Hey Family. Well, I am SO glad you found those ties mom. and the hand workout thing. There is this guy that lives in my area with a grip like a vice. I gotta show him up the next time I see him... Speaking of my area, this transfer just ended and we recieved the transfer calls today. I am going to stay here in Villa del Parque. I was going to train but they just called me and told me ´´sike... you are going to have a mini-missionary.´´ I was way excited to train a new elder but.... Thats not in the cards this transfer. I am way excited to be with a mini-missionary though just because I have NO idea what to expect haha... We will see :) I just hope that we will be able to help a few of our investigators continue growing in the Gospel until they reach the day of there baptism. We were going to have one yesterday but Nara never showed up and later told us that she couldn´t get baptized even though we had talked to her mom and got her signature on all the right papers... Which is actually a pretty cool story, so I will tell you that one. On Saturday night, Elder Leany and I did divisions with our 2 new companions and then at about 8:30 at night we found out that Nara wasn´t able to get her mom to sign the registro bautismal and dropped it off at a members house. So we called Nara and asked her where her mom was and she told us that she was in some parque selling something but would be home at about 10 ish... But she was supposed to get baptized on Sunday, so we had to get that signature. So we picked up the registro, and then called the zone leaders and asked for permission to stay out late and get the signature. They said yes and so we started off to Nara´s house. We got there at about 8:45 and began to wait for the mom to come home. It is the second most dangerous part of our area, but like... we had to get the signature. So after the first group of teenage guys pulled out a gun and shot in our direction (just a cap gun mom...) I decided to take my watch and money and ID and put it inside my shirt. Very inconspicuously... Then at about 9:30 we were still waiting outside for the mom and these two pretty decent sized kids started walking towards us and I told Elder Leany that we should just go into the little store next door. So we did and acted like we were looking for alfajores and the two guys came and waited outside the door and started like whispering bad things to us... so we waited and then I said, okay, I am going to go and see if they are still there. You stay here and do something if they start to rob me or whatever... (we had to wait outside because if we didn´t like intercept her mom, we probably wouldn´t have gotten the signature). They had gone.... and then about an hour later we saw her mom finally and I recognized her just in time and she was totally fine with it and signed it no problem. Then we proceded to walk very swiftly home... So we had a miracle and we survived a pretty dangerous area late at night without anything more than a few scares and constant attention from the local "gangstas". And Nara ended up not getting baptized. But still a miracle no?

I have been thinking a lot about how the Lord has asked us for all that we have. All our time, talents, our whole heart, might, mind and strength. Whenever we teach the law of tithing and fast offerings, I always end up saying, we are only giving 10 percent of everything that the Lord has given us back to him, so its not that hard. So what can we really offer God? When you remember the nothingness of man, you begin to realize that there is literally nothing you can give to the Lord that is not already His. You can´t even really give your time, because time was created by God. We can´t give Him our possessions, because He does not need them. So what can we give our Lord? He gave us the wonderful gift of agency, our will, our heart. That truly is all that He asks. Without your whole heart, you are only damning yourself with every cent of tithing you give, and every second you spend as a full-time missionary, or Bishop or Nursery teacher. That sounds pretty heavy though doesn´t it? I thought so too. So I was thinking about it, I read some talks and I decided that all you need to do is ask God to have your heart and your will. Be like Christ and offer your own will to be swallowed up in the will of the Father. The Lord can do such wonders with your heart and all you have to do is ask Him to take it and change it. So we can really fulfill all of our covenants when we use our agency, the ability to choose captivity and death, or happiness and eternal life, to turn over everything to the Lord. Therein one can and forever will find the most happiness possible in this mortal probation.

No hay nadie que esté obligado a seguir al Señor Jesucristo, pero yo se con toda seguridad que al seguir a Jesucristo, vamos a recibir interminable felicidad en esta vida, y una plenitud de gozo en la vida después. Dios nos mandó a la tierra para ser probado, y para que pudiéramos mostrar nuestro amor y fe. Estamos acá para aprender y enfrentar todos los desafíos de la vida. Pero Dios nos ha dado un fuente de ayudo, o sea, el Evangelio de Jesucristo. A medida que sigamos al Señor, vamos a encontrar la perla del gran precio. Se que nuestro Padre nos ama y quiere que sepamos la verdad de todas las cosas, y por eso nos dio el don de la oración. El nos escucha, y siempre nos contestará. Les amo y espero que estén feliz. Casi tengo 20 años... que raro. Elder Daybell

Spanish translation by Grant Moulton--Missionary to Madrid Spain back in the day!

No one is obligated to follow the Lord, Jesus Christ, but I can say with full confidence that upon following Jesus Christ, we will receive great happiness in this life, and a plenitude of joy in our after life. God has sent us to earth to be tested, andso that we might show our love and faith. We are her to learn and confront the challenges of life. But God has given us a source of health, even the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we follow the Savior, we will find the pearl of great price. I know that our Father loves us and wants us to know the truth of all things, and for this reasion he gave us the gift of prayer. He listens to us and always answers us. I love you and hope that you're happy. I'm almost 20 years old....how weird. Elder Daybell.