Don't be distracted by the praise of the world.

This week some of the people we are working with were able to show up to chuch for the first time.

Feliciana, mom of Elian and Luciana, is now having lessons with us. She is looking into joining the church too and is excited about everything. This week she was able to show up to church for the first time in a long time. She and her husband had been talking to missionaries a long time ago. They even got married and then the missionaries left and no new ones came. Her husband drinks a lot now though and isn't too interested in hearing us. We are hoping that she can help her kids stay in the church now too.

Anselmo is the boyfriend of a lifelong member. They have 3 kids now and we are trying to help him work toward getting baptized. Getting married is an obstacle, but we are working with them to help them be able to build their family around the gospel. He is also really working to stop drinking. He feels quite a lot of social pressure from his buddies every weekend.

Brother Arguello is a member that made some mistakes and has distanced himself from the church a little. He is trying to get back to feeling right with God and get back active in the church. This Sunday he was able to go and set up an interview with the branch president. We are hoping to be able to help him and his family have the peace of the gospel more in their lives.

Nothing much out of the ordinary happened this week. We were able to have interviews with president and that was a very good experience. We are working hard on being dedicated to the work and helping the people out.

It is also really interesting to see the struggle to change from the outside. One of our investigators named Javier stopped doing drugs when he almost got killed. He is now healthier and told us that he is having the temptations again. He said his old friends don't like that he doesn't do drugs anymore. From our perspective it is so easy to see that the struggle is between good and bad but to him it is so much harder. Remember our choices are between good and evil. Moroni said, "Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies because of the praise of the world?" (Mormon 8)  Let us not let the praise of the world distract us. 

Love,

Elder Dallin Skouson