February 9, 2015

well hello all,

I guess I’ll update you guys on the progress of the cancer patient we have been teaching. we went to the hospital to visit him Tuesday and he was noticeably worse, at this point he was noticeably thinner and could hardly talk. we didn’t really get to teach him much, as we were helping care for his temporal needs (food, diaper, changing sheets, etc.) but we sang a hymn, shared a brief thought about the plan of salvation, and left.

We went to visit the doctor to discuss his condition and the possibility of taking him out for baptism (we couldn't readmit him). the doctor said that we couldn't say how long he had, but that it wasn't his time yet, as there were no other complications. but we got a call that evening, it was the hospital saying that he had just passed away.

Needless to say (but i will anyways) this caused me to reflect greatly on the whole situation and what had happened, which lead me to a few thoughts that i will share. 1. this sickness was a blessing, yes it came in an abnormal form, but without it, it is safe to assume that he never would have been humbled enough to accept this message. it is a testament to our fathers love for us that he is willing to do anything necessary, to bring us home to safety, added upon by the fact that the pain of the sickness given would have to have been suffered for in the atonement. i fail to comprehend it. the other is that we do not always know the will of the father, we simply have to trust him. our goal was baptism before he passed on, by our set definition of success, we failed, but i in no way feel like we failed to accomplish anything with this man. yes he is still without this necessary ordinance, but before we left him, we verified with him that he had repented of all his past transgressions, to which the answer was an unquestionable yes. we prepared him to accept all that he needs in the life to come, and i trust we accomplished all we were meant to.

in other news we finally had investigators at the church. one (who owns a beer shop but doesn't drink) attended the ward before us because he wasn't able to make it to ours. the others were from a family we have been teaching that is pure gold. during the class, one of the sons (28 years old) was looking through the gospel principles book and found a picture of baptism, and started asking a bunch of questions, we asked him after if he wanted to be baptized and they all said yes. the father of the family was having problems with kidney stones, and would need an expensive operation, despite the fact that he is currently unemployed. we gave him a blessing on Friday and it would seem at this point (as hoped by us and stated by him) that he has been completely healed, we will see on thursday.

I’m short of time, but i got your package, and one from uncle robert and aunt kim, thanks a bunch. be good, love you guys.

elder gandola