Monday, September 17, 2012

September 17, 2012 Email

Dear Mom and Dad,
  Let me answer some of your questions.
  I did not send Richie an email; I sent Richie two emails.  Apparently I sent it to the wrong place, so I'll send it to you, and you can forward it to him.
  My health is doing fine.  My cold is over!  I still have a little mucus in my throat, but I'm not coughing all day.  And I can sing again!  My ankles and legs are at a good point, I've been able to do things that take care of my legs, but allow me to stay dilligent.  I ran out of Aleve today, its lasted my whole mission, but I've use half of it the last 3 months.  Haha!  I bought ibuprofin today, we'll see if it helps the same.  Taiwan does not have the same brands of medication as the United States, so its a little confusing.
  Our mission is doing awesome on the 100,000 goal.  Our mission has talked to well over 60,000 people, and we still have two weeks.  With the numbers and graphs I've seen, it looks like will slay our mission goal.  That's exciting, because it wasn't an easy goal.  But literally every companionship has taken the initiative and is contributing to the mission goal.  Every companionship has been more dilligent, which is really fun to see.
  Wasei, Its the last week of the movecall for me.  After this week, its my last movecall.  Its pretty interesting, because the rest of my mission seems scheduled out, no suprises.  Unless something crazy happens, this will be my last area.  My companion has been here forever, and they need 27 trainers, so it looks like Elder Chen will be leaving.  It puts me at peace, because I don't have to worry about stupid things like "will I ever go Zone Leader?" or "I wonder where my next area is?".  It makes me feel silly for worrying about things like that during the rest of my mission.  It really wasn't important.  Now, I feel completely focused on helping others come unto Christ, and in helping the missionaries under my stewardship.  I hope this is an attitude that I can keep the rest of my life.  Place or position is nothing compared to the importance of the actual responsibility we have of helping others.
  Hmm...Dad, if you get a chance to meet Mitt Romney, ask him if he would let me be his intern!  Seriously, even for me, that would be awesome experience.  Its interesting, we're having more and more people members and investigators ask us about Mitt Romney.  Its funny, a lot of the members presume I'm a Romney supporter because I'm a member of the church.  They have no idea about his stances or policies, they just are interested because he is Mormon.  A lot of my opinions have become more moderate, but I'm still voting for Obama.  Don't tell Mitt.
  I had a really interesting experience while on exchanges.  Elder Miller, one of our District Leaders, and I were approached by a woman who is a member of another Christian church.  She said that she was very curious about our faith, because her preacher told her that we are not in line with other Christians, and that their church is forbidden to read the Book of Mormon.  She said that we had a great opportunity to help others become converted to Christianity, and if we stopped using the Book of Mormon, we could be like the other Christian churches and help our church grow faster.  She asked us, why don't you just get rid of the Book of Mormon?  Elder Miller and I were able to boldly and sincerely testify that Jesus Christ has restored His original church, that He has called a modern day prophet to guide us, and that the Book of Mormon is a testimony of the Priesthood and Gospel of Jesus Christ being restored to us.  Sometimes, when I study the Book of Mormon, I forget the power and authority that it represents.  But when Elder Miller and I bore our testimonies to that woman, my faith in the Book of Mormon and its authenticity was unwavering.  I feel my faith in the restored church could face any persecution.  This week, I have begin studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon together.  I pick a principle, such as the importance of prophets, and I find doctrine in the Bible and the Book of Mormon that support each other.  Its been very interesting and fulfilling.
Well, I love you.  Have a great week.
-Elder Travis Leatham

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