March 14, 2011 Recognizing Blessings

Ha ha, it starts!!! Que zarpado!!! I´d forgotten how zarpado West Point is, especially for admissions. I have to take the CFA again, I feel so fat!!! And I have no idea how I´m going to take the DoDMERB here, ha ha. No, I won´t let it unfocus me because it is a long way off, but thanks for sending it because it definitely rekindled that fire inside of me, that hooah, that I´ve been missing for awhile. Now lets see if I can convert that into being more bold in sharing the gospel! HOOAH, A BAUTIZAR! Oh wow, I translated the part about him being annoyed for my companion and he just laughed. Very cool. Now I´ve really got to start doing my workouts. Okay, thanks for staying on top of that for me. Also, sorry that I don´t have photos today, we got up early (to avoid paying 30 dollars) and went to the national park with the branch president. It´s cool and it´s El Parque Del Fin Del Mundo. We went to one lagoon called Laguna Negra and since there was nobody around the silence was almost overwhelming. It´s the first time I´ve experienced silence like that. It was almost more pressing than a loud drum in your ear. I´ll send photos of the park and of Delia next week. Also, can you thank the Clawson family for sending the letter and la hermana Clawson for sending the poem about missionary work. It´s very inspiring.

So for something spiritual, because I still have time. This last Sunday we had District Conference and Elder Foster of the Second Quorum of the 70 came. First, we ate lunch with him on Saturday, which was cool, then on Sunday he shared a very inspiring story that might have already been in the Liahona before: A wise Chineseman lived on his farm with his only son and one horse. One day his horse ran away and could not be found. His friends came over and told him that surely this was a bad curse. He only responded "I don´t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing." Then a few days later his horse returned to drink water and brought with it 9 more horses. The friends of the wiseman came and said that surely this was a good blessing. The wiseman only replied "I don´t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing." The next day as the son was trying to tame one of the wild horses it broke the leg of the son and he could no longer work on the farm. The friends of the wiseman came and told him that surely it was a bad curse. The wiseman still only responded "I know not if this is a good thing or a bad thing." A week later China entered a war with a neighboring country and drafted every able bodied male. The wiseman was too old to go and the son could not serve on account of his broken leg. Later in the war, every male who went was eventually killed. The moral of the story, we don´t always recognize the blessings that the lord gives us until after the test of our patience and faith.

I love all of you and I hope things are going well with the house and the pets and G-paw and G-ma. Also, could you please look for the name of that song, it´s driving me crazy! Chao and I´ll write next week.

Con Amor,
Elder David Arrowchis