Thanks for reading this letter, and thanks for your patience with my bad English and spelling.
This week was really tough but really hard. Our area is just doing really well. One of our golden investigators has an interview tomorrow for his baptism, and if he passes it (which he should!) we will hold his baptism this Friday. It's all systems go right now in our area. We have several investigators that are progressing, and we've been finding new investigators at a slow but steady rate. This week was hard. It had to have been one of the hardest of all my mission. But missionary work in this area is super great, easy, and just an absolute blast. Our investigator who will get baptized this week is named Fermin. He's a really incredible, smart guy, probably is about 40 years old, and just gets everything, understands everything, and is completely willing to follow Christ. His conversion has been incredible. He asked me to do his baptism as well, which should be fun, because I haven't done a baptism in a little over a month!
Thanks for all the concern about the volcanic activity! We're all safe! There were no problems in the mission, and from what i understand, the majority of the ash fell to the northwest of popo (ie Amecameca, Ozumba, San Pedro, Tlalmanalco, y Chalco), so here in the south (Cuautla) we were pretty safe. So Tetela, even though it literally sits on the shoulder of popo, didn't have any ash fall.
This was a fun p-day. We played a bunch of sports, and that always makes me happy. I met a new elder in our zone called Elder Hatfield. He's really into mountain biking, backpacking, and a bunch of other stuff I like, and we instantly became really good friends. It was a fun day.
It was a really humbling week for me. My spiritual thought, if I could share you guys one, has been of Zion's Camp. Some of you guys are familiar with it, some of you guys might not be, and to my friends who aren't Mormon, bear with me a bit hahahahahaha. Zion's camp was the militia that Joseph Smith put together to restore the saints of Missouri to their homes. They started in Kirtland, Ohio, and marched for about 1000 miles (if I remember well, and if not, the story sounds good that way) to Far West, Missouri, to fight the mobs there. It was miserable, the people suffered the entire way, got sick, had very little food, and basically was really difficult. And in the end, they didn't even fight, because the Missouri governor failed to help the saints.
It was basically a crucible for the saints. It burned the impurities out. It separated the boys from the men. The obedient from the disobedient. What it ended up doing was separating who was on the Lord's side, and who wasn't. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Lots of the future leaders of the church were in that camp, including several of the next prophets.
The mission sometimes (and to be honest, it really shouldn't be like this) has turned into a crucible for some people. We find out if we really are on the Lord's side. Am I willing to be obedient? Am I willing to consecrate myself to the Lord? Am I on the Lord's side?
Studying this has helped me a lot this week. It has helped me look at the bigger picture, develop deeper love for the missionaries, and refocus myself on being on the Lord's side. And that means commitment. That means discipline, and obedience. That means loving people.
Well, that's it for this week! I don't have photos, but next week I should! I love you guys a lot, stay safe.
Love,
Elder William Jacob Long
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