General Conference Week!

Familia!

Much to say and not much time.  Of course, conference is a topic that I have to touch on.  It was so good!  I don't think I've ever got as much out of conference as I got this past weekend.  I could spend a ton of time talking about different things I learned, but I don't have a ton of time, so I'll include a part of the letter I sent to President Porter about it:

Saturday Morning Session:

Edward Dube of the 70 said something along these lines: "Every part of the gospel and its teaching are only appendages to the Atonement of Christ".  This is something that I can apply in my life.  There are many aspects of the gospel and many things that we are to teach, but as I study and teach people these principles, I can and should always keep in mind that all these things are only appendages to the Atonement of our Savior.

Saturday Afternoon Session:

S. Gifford Neilson said: "This work won't move forward in the Lord's appointed way without the members."  We need to work on involving the members more in the work in this area.  This might entail strengthening their testimonies first and helping them realize the importance of the work.  This quote helped me realize more that it is the will of the Lord to involve members in the work.

Priesthood Session:

President Monson said: "Above all, be a sincere friend to those you teach; truly care about them."  This is something I have been working on over the past little while, and it is something I will definitely continue to work on.  I need to continue to strive for charity and to have a pure, Christ-like love for all people with whom I come in contact.

Sunday Morning Session:

Elder Richard G. Scott said: "As you fill your life with service to Heavenly Father's children, Satan's influence will lose power over you."  By truly consecrating myself and fully losing myself in service to the people in this area, I will have an even greater capacity to resist temptation and not yield to my own selfish desires.

Sunday Afternoon Session:

David M. McConkie said: "You cannot expect the Spirit to help you remember the scriptures and teachings if you have not studied."  Don't get me wrong, I study.  I study a lot.  But I really liked this quote.  There are many like it throughout Preach My Gospel, and it is always something I need to keep in mind.  As I seriously study, with real intent, and really try to understand things for my investigators, the Spirit will be able to recall the things I sincerely study to my remembrance when I need them.

There you go, there's a few of my thoughts on the matter.  I hope you all were able to get something out of it too!

We were blessed to be able to watch one of the conference sessions with A….. and D…...  It was an amazing experience.  The session we watched with them focused on their needs to an amazing degree, and it ended up being a very spiritual experience for all of us.  Afterwards, they both told us how the Spirit feels to them, and that it has changed their lives as we've been meeting with them over the past little while.  That whole experience allowed me to gain a greater testimony of our Heavenly Father's love for each and every one of us.  He loves us so much.  He'll do anything He can to help us return to live with Him.  It's amazing to me.

On a lighter note, D….. had never heard President Monson speak before, and he thinks that the Prophet sounds like Batman...

This past week I took over the area again.  But this time, I took over to a whole new level.  One of the Zone Leaders came and did exchanges with me, which is awesome, except for one small detail... he didn't speak Spanish!  So not only was it up to me to lead everything and know where everything was in the area, but it was also up to me to do all of the speaking in every single lesson we had.  Well, not all of the talking I guess.  He did say "Hola" at the beginning of the lessons, and "Adios" at the end.  But other than that, it was all up to me.  And I was pretty nervous.  But I prayed really hard, and with the Lord's help I was able to communicate alright with everyone we taught, and we actually had some pretty good lessons.  All things are possible when the Lord is on your side!

I learned at futbol this past week that I am a terrible goalie.  I can't block a goal to save my life.  So just for future reference, if I'm ever on your soccer team, don't put me in as goalie...

I had my definition of hot salsa redefined this week.  We were at a member's house eating, and she brought out this tiny bottle of salsa that supposedly made full-grown Hispanic men cry.  I am still working on developing a respect for salsa, and so I figured I'd try it just to see how bad it really was.  I tried to get some out, but the bottle was super small, so after a while of shaking it, I just gave up.  As I put the lid back on, a tiny bit of this salsa got on my finger.  I put this tiny amount in my mouth, and nothing happened.  For a few seconds.  Then all of the sudden, it started to burn.  I could literally feel it spread over my tongue.  I was lucky that I had only tried a tiny bit, because I think I would have lost the ability to taste if I had tried a lot...  So yeah, my respect for salsa has grown this past week.

That's about it.  Thanks for the conference package.  It's just me and Elder Graf, so I don't know how we'll eat all of that food, but we'll sure try... =)

Have a great week, and apply something you learned in conference!

Love,

Elder Foote

Elder Foote and Elder Garcia

Mis tacos de futbol!

Zone meeting on Thursday

Elder Foote and Elder Graf and Senior Couple