Dear friends and family,
It was a productive day and a productive week. In my studies,
I have been pondering a lot about how we develop good character traits and how I
can become a better person. I have always been under the impression that good
character traits like humility, hope, charity, etc. we’re all interrelated in a
kind of closed system. In other words, if I can be more humble I will by
default be more loving and service-oriented. I still believe this is the case.
However, the big break-through for me this week is how these traits are
developed one moment at a time, taking on individual decisions, as they come,
one by one.
On Wednesday night we met in the chapel with the youth in
our ward to talk about how to not be afraid to share with others the happiness
they have in their lives as a result of following Christ. Leaving the church building,
we saw three little kids attempting to carry a large, heavy sack up a fairly steep
hill. The sack eventually proved too heavy for them and fell, rolling end-over-end
a couple of times before stopping as I watched. And in this simple moment I saw
what I just mentioned about momentary decisions in action. Without thinking
twice about it, my companion, Elder Aquino, ran over to help them and we ended
up carrying the sack all the way up the hill to their house. (For those who are
curious, it turned out to be a sack of animal feed…I don’t know what kind of
animal.)
When a situation arises that presents a decision to be made like
this, there are almost always a flurry of thoughts, a series of pros and cons
that flood our conscience. In this situation, the cons sounded a little like: “oh,
a sack of animal feed? That’s not very glamorous”…“what if the kids think that
we’re creepy?”…“it’s late and we’re already pushing it to get home on time”...and…”uh
oh, white shirts and ties, don’t talk to these guys.” The pros in my mind were:
“oh they need our help, this is a weirdly dark street”…”oh, they need our help,
they can’t lift that alone”…and…”we are missionaries and are supposed to be
helping.” It all happened so fast. And this is exactly what I’m getting at. I
am so incredibly thankful for Elder Aquino…he let all of the indecisiveness go
and just acted immediately to do the right thing. And I felt so full of joy
afterwards.
We have been teaching this super faithful 18-year-old man
named Michael. He came to Church with a friend one Sunday a while back and we
started teaching him. He wants to be baptized so badly after praying and
reading the Book of Mormon. But his parents don’t want him to join the Church. This
of course led to a discussion: “So Michael, what’s your plan to move forward?” I
loved his reply: “Well I’m going to tell my dad that I want to be baptized
because I know God will be with me and will help me.” No hesitation. No
second-guessing. No over-thinking. He just acted on what he feels is right.
Let’s be like Elder Aquino. Let’s be like Michael Let’s all
be defenders of what we know is true and right. And let’s help others without over-thinking
or second-guessing. Without a doubt, it’s better this way. I love you all!
Elder Ericksen (adam.ericksen@myldsmail.net)
PS:
P-day was
awesome. I just wanted to throw a little note in about this awesome place we
went today. It is a little town called Cotacachi outside of Otavalo and the
final destination was this amazing lagoon called Cuicocha. Seriously
impressive, it is this huge blue water lake that has formed inside an old,
inactive volcano. Nature is awesome. The town Cotacachi is also pretty famous
because of their handmade leatherworking. There were tons of Americans! I love
you all! I’m doing splendidly. That’s all I can say!
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