behind on that.  But I'm not unhappy that we didn't celebrate.  I care for it about as much as Mom.  My companion heard my rant about that one.  On Halloween last year, I was in the MTC, and we traded name tags within our district for about three hours.  So this year, the only  real celebration we did was to eat a bit of extra holiday cake given to us from a few of the members.

Sometimes, I wonder what God's purpose was in placing me in the offices.  I don't see it all that much now, but that seems to be the case with almost all of the things we receive from God, both blessings and trials-we don't understand them until quite some time after the fact.  I get calls daily from missionaries informing me of some electrical problem there, a leaky pipe here, no gas for the stove every blue moon, etc.  Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with all the calls coming in, then other days are so slow all I do is sit and reorganize my desk.  On the other hand, I also get calls from landlords who are unhappy with this or that, usually that certain expenses haven't been paid, to which I find out that the missionaries weren't informed of the need to pay such a charge.  Miscommunication is such a problem.

Speaking of miscommunication, another part of my job involves overseeing the functionality of all of the cell phones in the mission.  That provides another set of complaints every now and again, and caused me a little problem on Thursday.  We went to the central Claro office in Capital to pick up an order of phones and SIM cards.  What I had requested was about three replacement cards and five replacement phones for faulty this or that.  They gave me eight cards and eight phones.  At first I was thinking, "Awesome!  We just got ourselves some extra equipment."  Not so.  What had happened was that the cards, when activated, disactivated the old ones that were actually in those areas.  So in a period of five minutes, we lost almost all communication with five areas.   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So that was a scramble to figure out how to fix that problem.  Luckily, there are many places to use public phones, so at least those missionaries were able to communicate with us, if not the other way around.  The problem with be completely resolved by the end of today, so that heart attack has passed.

Continuing with other news, Jorge is progressing steadily.  He has had a really rough few years and is struggling a lot to get past some of his temptations and trials.  With some of them, he understands that he needs to stop, but he doesn't understand why he needs to stop.  This has helped us to understand a little more about how we need to gear our lessons with him.  

There is another man named Patricio who has been an investigator for quite some time.  He had a really rough life until he met a member woman and they became a couple.  They're finally getting married on the 16th and soon thereafter, he'll be baptized and confirmed.  He is so ready to receive this saving ordinance.

Thiago is such a stud.  We heard that last Sunday, his mom had taken him to a "quince," a celebration for his cousin who turned 15.  But that morning he bugged and bothered his mom so much saying that he wanted to go to church, that she drove him to the front of the chapel, dropped him off with a neighbor and said, "Here, you take care of him for a while."  We're hoping to be able to set a baptixmal date with him tonight for a date in about two weeks.  He understands a lot and is so excited for everything to do with the church.  I wish that sometimes many of our young kids and youth could have the vigor and excitement he does to go to church.

We're still in the loop trying to find more people to teach, but things are moving along.

Dad told me about the close call Meg had on Halloween.  You almost had little Josh there on an interesting day...  What a spooky scare.  And I hope that all of your eyes just rolled at that.  Plus also, did I get the name right?

Mom had a few questions for me that she asked, and I'm not sure if I had mentioned any of the partial details in my last general email or not, so here are the answers:

Q: Are you and your companion not getting along well? (asked because I had aid that i hadn't done any driving in the country yet except for driving my companion crazy)

A: Yep, we're gettin´along.  Not perfectly, but we get along pretty well.  We've both got some querks that grind and our personalities are very similar, so that is a little wierd.

Q: Aer we still a trio?

A:  No, Elder Chase was transferred to Tolhuín, a small city in Tierra del Fuego, which is the southern most province in Argentina.  Elder Abaroa is still here, though.  So we're continuing the work here with two now, instead of three.

Mom mentioned that we were having perfect temps lately here in Buenos Aires... ... ... ¿huh?  This place is humid, which makes me sweat in 60ºF weather.  While it's between 55ºF and 70ºF, it's bearable, but passing that, I'm already dying...  though not literally. But hey, that's life.

Well, family, it's about time for me to get going.  I love you all and pray for you daily!  Keep on Keepiin' on.

With Love,

Elder Dewsnup

13 10/27/12

Dear Family,

Tomorrow marks quite an interesting point.  I will hit 13 months in the mission tomorrow.  As I sit and think about it, Stuart Anderson and Wesley Thomas should be home now or returning within a couple of weeks.  Tyler Rauckhorst should be getting home soon too.  Time is flying.

Speaking of flying, transfers are already up on us again.  It's way weird to be seing transferes from the administration point of view.  We have to deal with flight information getting people in from the south, down to the south, getting people the right amount of money on their support cards for rent, personal assignments, etc.  We deal with the remis (taxi) costs and company...  All in all, it's really hectic right now.  The number of missionaries coming here from other countries keeps changing because of people who are waiting for visas, people who get them at the last minute, other people who are postponed, etc.  On my end of the work, I have to make sure that everyone has a place to sleep at night that is safe, secure, and appropriate for a missionary's calling.  We currently have about 90 apartments in the mission, and we have extra missionaries coming in this transfer than we originally had planned, so I'll be crunching in the first two weeks of the transfer to be able to secure contracts and new apartments in the new areas that will open up.

Dad asked me to explain a normal day in the offices, so here goes.  We begin the day at 6:30, like the rest of the missionaries, exercise, study, eat, etc.  The main difference is that we need to be in the offices shortly after 9:00, so we miss out usually on being able to do a really effective companionship study, if we get one at all.  From 9:00 to about 5:30-ish I'm accepting calls from missionaries and real estate companies, and occasionally landlords.  For instance, we're currently trying to renew a contract with one of the landladies and it's getting a little frustrating because of certain issues that I can't discuss openly online.  Needless to say, some of us didn't have parents as clean as you are Mom and Dad.  The landfolks notice if they visit the apartments.  But moving ahead, once 5:30 hits, we go out to proselyte. We normally get about three lessons of some sort in, be it to investigators, recent converts or less active members.  The best way to find new people is through referrals, but people don't like giving us referrals.  We have, however, gotten a few that we will be contacting really soon.

We're currently teaching one young man named Jorge (hor-hey).  He's really cool, but has a lot of doubts.  The biggest one that we think about is that he was super catholic, including the fact that he helped several young people take the comunion and confirmation.  He was batptized twice in the Catholic church, and we think that he feels it would be almost an hypocrisy to change religion now.  He has felt several times that he should get baptized, but he still feels iffy about it.  One of the things that he told us dealt with him having an inability to forgive himself, something that I have great experience with.  He also feels sure that he'll go right back into sinning, even if he gets baptized, and he doesn't want to do that.  

Things are progressing here, slowly but surely.  The work of the Lord will not be frustrated.  "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... 

The truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and dependent...until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, 'The work is done.'"

I love you with all my heart.  I pray that day to day you can find the strength to keep on going.  I have a picture of Christ above my screen, the one of Him at the Second Coming seen in most temples.  Periodically throughout the day, I look at it and think, as Elder Andersen asked, "What does Jesus think of me?"  I know He is our Saviour.  I know He loves us and that we are children of a loving Father in Heaven.  The newest addition and proof of this in our family is Zayne.  What more evidence could we ask for of a loving Heavenly Father than the responsibility and privelege to help others of His children return to His presence and partake of this wonderful experience.

I wish you all the best and pray for you daily.

Elder Dewsnup

Estoy Feliz 10/20/12

Dear Family,

HAPPY DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR FAMILY!!!!!!  WELCOME ZAYNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope he can feel his crazy uncle's love from so far away.  One has now been welcomed and one more awaits!  

Well, there are many things that have been happening and progressing in each of our lives.  With the arrival of Zayne and the anticipation of Minion, there is an abundance of joy that we are feeling together as a family.  I am sure that that joy is shared by each and every one of us.

This morning, in my studies, I came across a few things that I felt to share with all of you.  I read Mosiah 21-24.  Here we can see the same trials endured by two different groups of people and how they reacted to those trials.  In the first two chapters, we read of Limhi, son of King Noah, and his people after the death of his father.  They were brought into bondage by the Lamanites and for a long time were subject to them, being forced to pay a tribute of 50% of all they had.  Gaurds were posted around their land and often they entered among the people and beat them, placing heavy burdens on their backs as if they were pack animals.  After a while, the men had had enough and asked Limhi permision to try to force the Lamanites off their land.  They went to battle, and were beaten.  Widow's and children's cries were so strong that it provoked the remaining men to anger enough to drive them to battle again.  Again, they were driven back.  And a third time they went, with the same results.  Finally, they were brought down so low, the scripture says they were himiliated unto the dust, unto the depths of humility, and then they cried unto God for deliverence.  They tried on their own three times to free themselves, but they never achieved freedom.  We are told that the Lord was slow to hear their cries because of their iniquities, but he began to lighten their burdens.  It was still a long time before the Lord judged it time for them to be delivered before they finally achieved their freedom.

The Lamanite army that followed their escape ended up getting lost in the wilderness and by chance found the people of Alma, who had escaped from King Noah before Limhi became king.  This Lamanite army promised to Alma that they would leave them alone if Alma would help them return to their lands.  But they broke their promise.  Alma and his people were surrounded by Lamanite gaurds and were also subjected to servitude.  The difference here is that even before this happened, they began to cry to God for help and strength.  When they were forbidden to pray vocally, they continued to pray in their hearts.  After so much faith was shown, God promised them that their burdens would be lightened, even though He hadn't judged it the right time to liberate them.  Nevertheless, they continued to show faith, they continued to be patient and to endure.  Finaly the voice of the Lord came and told them to prepare because they would be liberated that night.  After a full day's journey, they set up camp and immediately prayed to thank God.  He then immediately warned them to keep going because the army of the Lamanites was following them.  They then kept on their way until they reached the land of Zarahemla.

What I learned here was the better way to deal with trials.  When we try to go on our own strength, we can continually fall, but when we rely on God and His matchless power, we can eventually be freed from all forms of bondage.  It is the same with any trial, problem, and temptation.  It is so interesting.  It is something that is so aplicable to everything we do in life.  I've been experiencing some really hard moments.  Things at times have appeared much larger than I could deal with.  I know that through the Atonement, we can make it through anything, even if we suffer consequences first.  I love you all

Elder Dewsnup

P.S. the pictures are one of my old broken shoes and a "Mormon Ad" that I drew myself about three months ago.  The translation to English is "Reach,  His hand is extended all the day long"

Conference Follow up 10/13/12

Dearest family,

Another of the perks to being in the offices is that we have ready access daily to re-listen to the sessions of General Conference.  I still haven't listened to all of Priesthood session, but things are coming along.

So now for a rundown of how I loved conference.

Saturday Morning:   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  O.O  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  O.O  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  etc.  The announcement of the new age requirements has thrown us all for a bit of a loop.  One of the sister's families in the mission already has two daughters out and now the other two are doing their papers.  By May we expect to be receiving some of the first wave of the 19 year olds.  Perhaps sooner, but time will tell.  I thought it was also really interesting how Elder Cook opened the conference with remarks about intrafamily respect.  Part of the interesting bit of conference this time was that I listened to almost the entirety of it in Spanish.  Elder Bowen's talk was really good.  I liked how he touched on the reality of what most people feel when they lose a loved one.  There are many people who are less active in our branch who have dealt with recent losses.  And it's true, no one else really knows what that feels like, except for Christ.  Elder Nelson's talk just made us all chuckle, and very frequently.  We've kind of picked up that phrase as a companionship motto.  "[We] can help you."  We've actually tried to focus more on that and have tried coming up with random situations in which we could be posed with a dificulty and figuring out how we could be of help or how the Gospel could apply to and help them.  It's a very interesting and spiritually uplifting experience.  President Uchtdorf's talk was one of my favorites this conference.  While reviewing some of the frequent regrets, he touched again on his good-better-best concept.  I did find some of the regrests really interesting.  Just to refresh all our minds, I'll write 'em here too.  First, they wished they had spent more time with loved ones.  Second, they felt like they had failed to become the person they could have been.  Third, they wished they had let themselves be happier.  The first one I felt was relatively common, it's something that everyone desires, regardless of how much time they already spend with family.  The second one was a little more perplexing to me in that President Uchtdorf mentioned that it wasn't in the aspect of achieving some sort of business recognition or other promotion, but a personal spiritual desire.  The last one threw me for a loop.  But as I continued to think about it, it is so true.  As agents, we are all personally responsible for how we act.  We have the choice to be happy or not.  It actually reminds me of a talk that the Bishop's wife gave in Tortuguitas my last day there.  I'll indulge in telling that story here too.  

There was a King who had a very wise and wonderful servant, but this servant was also just a little strange.  No matter what happened, this servant always said "Que Bueno" (translated it would be something like how wonderful).  The King was not bothered by this most of the time, but it did call his attention.  One day, the King was practicing his swordplay and cut off one of his toes.  The servant then said to him "how wonderful."  At that comment, the King was infuriated.  How could his servant think it was a wonderful thing that he had cut his toe off?!  So the King fired this prized servant.  At the pronouncement, the servant again replied "how wonderful."  The servant was thrown out of the palace and the King continued his reign.  The following week, an enemy tribe came and captured the King.  While discussing what to do with him, the suggestion was made to sacrifice the King to their gods.  Preparations were made for the sacrifice, but then they noticed that the King was imperfect, he had a missing toe.  They decided that such an impure sacrifice would infuriate the gods rather than appease them, so they let the King return to his kingdom.  Realizing something, he called back his servant and told him of the event.  The King asked of the servant, "why did you say 'how wonderful' when I cut off my toe?"  The servant replied, "if you hadn't cut off your toe, you would have been sacrificed to the heathen gods."  Then the King asked of his servant, "Then why did you say 'how wonderful' when I fired you?"  The servant then said, "If you had not fired me, I would have been captured with you, and they would have sacrificed me in your place."   Moral of the story, try to see the good in every situation.

Saturday Afternoon:  Elder Perry's talk was really good and family oriented as well and I liked how he enumerated a few things that we can do as families to strengthed our ties and relationships.  Elder Andersen's and Elder Oak's talks were brilliant as well and answered many questions that investigators and less actives have had about God and our relationship with Him.

Sunday Morning:  Elder Eyring.  May I just say, WOW!  I received a lot of personal revelation during that talk.  It was interesting for me to hear that it is never God who is hidden, but rather that perhaps we are hidden from God.  We, perhaps, are placing a pavillion over ourselves which keeps us from feeling that which God wants to give us.  One thing that I personally thought about was the following, in reference to prayer: "If you aren't receiving revelation, change the way you ask your question."  It came to my mind in those words.  I also loved President Packer's talk, which to me featured the theme of rescue, especially with the story of the island and the two lights, and Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy.  That also made me think about the last Sunday we were there together and sang that song in Sacrament Meeting. It was pretty cool!  Called to Serve was fun to sing, but it was interesting to see the confusion on peoples faces when we stopped singing after two verses.  There are four in Spanish.  Elder Holland's talk closely followed one that he gave in the MTC almost two years ago that a lof of elders here have on DVD.  It also made me think of his recent CES fireside address.  It would be a wonderful thing to watch when you get the chance.  I do feel really bad though, that I missed President Monson's talk.  He has a bad habit of speaking so well that it lulls me.  Needless to say, I will be listening to it again shortly.

Sunday Afternoon:  It was really cool how Elder Hales and Elder Holland used the same story from the Bible as the basis of their addresses.  Both used the same story with a slight twist.  It was way cool!  Listening to Elder Scott's talk was awesome because he did his own recording to be played during the conference.  I loved his focus on ancestry.  Elder Nash mentioned a few things that I really liked.  1) Fear distracts from faith.  2) the story of Anne Rowley.  The story of two hard seabuiscuts turning into a pot full of food is truly a miracle.  That one reminded me of the story of the woman who fed Elijah before herself and her son.  In that story, they only had enough to make food for their last meal, but the prophet promised them that if they gave him to eat first, they would not run out.  Elder Johnson's reference to Fiddler on the Roof made me chuckle, especially since I had mentioned that to my companion earlier that week.  I love Tevye.  Elder Clarke's talk on the Sacrament was really helpful because I think many of us don't really think of the preparation that we need to do personally to partake of the sacrament.  It is the same as if we were preparing to be baptized again.  That is what the sacrament represents.  A renewal of covenants made at baptism and a weekly opportunity to cleanse ourselves of sin.  The sacrament is of equal importance to baptism, for without the sacrament, we would not be able to receive a continual forgiveness of our sins.

GOOD CONFERENCE!!!!  It also helped with one of our investigators.  Leandro has been having a rough time really focusing in our lessons with him and we had been discussing whether or not to stop visiting with him because he just wasn't progressing.  But when he went to conference, he felt a tranquility that he hadn't ever experienced before and he then started getting more serious about this.  We actually were about to set a date for his baptism last night for the 21 (we've been teaching him for a while).  Tonight we have plans to review the Word of Wisdom, which would be his next step towards preparing to be worthy for baptism.  We're still struggling to get other investigators, but we don't lose faith.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!  Good luck in the next couple of weeks Megan and Sarah.  I want you to send me an email the moment (or at least the day) that boys are born!  I won't be able to see it until a saturday, but I want to see what day it was the moment I sign on.  Have a great week!  Y'all are in my prayers.

Oh, attached is one of the pictures I took when I went to help prepare the MTC.

-- 

Elder Matthew H. Dewsnup

 

Misión Buenos Aires Norte

Gral. Lavalle 1828

1646 San Fernando

Buenos Aires, Argentina