Dear Elder Lutze,
You continue to make an impact with your letters. Thank you for taking the time, when you have so little of it on your P-Days. Time is flying!!! Dad and I leave next week for the Caribbean!
This week was busy at work. I was there for over 50 hours. I enjoyed time with the YW on Thursday night. Dad and I did one of our dates out of the date box everyone gave us for Christmas. We bought takeout and had to choose a utensil for the other to use. I gave dad the meat tenderizer and he gave me a basting brush. The videos are pretty funny!
Fasting story - we were all fasting to help Foster and Hannah decide on a location for medical school. Sunday evening, as we all reviewed Hannah’s pros and cons list, it became apparent that TCOM was the right choice. I love the power of prayer joined with the power of fasting. Thank you for sharing your story with Diego.
Tender mercy story - So Uncle Mark was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s. (No that’s not the tender mercy.) The tender mercy for me was recognizing my Parkinson’s could have started on my right side making work and driving even more difficult! This, unfortunately, is the experience Mark is having.
Love,
Mom 
Thought
Where are we... swift to do good and slow to do evil?
President James E. Faust (1920–2007) of the First Presidency compared a person’s worthiness of receiving the Spirit to receiving a signal on a cell phone: “Cellular phones are used for much of the communication in our time. Occasionally, however, we find dead spots where the signal coming to a cell phone fails. This can happen when the cell phone user is in a tunnel or a canyon or when there is other interference. “So it is with divine communication. The still, small voice, though still and small, is very powerful. It ‘whispereth through and pierceth all things’ [D&C 85:6]. … Perhaps something in our lives prevents us from hearing the message because we are ‘past feeling’ [1 Nephi 17:45]. We often put ourselves in spiritual dead spots—places and situations that block out divine messages. Some of these dead spots include anger, pornography, transgression, selfishness, and other situations that offend the Spirit” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2004, 67–68; or Ensign, May 2004, 67).
President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, described spiritual communication: “The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a ‘still small voice’ [D&C 85:6]. And while we speak of ‘listening’ to the whisperings of the Spirit, most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying, ‘I had a feeling. …’ “Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, ‘Ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.’ [1 Nephi 17:45; italics added]” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 77; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 60).
1 Nephi 17:45 Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder. https://www.
Holy Ghost Are we past feeling? Can I still be affected by the spirit?
"Intellect is important. The ability and willingness to ponder, think, and reason through issues is crucial. But intellect alone will not lead to conversion because true conversion happens in the heart... people who are seeking revelation have open hearts...meaning they are open to new ideas, impressions, to revelation." p. 38 Worth the Wrestle Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that spiritual insensitivity isn’t just a problem for those with serious sin: “I fear that some members of the Lord’s Church ‘live far beneath our privileges’ with regard to the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some are distracted by the things of the world that block out the influence of the Holy Ghost, preventing them from recognizing spiritual promptings. This is a noisy and busy world that we live in. Remember that being busy is not necessarily being spiritual. If we are not careful, the things of this world can crowd out the things of the Spirit. “Some are spiritually deadened and past feeling because of their choices to commit sin. Others simply hover in spiritual complacency with no desire to rise above themselves and commune with the Infinite. If they would open their hearts to the refining influence of this unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, a glorious new spiritual dimension would come to light. Their eyes would gaze upon a vista scarcely imaginable. They could know for themselves things of the Spirit that are choice, precious, and capable of enlarging the soul, expanding the mind, and filling the heart with inexpressible joy” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2003, 27; or Ensign, May 2003, 27).
1 Nephi 17:45 Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder. https://www.
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