Oct. 31, 2012

  Hola mi familia, como estan? I loved getting the package you sent, mom, and I haven’t gotten Alyssa’s yet.  Yeah, I should, my estimated departure for Veracruz is November 26 but we will see when I get my visa. All of the mexican elders have to go meet with a chancelor in person so I might be headed to salt lake, vegas, or idaho here in the next couple of weeks.  This past week has been pretty crazy; Elder Dow left to Alabama until his visa comes for Peru and I am back in a trio with Elder Hill again....and Elder Talmage they are both going to Mexico City. Elder Talmage is very cool and is a baseball player as well so that is always a plus. My gospel Spanish is becoming pretty good and I can teach the first two lessons pretty well now which is kinda shocking. I know that it is the Lord’s hand because Spanish is pretty tough for me. But this past week we took a Spanish evaluation test and I scored the highest in the class which was very surprising.
  This week spiritually I have found myself coming closer and closer to my savior Jesus Christ. In my personal study I have been focusing on the atonement and how important it is for us as members of the church, even more so missionaries to testify of Christ and make known to the public our friends, even our family that is not active how very important Jesus Christ is in our lives. Even more important is how he paid the price for us, the ultimate price and then some. With a progressing investigator named Jorge this week I tried to convey the importance of that. We shared Alma 34: 8-10 and then went on to share in Luke 22. The spirit was very strong and even though it is just a teacher being a person from their mission I know without a shadow of a doubt that the

Holy Ghost testified to Hermano Beeston that Jesus is the Christ and he is our savior. That has to be the best feeling in the world for me the only way I can explain it is that it is like a rush of adrenaline, and this may be apostate to say but it is addicting and I love it. Last night we had Elder Clark of the seventy speak and the Tuesday devotional and he spoke on how we as missionaries can invite others to come unto Christ when we are in the field. He started off challenging us everyday to at the end of the day look in the mirror and ask ourselves how many souls have we helped come to know their savior today. He then went on to give 5 steps on how to teach them to do so. He started off by saying teach them the doctrine. Second, he said the center of our teaching must be the atonement of Jesus Christ. This touched me and I challenged myself last night that with every investigator I am going to testify of Christ and share my testimony of the atonement with them. Third, he said do not challenge them to do something that you would not do yourself. Fourth, help them learn how to repent. Fifth, he said make sure that they have the opportunity to gain a love for the Book of Mormon and always, always ask them how their daily reading is going. Reading the book of Mormon should not be a check, he went on to say it should be a heart changing experience.
  I want to end by testifying that I know that this is the church of god on the earth today and it was restored through Joseph Smith. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is the word of god in these latter days and it testifies of Christ our savior. I know that I am a child of God and because of this he has a love for me that I cannot comprehend. I know that Jesus Christ bled from each and every pore in his body for me and for you. I love you all so very much and I say these things in his holy name, the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love, Your son and Brother
-Elder Lehikainen