ELDER JEFF DESPAIN

ELDER JEFF DESPAIN

Monday, October 3, 2011

Just Another P-Day In Paradise!

E ta un bon dia aki den e isla di Aruba, pero ta mihor pa yame paraiso!

It's a great day here in Aruba, just another P-Day in paradise! I love this place!  Today we are hopefully going to fly the kite again.  We have a 750 foot line of string this time which is so awesome!  Last time we got to fly it we got it 450 feet away!  We are also hoping to go to the national park here on the island.

Yes, I got the package, and here the post office guys ride scooters, so they don't bring your packages to you, they just bring a slip to your house and then you have to take the slip to the post office to get the package yourself, but I got it and we love it!

Wow, that's so awesome that you talked with the Elder Jensen's parents! Thanks for telling me that.  I love that guy!  It's such a blessing to be working with him.  Did the Jensen's tell you that Brother Jensen is the stake president? Crazy, huh? I guess that he was the Bishop when Elder Jensen left, and then they called him to be the Stake President since he has been out here on a mission. Watch out dad, haha, just kidding.

The baptism of Luz Marina went great. What a privilege to be a part of that. It was such a miracle to see a woman who has wanted to do the right thing for so long finally be able to jump the hurdle and be baptized, and it will be so amazing to see her go to the Temple some day. What a privilege to be a part of it all. Elder Jensen got to do the baptism, and I got to be a witness, it was awesome! Right at sunset, it was wonderful.

Wow, great job Todd and Leah, and the marching band, that is fantastic! Sounds like you guys are going to tear it up this year!  (Leah and Todd are both members of the marching band at Highland High School and they earned great scores at a competition this past week!)

We did get to see conference, all four sessions, but they are renovating the church building in Oranjestad, so we didn't have a satellite to watch the priesthood session, but we will hopefully be able to see it on Thursday before District Meeting.  The Branch President in San Nicolas needed us to set up the computer so that they could show conference down there.  So, we set up conference for him and then we got a Spanish translation set up for him that they were able to use on Sunday.  I got to see it all in English though. They have enough English speaking people here that they always have some form to watch it in English. It was very edifying, I loved it. I am so grateful that we have a living prophet and apostles on the earth today, so that we never have to walk in darkness. 

I especially liked President Uchtdorf's talk in the Saturday Morning Session. That talk impacted me so much, and really helped me. I loved his story about how when he was in training for the airforce, he was in what seemed to many to be a small, and insignificant town, and that at sometimes he felt the same way, small and insignificant. I know that truly I have had times in my life where I have definitely felt a little small and insignificant, but what power came in the words of his testimony when he testified that we are significant to the Lord. That gave me a lot of hope, because I think many times it's easy to feel small, and insignificant, but he said that he knew that what mattered to the Lord was that he was trying his best. I loved that, as long as we're trying our best, then that is what is important to the Lord, regardless of our shortcomings, imperfections, or even failures. How grateful I am for the love of a Heavenly Father that can see through my imperfections, shortcomings, and failures, and still loves me and sees potential in me, and like President Uchtdorf, I know that He loves each one of us like that. How grateful I am for a living prophet and apostles to show us the way to happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.

I love you all and am so grateful for your love and examples to me! Keep up the good work, and keep me informed on my teams! I love you!

Elder DeSpain

P.S.-I'm gonna try to send some pics in a different email.  (Henry will put them on the blog later today.)

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