Thanks for the mail from Grandma, Dad, Mom, and squiblings!
I don't have a whole lot of time left. I had a long e-mail to President this morning.
Yesterday was an interesting day! I had to give a talk in Spanish sacrament meeting on the Great Apostasy (my companion spoke about the Restoration) and in English sacrament meeting on Exaltation (of all possible topics, Bishop assigned me to speak on exaltation in sacrament meeting...) (my companion, who doesn't speak very much English at all, bore his testimony in English--it went really well!). I think they both went really well. I really only messed up my Spanish one once. I used the wrong verb for "to break." I used the verb "to break commandments or covenants" rather than "to physically break something." oops... :) My English talk went really well. I used the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 to relate God's love for us and His desire for our return and exaltation. Afterwards an older gentleman came up to me and asked me who my dad is. I told him, "Jon." He paused for a second and then asked me who my grandpa is. I told him, "Cleve." He paused for another second and said, "I'm Richard Raymond from Mesa, Arizona. Cleve is my cousin!" That was a pretty cool experience. Either he or another gentleman he was with starting speaking to me in Spanish and told me that he was a mission president over the Los Angeles, California mission about 5 years ago. I don't remember if it was him or his friend. Who'da thunk that I'd meet one of grandpa's cousins in a sacrament meeting in Sevierville, Tennessee?
Anyway, I better get going.
I love you all!
Elder Raymond
I don't have a whole lot of time left. I had a long e-mail to President this morning.
Yesterday was an interesting day! I had to give a talk in Spanish sacrament meeting on the Great Apostasy (my companion spoke about the Restoration) and in English sacrament meeting on Exaltation (of all possible topics, Bishop assigned me to speak on exaltation in sacrament meeting...) (my companion, who doesn't speak very much English at all, bore his testimony in English--it went really well!). I think they both went really well. I really only messed up my Spanish one once. I used the wrong verb for "to break." I used the verb "to break commandments or covenants" rather than "to physically break something." oops... :) My English talk went really well. I used the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 to relate God's love for us and His desire for our return and exaltation. Afterwards an older gentleman came up to me and asked me who my dad is. I told him, "Jon." He paused for a second and then asked me who my grandpa is. I told him, "Cleve." He paused for another second and said, "I'm Richard Raymond from Mesa, Arizona. Cleve is my cousin!" That was a pretty cool experience. Either he or another gentleman he was with starting speaking to me in Spanish and told me that he was a mission president over the Los Angeles, California mission about 5 years ago. I don't remember if it was him or his friend. Who'da thunk that I'd meet one of grandpa's cousins in a sacrament meeting in Sevierville, Tennessee?
Anyway, I better get going.
I love you all!
Elder Raymond
