June 10th, 2013

Hey fam bam!

First off, since I won't get to write until after the fact, Happy Father's Day Dad! Love you! Thanks so much for your great letters and advice each week. I always get a kick out of hearing about your sports life with Ben. I have so many fun memories of getting to travel with you all over each week for baseball games--eventhough I usually had a pretty lousy attitude on the way home if I didn't do well...haha thanks for loving me enough to put up with me. You da bestest :)

Other news for the week: You'll probably be getting an email from my mission presidents wife explaining why I'll be having surgery in about two weeks... Apparently I have a nice-sized hernia that's been hurting me for a while now, so we'll finally be getting that taken care of. The good news is I can stay here in Chile and not have to come home for surgery. So.........Happy father's day! haha. No need to worry, there was another missionary that had the same surgery a few months ago. He lived and walks only a little crooked now... ;P

I've been checking off all kinds of fun 创Things to do in a foreign country创 list: Get food poisoning, hitch-hike, pee on a wall when noone will let us use their bathroom, etc. Next up: surgery!

But on a more spiritual note, I had a tender experience this week as I testified to an investigator about God's Plan of Salvation and why we have trials in this life. I was sharing a story about one night in particular while I was at BYU. I was extremely frustrated that a few doctor's papers were impeding my missionary papers from being sent and for some reason I felt like it was the end of the world. I remember skyping Mum and Dad, getting angry, and storming out of my dorm room. Despite the cold wintery night, I knelt myself down on the outside 3rd floor patio and began to cry to the Lord for help. When I calmed down a bit, I sat down in the corner and cried for a while. After a few minutes, my best friend and roommate Cameron walked out and sat down on the cold patio next to me. He didn't need to say much to help me feel that he loved me and cared for me. He probably doesn't realize how huge of a blessing that was for me. He was an immediate answer to my prayer.

Looking back, I don't know why that was so frustrating for me or why I felt like I would never get to serve a mission. Here I am, serving with the Lord. As I shared that story with this investigator, the Lord opened my mind and helped me comprehend on a much deeper level what our problems in this life will seem like when we reach the next life. Despite how difficult and overwhelming some challenges may seem, if we humbly and faithfully seek the Lord's help, He will help us. And when we look back on all of this life's difficulties, we might even laugh at why it seemed so hard and be grateful that we passed the test. I know that Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ live. I know they love us. I know they restored Christ's true church with the fullness of the gospel to help us return to live with them someday.

Have a wonderful week. Much love,

Elder Long :)