January 30, 2010

Looks like I typed in your email address wrong last week but the email is attached to this one.

It’s been another good week here in the good ole mission office. Highlights of the week include a missionary from one of the mission branches going out to serve (though as all understand it he has been living elsewhere but decided to leave from where his non-member parents are living so we got to send him off after he got here to Salvador) Concerning missionaries from the mission area we are coming up on an important mark in church growth here as we come closer to sending out more missionaries then the number we have here in the mission serving. Who knows, maybe in just a bit Salvador will have the privilege of building one of the next temples in Brasil. President took us all out to a crazy Brazilian barbecue place called Sal e Brasa. Along with the amazing hunks of perfectly grilled meat brought out on giant spits which they would cut off as you ask for a piece but we also ate a variety of "gourmet" sea food, including muscles, shrimp, octopus and/or squid.

In my studies this week I came across a parable in Lucas 17:7-10 where Christ is speaking to His apostles,

"7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Likewise in our lives whether we be missionaries, Relief society presidents, Home teachers or 2nd counselors in the ward primary presidency even if we all that is asked of us we are unprofitable servants and yet God still blesses us for doing so. Let us always remember this and then go forth and learn our duties to act in the office in which we are appointed, in all diligence that we may be counted "worthy to stand" at the last day (DC 107:99-100)

I know that as we do our best to be obedient to God's commandments and the duties of our callings that we will be led to complete the Lord's work and to one day return to His presence. In the name of Jesus Christ, amém.

Love,

Elder Pettit

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:58:06 +0000

Thanks for the many emails I received this past week I feel blessed to receive so many which have left me feeling edified and determined to press forward in this the Lord's work. This week has been a good one as I have been getting to know Elder J. and we have also been leaving the office pretty much every night to work in our area. Sidney, his wife and one of their daughters are excited to go to church tomorrow though it is still sad that he doesn't want to get married. It is interesting to see the difference the gospel can make in our lives. I hadn't ever thought about its effect in my your (mom and dad's) marriage. The gospel truly does teach us to love, to forgive, to help, learn and teach one another all of which are essential principles in a successful marriage. It is sad to see some of the people with either a lack of commitment or trust in their marriages keeping them from receiving God's blessing of an eternal family let alone Eternal Salvation. I am grateful for the protection the Lord gives us missionaries here on the mission and the righteous desires he gives us as we seek and ask for them. I am grateful for the testimonies of the apostles and prophets both ancient and modern that strengthen my own and help me to learn. I am grateful that our family can be together forever that Christ paid the price so that we may become clean if we but repent and come unto Him. The Lord lives and loves us and this testimony I leave with you all in the name of Jesus Christ, Amém.

Jacob