Elder Jakob Lutze: Semana 11 (Desire is Important!)

Family & friends,

What another great week!! Not gonna lie, I'm kinda completely exhausted. But, each morning I pray, workout, and take my cold showers. Then, of course, I get my personal study in, and by some miracle, I'm filled with energy for the rest of the day. I will say that being exhausted makes sleep feel 10 times better. I'll try to keep this email shorter but we will see.

I'll start with Pday. Pday was pretty awesome last week. We tried going to the canal as a district but took the wrong bus. So, we ended up going to Cinco de Mayo which was cool. We took some nice pictures, bought some necklaces, and I also bought a hat. So really good times! You guys will like the pictures.

We had Zone Conference this week too! It was nice to see a lot of missionary friends and President Forsberg. It was also just a good spiritual reinforcement.

We also met a Cuna dude named Antonio. I don't think I told you this, but Panama also includes the San Blas Islands. So, I could be sent to the islands at some point where the Cuna live and speak Cuna or Chibchan. I got to try some phrases out with him which was cool.

My favorite thing is to find random kids in the street and play soccer with them for 30 seconds. I megged 7 kids this week. HeHe! Every time, I say "tunil" which means tunnel or megged.

We had another intercambios this week! I stayed in Samaria and was with Elder Vega. We had a good time and now have some more baptism dates. At the end of our time together, he said that I have an extremely strong spirit, so that was kinda cool.

And this week we had 3 baptisms! I baptized 2 kids ~ Saed and Rosemary on Saturday. Then we had a baptism on Sunday! We also had 4 confirmations on Sunday which was awesome!!

Overall it has been a great week. And now it's time for a spiritual thought! I've got two this week.

The first has to do with what everyone here says when we ask how they are doing. They always say "Bien, Gracias a Dios". And that phrase has just stuck with me. Gracias a Dios or Thanks to God. There is so, so, so much to be thankful for and we need to remember that. In fact, we gain a lot from remembering that. For me, God has given me more and more in my life when I'm thankful. Gratitude also helps me be positive and happy. Each night I write in a gratitude journal and it is a big blessing to me. So, I challenge you each night, to remember all the things you are grateful for and give thanks to God in prayer or in a journal.

The second thought is about addiction and sin. We are teaching a man that has a serious addiction to cocaine. He wants to change so badly, but it's so hard. Being wrapped in sin and addiction is one of the hardest things. It's suffocating. I know, because I myself for years was wrapped in it. But, from my own experience and from teaching Alexander I've learned some important things. The first is that God loves all of us no matter what. He loves all of you so, so much. The second is that the first step to change is a desire. Third, there is always hope, so never give up. It's a hard change. But it just takes one small step at a time. Truly the most important thing is to let God take care of you. Allow Him into your life and to change you. The best thing we can do in any situation is to "let God help us" with emphasis on "Let Him." We have to be willing to open up and allow God room in our lives. I read in the scriptures this week where it said along the lines of "Give the Lord and spirit a place to dwell." We are temples. We have to constantly clean ourselves whether it is a light clean or completely rebuilding your temple. Our temples or bodies must be clean for the spirit to dwell in us. Luckily, we have the best cleaner right next to us, so let Christ into your life. I promise all of you that change is possible, but it's only lasting and possible through Christ.

I love you all so much. Miss you all and I am grateful for you all. I hope you all are well. I pray for all of you, as you do for me. So thank you. And keep praying for me and my people. So many people need that desire to change, so pray for them that they will have a desire to change in their hearts. I never fully realized how important this work was until being out on a mission. This is literally people's salvation on the line. So work hard in your own lives to be fortified in Christ and work hard to help others do the same. Love you all!! Until next week!

Love,

Elder Lutze

jakob.lutze@missionary.org