Grant Goes on a Mission: HERMANA CARMEN

Elder Espinoza, Sister Carmen and me.

I want to first thank you all for all your kind words recently!!! This means the world to me. I want to tell you that I am humbled by it all. I am SO GLAD that I could write something that helps you feel the Spirit. That is such a compliment to me. I am grateful to what the Holy Ghost has taught me, and I know he is the real teacher here! I know this is the work of God, and I know He guides it, my feelings.

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Missionaries are spoiled. We get two years, in a situation where we dont have to worry about making a fool of ourselves. It's like a sandbox to construct who we really want to be, without outside influence. Yes, I still get nervous before getting up to give a talk (yesterday) but 1) I have grown to love these people so much and 2) I know I represent Christ (whoa) , not myself, for the next two years.

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ZONE CONFERENCE:

We had a Zone Conference this past Wednesday, which means all the missionaries from 1/3 of the mission meet up in the Offices and receive guidance from our mission president. This time his focus was on Self Control.

As missionaries, we are extremely blessed to have two years of our lives, set aside from the outside world, when we can learn to put the cell phone down. We can learn to resist the internet and learn to resist whatever other temptations the outside world has for us. I say the outside world, but we really are still living in the midst of it all. We don't have to follow the rules. But we get to, and we get to learn some Self Control.

Self Control is the ability to smile and do something better for yourself and for the world. It is the ability to overcome yourself, or the desires of your the world, and it is truly one of the biggest reasons to go on a mission, because of how necessary self control is in 2017.

Self Control is something lost in 2017. Believe me, I know that today if your reason for not doing something is "because I don't want to" or "I'd rather do something better" people will not understand. People do not understand the concept of change. So what's so wonderful about a mission, is that when people ask why we don't drink, why we wear these clothes, why we don't know anything about parties, etc, we get to use our rules as an excuse and tell them that "we have rules and can't do those things" when in reality, we don't want to do it/ WE WANT TO DO BETTER. We want to love on the weekends, and spend time helping others instead of just wasting time feeling awful.

Anyway, President Goates talked a LOT about Self Control, and how blessed both HE and HIS WIFE are because of the missions they both served when they were younger. He told us about how he learned self control in the mission, and that because of the self control they both learned, they are so strong. And they really are. I will be honest, President Goates and his wife are sometimes goofy, but the love in truth they have for one another is incredible and inspiring. And I know he is right. Self Control is a huge reason they are so strong.

He went on to tell us three or four stories about his post mission life. And the power with which he told them is something of warning. He was able to be honest with those who look up to him, because he is honest and true to himself and has overcome. He told us that just about a week and a half ago, he was going to pay an online bill, got redirected by some online hack to a porn website. And as soon as he realized what was going on, he was able to stop it. It would have been easy for him to stay a little longer... Linger a little... But no. Because of his self control, and the love he has for his wife, he was able to overcome it. His mind free, not having to dwell on it, being able to openly tell his wife, and she being able to have the confidence that he stopped it as soon as he could. How wonderful for her, to be able to smile, have 100% confidence that her husband is strong enough.

The other stories he told us involved his old girlfriend calling him up when her marriage was failing and his was just starting; or the story of him hanging up the phone on a phone prostitute while he was out of town.

His stories were very clear. The outside world will every now and then have its temptations. But if we learn self control now, we can stop them before anything happens. We can tell our future spouses, and they can have 100% confidence and trust and LOVE in us. And if we have this self control, the outside temptations wont even be temptations any more. They´ll just be another moment we overcame evil. This is what President Goates wants for us, love and strength, and he knows that the mission is the best time for us to learn.

I am so blessed to be a part of something that teaches about how we can have love and strength, directly for us.

For those of you unable to serve a mission, I will promise the blessings you will have by overcoming your temptations will be incredible. Do not feel bad for having temptations. Everyone has them, you are not weird or weak. Your bishop wants to help you, your spouses want to help you, your children want to help you. And they will love you so much for being stronger than your temptations.

For those of you scared to serve a mission ... DON'T BE! We get to be in a sandbox of self exploration! I promise ... If nothing else ... the self control that I have learned in the past six months is worth everything. Nothing can stop me. Nothing can stop you. NOTHING CAN STOP US.

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Now ... This week, we had a very special day. Our investigator Carmen was baptized!! and I performed the ordinance (and correctly--hey!)

She is wonderful, and when someone asked her about her testimony yesterday, she replied and said, "I felt nervous, but I wanted to change my life, and I knew the path of Christ was that change." YES!!

I cannot explain the joy I have for her. The only thing is that her husband decided he is not ready. Even despite this, Carmen decided to go forward and be baptized! And her husband supports her decision!! It would be really wonderful if her husband could take this step to because then the whole family would be unified and have ALL the blessings! So we will continue to help him feel the spirit. But I know the blessings her two baby boys will already have because of her decision! But I know, by example of our Branch President (Bishop) Alaniz, there is something incredible about a family that has this unity. He is a HUGE example of a man I look up to. Seriously so much respect for him, and his strength as a priesthood holder.

We went to a lake, had a very delicious taco night with the kids this week, went to Mendoza city for Conference, ate some grapes, and Baptized a Saint this week! What a wonderful world we live in.

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I leave you with the favorite scripture I´ve read in a while... and this one truly is a great one. Short and powerful.

1 John 3:18