Jesus Christ, Apostles, and The Holy Ghost

Hello, 

Well so far I havent recieved an email from you mom.  Maybe you havent sent one or there is just a delay in me recieving it.  But either way it's no big deal.  (I DID.  Not sure why he didn't get it.)

So this week was a pretty normal week.  Not much happend.  So this email could be a bit on the short side.  Something cool that did happen was that we missionaries and all the missionaries in the world got to watch a world wide conference where a few apostles and other general authorities talked to us.  The theme was "we teach repentence and baptise converts".  One thing that I really liked was that if we dont know exactly what we could say, we can always just testify about Jesus Christ and his atonement.  Testifying about Him is always good and always invites the Spirit.  So that conference was super cool and I learned alot. 

Some exciting news is that on febuary 13 our whole mission will be meeting in Quito to listen to a special visitor named Elder Jeffery R. Holland.  I'm super excited for that day to come.  

So yeah, everything is good here in La Concordia.  My health is doing pretty good besides a cough that I have.  I have recently started to exercise more which is helping me feel good.  

That's it for now!  I love you mom and family!

Elder Eastman

Hello dad, that's a really cool experience that you had.  It's cool how the Holy Ghost can help us with what ever thing that we could get better at, big things or really small things. It can even help us recognize a tiny little ajustment we can make in our lives to be even happier.  Being on the mission I have been able to learn alot about the blessings of repentance.  I'm also very grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that Christ is the only one who can really help us overcome the effects of sin.  The atonement is what rises us back up from the fall.

I also have a bit of a cough right now.  It has been raining alot lately, which I think is what is causing the sickness here.  We are in the season called "el niño".  There is also a bunch of mosquitos now.  I need to put on repelent more often because I have been getting bit alot.  

I love you too

Elder Eastman

A Fisher of Men And Fish (kinda)

Here's our favorite picture that Elder Eastman has sent thus far.  It's not a fun p-day picture, and that's what we love about it.  It's our missionary son doing God's work and getting his shoes dirty.  

Hey dad!  
I'm doing really good.  We just got done with a really cool district activity. We went to this cool river, did some fishing in a little man-made lake with a bunch of fish in it.  Even in a small pool of water specifically made for easy fishing, I still didnt catch anything.  It was a bit frustrating.  They just kept eating the bate without getting hooked.  

That's awesome that you were able to have some good experiences in church this sunday.  I should start thinking like that more during the sacrament.  I really like that idea.  It's exactly what the sacrament represents.  I know Jesus is real too.  I'm reading the Bible more now and I love learning more about what Jesus did and taught.  I love the way that he deals with the opposition or someone trying to get him to mess up, like the story in Matthew 21: 23-27.  Jesus really did set a good example of how we need to live our lives.  

Haha, well I'm excited to see your good skills when I get back.  

I love you too.

Elder Eastman

Hello mother.  

It sure was pretty cool to be able to baptize Angie.  She's doing pretty good in the church right now.  I think they're just kinda like high school dating right now.  She might even have to move to Quito soon to work there.  Literaly all the people that we have baptised (Elder Hall and I) are going to move away soon.  Christian Velasco is going to Quito to work and he is leaving this week, Luis Bravo is going to Quito at the end of this month to live with his mom, Joselyn is going to live in Santo Domingo with her mom and they are leaving at the end of this month too, now Angie might be going too.  So itll be hard to not be able to stay in contact very much.  We are hoping and praying that they just keep going to church where ever they are going to be.

The new apartment is really good.  It's never really hot inside, it's pretty big, it has two bathrooms and a good kitchen.  There's also less ants and robbers. (haha) So it's a nice house.  

I have also been suffering a bit with that sickness.  I have been having a cough, sore throat, runny nose and stuff like that.  I'm alot better now though.  Alot of other people are having that stuff here too.  Maybe it's like a world wide sickness that's going around now.  

On sunday the other missionaries and I got to give talks in sacrament meeting again.  It was the third talk that I have given in this ward.  Here, they have the missionaries talk once a month.  This time I just talked about missionary work.  I used a bit of the talk by Elder Anderson called Its a Miracle, from may of 2013.  The talk went well.  I just went a bit to long and ended up talking for 20 minutes.  

Well I think that's about it from now!  I sure do love you mom and other family!

Elderito Eastman

Staying In La Concordia

Hello mom,  yep today is transfer day.  But nothing is happening with me or my companion or the missionaries here.  We are all staying here.  Which I'm pretty happy about.  Me and Elder Hall are getting along well and we have been blessed with some good success here in La Concordia.  (because I asked) Elder Hall's mom's name is Heidi Wilkey.  She lives in Provo.  

On saturday we had another baptism.  Our investigator named Angie got baptised.  I cant remember if I have even told you guys about her.  But if I havnt, she is the girlfriend of a guy that got baptised a few months ago.  She is 17 years old.  We were able to see alot of good changes that she made in her live during these past few weeks.  After her baptism she bore a really good testimony and looked really happy.

A few days ago we finaly got moved into a new house.  If you remember, a while ago we got robbed and had to look for a new house.  Well we finaly got permision to move into a house that was the house of some other missionaries that used to be here when there were 6 missionaries in La Concordia.  It's a nice house.  It was super dirty so we had to spend all morning cleaning it.  But now it's nice and clean.  

Well that's it for this week!  The slot to put the memory from my camera doesnt work on this computer so I'm not able to send pics this week.  So sorry about that.  Next week there will be pics.  I love you mom!!!

Elder Eastman

Hey dad!  I'm doing great.  We had changes again yesterday.  But nothing actually changed with me or my companion or even with any of the elders in the district.  Everything is still the same here.  Haha, I know that I didnt really like golfing before the mission, but when I get back I think I would like to try it out again.  Maybe I'll be able to do it better.

Well in the other email that you sent me, you asked me what would be the basic principles of the gosple.  I think the most basic gosple principle would be the love we have for God and for our fellow man.  Which are the two most important commandments that we have.  If we love God and other people it will be easier to keep all of God's commandments and help other people do the same.  Also, in the lesson that we teach about the gosple of Jesus Christ we talk about these 5 principles, Faith in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, repentence, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.  So those 5 things would also be the things to focus on the most.  Well I love you too dad!

Elder Eastman

A Baptism and A Quaking Hymn

Hey dad it's going pretty good.  Still the normal hot and humid here.  Yeah I'm pretty sure that I have had a few days like that.  I've had a few days that are just stressfull days.  With problems with investigators, trying to do alot of things with not alot of time, days where I just feel like going back to the house to sleep.  I dont think that we will always have the ablility to completely avoid these days, but there are always things we can do to get through them.  This life is a time to be proved and tested to see if we would do all things that God has commanded us, so there will always be those tough times.  During these times we always have to keep keeping all the commandments like going to church, paying our tithing and such.  I think it's also good to just try and focus on the good things around us and all the blessings that God has already given us.  Praying ernestly to God, expressing to Him our feelings, asking for help to recognize the good things around us and asking for help is also something that always helps.  God always wants to help us develop more patience, but He isnt just going to give us more patience, He will first give us opportunities where we can practice our patience.  Focusing on the basic principles of the gosple and trying to live them more perfectly will help us find the true joy that being members of this church has to offer us.  Well I hope that some of this will help.  I love you Dad! Keep enduring to the end! I know you can do it!  

Elder Eastman

Hello my mother!  I'm doing really good and alot better than I was last monday.  That sickness only lasted for a day.  On tuesday I was already better.  My companion is pretty healthy right now too.  Carlos is still doing good.  He came to church again on sunday.  He wants to learn more and more and always has alot of good questions.  Carlos works alot and in a different city, so it's kindof hard to teach him alot.  But on saturday we were able to teach him a bit of the gosple of Jesus Christ.  The lesson was good and spiritual and I always like trying to answer the questions he has.  

On Saturday Christian Velasco got baptised.  Christian gave a really good testimony afterwards.  He said he felt just alot of joy as he came out of the water.  Christian is a really good guy and always wants to help his family be on the right path.  The rest of his family is a part of a different church and also just not really making good decisions in their lives.  He always says how much that burdens his heart and how he wants to do more to help them.  It has been really cool to be able to work with him and teach him.  

Kind of a funny story... On thursday we had our district meeting.  For the opening hymn we were singing Master the Tempest is Raging and during the song in the part were it's building up, a small earthquake happened, and then when we sang the words, "peace, be still, peace, be still" the earthquake stopped.  Afterwards we all started laughing because it was such perfect timing with the song we were singing. 

Well thats it for now!  Thanks for everything!  I love you mom!

Elder Eastman