Monday, April 6, 2015

Week 8 in the Carlsbad California Mission

My Dearest Family,

Thank you for writing to me, I got that copy of Buddy's talk and it was amazing!! I loved it! I can definitely attest that that was one of the most fantastic talks ever! Buddy is truly a missionary! He doesn't mince his words and speaks the truth simply, clearly, and to the point, like all missionaries need to! That is one thing that missionaries try to work on here is teaching simply and by the spirit, which Buddy definitely did in that talk!

Elder Garcia and I actually were able to share the spiritual message at a dinner on Easter Sunday. I was able to use all the words that I wanted to use, and testified of what we shared how I wanted to! It was super amazing to me, because I've honestly been struggling to that lately, but yesterday I did it! The spirit helped me to do what I needed to do! And I am very grateful for that!

I'm so glad that you were able to go out with the sister missionaries and to help her to come closer to Christ! Reading your story brought the spirit to my heart and helped me to see the miracles that are happening back home :)

I have been working at eating that Zombie Jerky! haha I thought it was so funny seeing that and reminded me of the Zombie Hunts haha it's actually not that bad!

General Conference was amazing!! I actually didn't write a billion notes like I used to do, but this time, I just wanted to listen and learn and feel the spirit. It was wonderful! I loved the talk about the brothers John(older) and Jimmy(younger) on the cliff, and John jumped and was sure he was going to fall to his doom, but Jimmy, who he had told to go and get a branch, had never left that spot and took hold of his arms and pulled him up. The speaker compared Jimmy to the Savior, but what the spirit overwhelmed me and whispered to me during that talk that I was once like John and thought I was going to fall, and yes Jimmy is the Savior, but through the Spirit, the Savior can influence people in our lives to be our Jimmy to pull us. So Jesus Christ is Jimmy in that story, but he uses people in our lives to do His will and they are in His place. The spirit spoke to me strongly of people in my life that the Savior has worked through that have been Jimmy to me and have pulled me up when I was sure and afraid that I was going to fall. I almost cried because I knew what the Spirit spoke to me was truth, and I am very grateful for all the men and women that have been Jimmy in all my life, and I wish I could really describe the depth of my gratitude to everyone for being there and for helping me.

I was able to listen to some of general conference in Spanish, especially the speakers that were native Spanish speaking. At one point, I grabbed one of the translation thingies and listened to conference in Spanish in one ear, and English in the other ear.

Please continue to write and email when you can! I love all the pictures and postcards you send me!

I love you all very much!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

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