Hey Dad! That´s a wonderful experience about Sister Pennington and her husband. I am glad you are happy and doing well.
Thank you for the quotes from Henry Eyering´s book. I really like hearing about him and his thoughts. I would really like it if you kept sending me a quote out of his book every week if you could.
I have been wondering about the Spirit the past couple of weeks. People here say they have found peace and direction through Jesus Christ. They´ve found tranquility and peace and other really good feelings through Jesus Christ. Was Jesus making the promise only to his disciples, who had the gift of the Holy Ghost, when He said that He would send the comforter to them? I guess I´m just confused about the difference between the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost. It seems like everyone that truly has a testimony of Jesus Christ can have the direction and comfort that comes from the Holy Ghost. Is that true? One of the difficult things here has been to recognize the Spirit. Sometimes I´m too sensitive and I look for it all the time and when I don´t feel the good feelings or answers I start to doubt and get frustrated. But it´s when I´m sitting down, rested and reading, and opening my mind and heart when I feel the good, warm, peaceful feelings that come from the Comforter. I´ve been thinking about my Senior year in High School. I was so happy. And it´s not the everything´s going well kind of happy. I had confidence and peace, all the time. Even when I was troubled about something, I had an inner peace that made me happy. I believe that is the gift of the Holy Ghost being with me because I was putting into action the principles of the gospel. I was loving others, I didn´t think about myself very much. I loved to talk to people and help them be happy. My joy was full. I think that the Spirit puts us into a different state of mind, a different plane. But, at the same time I ask myself, do people that don´t have the gift of the Holy Ghost not have that inner peace that I had? Look at someone like Cindy Kiraly. She is always happy, doing what´s right. Are there not other sincere and pure hearted people that enjoy the fruits of the Spirit constantly like we do, when we are worthy and doing what we´re supposed to? I guess my question really is, ¨What exactly is the GIFT of the Holy Ghost?¨ Just a question I thought you could help me with! I am still sometimes having doubts, just about everything sometimes. I never let it effect the way I teach or talk to people. I am always happy and smile, even when I don´t feel like being happy. I would never want to hurt someone else´s experience, especially the people here in Mexico. They are so open and kind. But sometimes all of these doubts just come into my heart and head and they´re almost undefeatable. I´ve learned that if I have faith in Christ, and His power to help me, everything will fall into place. I´m reminded of that on Sundays when we have the sacrament. He has the power to change anything He wants, if I´m humble and I give Him the credit. I am making progress and I´m confident I´ll come out just fine, but in the meantime it´s pretty hard sometimes. I just feel sometimes like my heart and mind have been so used to questioning everything that I can´t just simply read and understand something, and get something meaningful out of it. I am learning, poco a poco, right? And sometimes I get really hard on myself because I feel like I shouldn´t be having doubts and questions, but I really can´t just squash them out of my mind. They´re real, and they´re something I genuinely have to deal with, whether I´m on a mission or not. I can´t let myself be too hard on me, right? That´s when I lose the motivation and joy that we´re supposed to have in life.
Thanks for everything Dad. I am confident that everything is going to be fine. I want you to send me a Scripture or something that you´ve been thinking about every week okay? And a quote from Henry Eyering´s book ! I like hearing about him and his experiences. Thanks Dad and tell everyone hi and that I love them! Russell
Elder West
