3 February 2014

Wow!  I can't believe I am 20!  Another year in the books!   Thank you so much for all your prayers, support, and birthday wishes.  This past week has been very humbling and very insightful.  

I finally received one of the packages that you sent in December.  Hopefully, the others will follow. Thank you so much!  It is funny…where we go for district meeting (where I get my packages) is the most dangerous part of Fortaleza.  I was about to walk out the chapel with my package when all the other Elders freaked out and told me to wait there.  They ran to the back room and grabbed an empty, brown cardboard box.  They told me that I needed to put my United States Postal Box inside or else I would be robbed immediately. This was quite the experience because we had to walk about thirty minutes in this part of Ceará to get to a lunch appointment before returning to Canindé.

My heart is so full--the Lord truly prepares His people to receive the Restored Gospel. Today, I**, our investigator who was baptized last week, taught Principles of the Gospel in church.  We have been helping her prepare throughout the week.  She taught as if she had been a member for decades.  In my opinion, she will be one of the most firm members in all the world.  I know without a doubt that He prepares His elect.  

Another miracle happened yesterday.  Elder G and I were returning from the outskirts of the city on a dirt road when a woman on a moto-taxi stopped us.  She said she was a member of twenty years but moved to Canindé five years ago and could no longer attend because the Church wasn't here.  She was so excited to see us--she lives a long ways out of town.  She came to church today and brought her two daughters, who aren't members. She bore her testimony of how true the Restored Gospel is and how she had yearned and prayed to be able to have it again in her life.  Well, her prayer was answered (she was crying in her testimony because Heavenly Father knows her)--she even mentioned that during the past five years she has gone to other churches to try to fill a hole in her heart but they could never do it for her. This morning she said she was finally at peace.  How humbled I am to be a part of the answer to her prayers.

Thank you for all your words of encouragement.  I am beginning to realize that my mission isn't to learn Portuguese or even baptize...it is to become the person Heavenly Father wants me to become and help those around me.

Love,

Dave (Elder Larkin)

Happy Birthday, Elder Larkin!