Hey Family, Friends, and All My Loved Ones! =D
It´s always one of my favorite parts of the week when I get to read your emails and respond to all the wonderful news that I receive. It´s awesome to hear that everyone is really enjoying their summer and that everything (besides the refrigerator at home =P) is going wonderfully for you at home. I love hearing about all the activities you´re all involved in,especially at the Bear Lake House. I´m so excited to party it up Bear Lake style when I get home, it´ll be awesome to see how much it´s changed and how much MORE we can fit into one summer! =) Be assured, I still think about all of you every day and instead of making it hard this week I was strengthened by my love and interest in all that you are and do. My dear Family...I continue to be unable to express how much I truly love you, how much you mean to me, and how grateful I am for the knowledge that through the Plan of Salvation, we are going to be an eternal family. I´m realizing more and more in the work how inportant families are in the success of each and every individual in the world. When the family of a person (no matter whether they are a member or not) fails...it makes it extremely difficult for that person to find success in this life. It is for this that I am seeking to help the Lord complete and edify families on my mission. I had a great experience this Sunday because the two members of Familia Valladares that we baptized about 6 weeks ago came to church, but also brought a friend. =) They brought their father, who works as a security coordinator at a casino in Guatemala. Hermano Valladares has an extremely rigorous work schedule that does not allow him time to receive us and listen to the missionary lessons. This makes it difficult for him to learn about the Church that his wife and oldest son have joined through our efforts. The Church has brought numerous blessings and a beautiful atmospere into his home and he has noticed the change. He has a real desire to learn, but we have not had the opportunity to teach him yet. This is why his attendance in Church this Sunday was so exciting for me. I sat with him throughout all the meetings and answered all the questions that he put to me. He asked about the Priesthood, Patriarchal Blessings, Family Home Evenings, and much more. He has also been reading the manual for the Gospel Principles class in his spare time and has come to love the help and guide it gives him in real life. I again expressed my hopes that eventually we will be able to find a time to teach him during the week and that maybe eventually he will have the opportunity to complete his family in the Church, in one faith and one baptism. He expressed his thanks for what Heavenly Father has done through us and also his hopes to listen in the future. I have no idea when or if I will be the one to teach him, or whether I will have left the area by the time he has the time to receive us.But I know one thing for certain, when he listens, he will receive his answers, he will gain a testimony, he will be baptized, receive the Priesthood, and eventually be sealed with his family for time and all eternity. This knowledge gives me strength and I hope to see that day soon, as I know it will be a glorious day indeed.
Okay, I know that I went on a rant about that experience and it was probably way longer than it needed to be, but it was awesome for me and I wanted to share it with all of you. I also wanted to admonish and exhort all of you to seek diligently to complete your families in the Gospel of Christ. There is no greater blessing on earth than that of being part of an eternal family united in happiness for this life and the rest of forever. If your family is already complete, use your time wisely, and seek diligently to strengthen it while you have time here on Earth. The Temple is the House of God on Earth and only there can families truly realize all of the blessings of eternity that are ordained for families in the probationary life. Honestly, one lifetime isn´t enough time to enjoy with my family, so I´m glad, for my sake, that I´m going to be with you Mom, Dad, and Hope, forever and ever. Like I always say in one way or another...I cant express with Earthly words how much I love you all, so it´s a good thing that I´ve got forever to tell ya. ;P
A little more about the work in Promision right now: We´re both healthy and ready to work now. I´m completing my daily scripture study goals of two chapters in the Bible, one section in D&C, and several pages of the Book of Mormon every day in English and I´m loving that every day. I´ve never read Doctrine and Covenants before, but I´m realizing now how dang cool it is! I love reading, and I love reading my scriptures! I know it´s all I have to read for the next little while, but I´m glad that I´m enjoying it as much as I have been. Mom, I hope your study of Jesus the Christ is still going well, and Dad, if you haven´t started restudying Mandrin or started with Spanish, you should know that if I were home I´d kick your butt up between your ears. Seriously Dad, you should pick up your mission language or at least start learning mine. You have no idea how cool it would be to me if we were both biligual when I get home, especially if you had learned Spanish while I was gone. =) So, if you can (even if you can´t...make time!) start studying too. It´ll be good for you, I promise. =) Hope, I dont know if you´ve started to like reading or not, but I want you to try something. I didn´t read the Book of Mormon all the way through until I was in the MTC of Guatemala. I dont want you to make the same mistake. If you can, and if you want to, please start reading the Book of Mormon. You´ll like it, I promise. It´s full of great stories and good examples of how we can do better in our lives to follow Jesus Christ. It may be hard to believe right now for you, but it´ll even help you do better in school and have really good friendships in your life, even better than you do now. Okay, I´m not going to keep ranting about this, but you should know that I´d think it was awesome if you had read all the way through the Book of Mormon by the time I get home at least once. I know you can do it, and I know it´ll bless your life and the life of our family. =) Anyways, I kinda went off on a tangent, but I needed to get that said. =P So, the work! We need more investigators and we need more opportunities to teach with members present in our lessons. Please help us by praying for those two things, and we´ll do our part as well. I dont know how we´re going to accomplish them yet, but I know that little by little we will. Thank you for all the love, respect, and support you send me through your prayers. I´m always excited to hear about all the support that I ¨dont even know I have¨. It´ll definately be a huge party when I get home, that´s for sure! =D Anyways, my companion and I are doing well but, like always, we need your help in order to accomplish all that we were sent to do. Thank you. I love you all. I dont have any more time today, but I´ll be excited to hear from you all next week.
Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker
P.S. If you´re wondering about the meaning of the subject box title of this email ¨Into the Double Digits¨, I was meaning to refer to the fact that this week I´m starting my 10th week in the field. I´m excited about that, and I just wanted to share that little fact with you all so you can be excited too. =) Until next week, I love you and miss you all!
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