Elder Dylan Thomas' Missionary Experiences in Guatemala, Retalhuleu 2015-2017: The Blessings of Faith

Hey everyone!

Everything is going well for us. As always, even though we were in the office a long time, God gave us miracles in the short time we were in our area.

We continue teaching a lady named Esperanza. She was taken to the church by a member, and she is VERY positive. We have been able to teach her a bit of the Restoration, and this week she told us that she knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She knows that this church is the church of Jesus Christ. She is having a hard time making the decision to be baptized, but she is praying a lot and reading the Book of Mormon, and I know that soon the Spirit will touch her heart and she will feel the need and the desire to be baptized. We are also teaching her daughter who lives with her, who says she went to church a long time ago and went again with us this Sunday. I know that soon we will see the two of them in white! :)

Well, that´s the main highlight of the week. I´d like to share something I liked while reading the book of Enos this week. I really liked verses five and six:

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be

blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

I am very impressed that Enos had so much faith in God's power to forgive our sins that after hearing that God had forgiven him, he immediately stopped feeling guilty. That is something that I lack and I believe many members of the church do as well. Sometimes I think that God forgives us, but we do not forgive ourselves, and we still feel guilty. But if we do forgive ourselves and trust in the power of the Atonement to heal us and God's ability to forgive, our guilt will be expunged just like that of Enos.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Thomas

PS from mom:

I asked Dylan if he was playing the piano and singing. I also asked him what he ate on a typical day. I always worry about his health. What can I say, I'm a mom. This was his response:

We don´t have a piano in the ward I´m in right now. :( The majority of the wards I´ve been in either don´t have a piano, or they have somebody assigned to play, and I don´t really want to rob their assignment, haha. I don´t really sing a lot other than hymns in church and lessons...but that´s alright! Singing around the office and the house is good enough for now. :) I am healthy! Hmmm...it´s hard to say what I eat on a typical day. Normally I eat something small for breakfast like cereal or a Nature Valley Bar with some strawberries. For lunch, we eat with members on Fridays and Sundays. If there´s any kind of leadership meeting or any other kind of meeting here in the office, we usually get to eat as well even though we´re not part of the meeting. If not, then we go buy something for lunch! I´m generally not all that hungry for dinner, so I usually either don´t eat anything or I eat some Ramen. If I am hungry, I buy something. There´s a really good sandwich place called Las Brasas close to the office that delivers so we often order that if we´re hungry. If not that, McDonald´s or Taco Bell.

Wow. I didn´t realize how pathetic my diet was until you made me explain it. I might try to change that. Haha!