fall in Georgia

Anthony's first baptism, Kage (next to Anthony)

Happy Thanksgiving!

As ya'll may know it's Thanksgiving this week!  So of course the popular topic is gratitude of which I have a few words on too.  The way I think of it is we can never have too much gratitude, right?  Well, don't I think so.  First, I guess you could say there are many things to be grateful for in this life.  One of the things my companion, Elder Lauese, has been bringing up is being grateful for your trials.  Now first I think, when we hear this we think "yah okay, let me do that."  That's because it's hard to think about it in that way as a gift.  I think of it as more of an exciting thing.  As we know the Lord gives us trials to test our faith.  As we know from Nephi 3:7 he always provides a way for us to accomplish these things.  That's the way I look at it when Heavenly Father gives me a hard trial.  All it means is that he believes in me!  He knows I can overcome the trial.  What a great blessing that is to know that He is actually expressing his love and hope in us as he gives us these hurdles to overcome!  Not to mention when we do overcome them.  We do it with a greater knowledge and understanding of something.  So we do gain from trials.  D&C 58:4 tells us after much tribulations comes the blessings.  Now, think about it that way and think to yourself,  is this trial a blessing?  If anything I have just said makes sense, you might find yourself saying yes.  So what do we do next?  We remember this Thanksgiving of the temporal things, of course, to be thankful for, but also don't forget the spiritual things because they are the things to be truly grateful for.  The gospel, the atonement, and the love of our Heavenly Father.  Take the time to think about all He has done for you.  The little things.  His tender mercies as in Nephi 1:20.  Let your heart be filled with gratitude.  I know that as you do that it can change your whole countenance.  It will help you realize blessings.  Others will see that change in you.  Most importantly, your Father in heaven will, and He will bless you beyond measure if you show Him your thanks. I hope ya'll have a Happy Thanksgiving.  Spend a lot of time eating, and a lot of time praying for your blessings.  I thank all ya'll for your support on my mission

In my personal email from Anthony he told me he had his first baptism!  It was Kage, and he said it was awesome and the ward was very supportive.  Pictures will come later.

Here is his email to everyone:

So as you know or may not know, at the beginning of this transfer we got a new mission president.  President Harding.  He hasn't made any dramatic changes, but of course has things for us missionaries to do. A few of them are reading the Book of Mormon in 2 transfers, only study the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel, working on Christlike attributes, and the one that I want to talk about today is each night reflecting on the Lords' hand in our work and writing it in our journal.  I thought this might be good with Thanksgiving coming up.
I'll start with realizing that the Lord is there and he extends his hand to us daily.  I guess you could think about this as counting your many blessings, like the song, but I want to address it a little different this time.  A great example in the Book of Mormon is Nephi.  Nephi 7:11-12.  He is telling his brothers and realizes all the Lord has done for him.  Then in verse 12 he says, "the Lord is able to do all things according to his will." Now this morning when I studied this it absolutely changed my thoughts about the Lord's will.  As I read Mosiah 15:7 at the end it says, "the will of his son being swallowed up by the will of his father."  Now that is important.  I never thought about that, and where I was in that process.  Is my will being swallowed up?  Also, how much of a need do I have for my will to be swallowed up?  What if my will is good already?  Well, then I had to catch myself.  I remembered a scripture I read not to long ago concerning the difference between the Father's will and mine.  This is in Isaiah 55:8-9 .... Now this told me what I need to do.  I need to fully submit myself to the Lord.  We all do.  It goes back to conference and Mosiah 3:19.  Being like a child.  The first thing to do is be submissive.  I don't know if I can help anyone, but I hope we will be able to study these scriptures and help ourselves.  Have confidence in the Lord and his will.  Act on promptings from the spirit and submit ourselves unto our Father.  I know that as we do we can experience joy and true happiness.  Through this we can be saved.  I know he is a part of everyones every day life.