Week 22

Old space heater and dust allergies...poor guy.  Notice the calendar of the Pope on the wall.  I guess they were out of 2015 President Monson calendars!

A truck!!

 On a split with Elder Wheeler from Draper, Utah

In the macroplaza with an eagle!  Go Eagles!

Dear Family and Friends,

This was another good week here in Piedras Negras! Now that we are approaching the Holiday season and December, it has gotten really cold here! Also, since Mexico doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, it feels like Christmas started even sooner. Many of the Mexican houses put up their Christmas decorations a couple of weeks ago! In the grocery store as well, we listen to Christmas music all the time, in English! It's a real treat. The Mission President is also coming up from Saltillo this week and we are having our Christmas celebration this Friday! In November! It's a little strange that we are celebrating so early but I am so excited! There will be 30 missionaries and we are going to have a lot of fun! 

This week, we had a lot of great lessons and once again focused on enduring to the end.  I want to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon that I shared in a couple lessons last week and what Enduring to the End means for me. 

In 2nd Nephi, chapter, 31, verse 20 it reads, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold thus saith the Father, Ye shall have eternal life. 

I want to highlight a couple of parts of this verse. First, having a perfect brightness of hope means that we need to have faith in Jesus Christ and in his Atonement. We need to have a firm belief that he loves us and that we can be clean from sin, as long as we act upon our faith. 

Second, this verse says that we should feast upon the word of Christ. This can mean many things. However, I mentioned to a family that we should be diligent in our study of the scriptures and study the words of the living prophets as well to receive guidance in our lives. 

Also, we must have love for God and for all men. I mentioned that one way we can show love to all men is by serving others. There are countless opportunities to serve others!  Be sure to take advantage of these opportunities to serve.   Laboring to better the lives of others is the key to finding happiness. 

Finally, if we do these things, and obey the commandments, our Heavenly Father offers us the greatest reward that we could ever seek to obtain, Eternal Life.  Eternal life means that one day, you and I will have the opportunity to live in a state of happiness and joy, with God, our Savior, and our families. Enduring to the end, and living according to the will of God is definitely worth it, in order to receive this reward. 

I would encourage all of you to continue doing to the little things, and if there is something in your live you want to achieve or improve, set a realistic goal, and work everyday to achieve it. 

I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord! Tomorrow marks 5 months on the mission and it is incredible to look back at all I have learned in 5 months. I eagerly anticipate the next 19 :) I know that what I am doing is true and that the Savior loves each one of us! 

Enjoy Thanksgiving this week!

Elder Shipley