Trabalhando até o Pó

Dear Family,

´´Trabalhando até o Pó´´ (working until the dust) is an expression that the missionaries use here and it basically means ´´´working super hard´´ haha.  That pretty much explains this last week.  We have been working super hard.  Things improved quite a bit last week.  The zone went better but things in my area are still a little bit slow.  We got a lot more investigators to teach and they are all investigators of really good quality.  We didn´t get a baptism this last week however we are working with a really great investigator for this week.  I am really hoping that he will be baptized this week.  Last week we had our interviews with President Ferrin and they went pretty well.  Today we had a zone p-day and it was pretty fun.  We got together at one of the church buildings and played soccer, volleyball, basketball and afterwards we ate some stroganoff that the sisters made.  Overall it was a pretty succesful P-Day.

I have been thinking recently about the Pride Cycle that we learn about in the Book of Mormon.  In Helaman 11 we can see the Nephites go all the way around the pride cycle in one chapter.  It is always the same cycle of Prosperity/Happiness to Pride/Iniquity to Punishment/Unhappiness to Humility/Repentance.  In the Book of Mormon we see that the people go through this cycle many times.  This cycle can apply to nations as a whole, to the church, to a ward, and especially to our personal lives.  Sometimes in our lives we go around this cycle pretty quickly.  I know that this cycle happens in our lives.   However it is our decision if we want to stay in the Prosperity/Happiness spot or not.  For us to stay in this spot we need to be always aware and alert to stop ourselves from sliding into the second spot which is Pride/Iniquity.  In Helaman 11 we learn some of the warning signs of this part of the cycle.  If we can identify the warning signs in our lives, we can catch ourselves before we ever completely leave the Properity/Happiness spot.  And through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can make the necessary changes for us to get back on the right path and continue receiving the blessings.  

I love you all and thank you for your emails and support!

-Elder Caleb Anderson