02-MAY-2011 Letter

Rubert Family,

This last week went fantastic. We had a visit from Elder Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve and President Clayton of the presidents of the Seventy. It was a really spiritual experience and then afterwards they taught all of the quorum presidents from all the stakes here about how a priesthood quorum should work. They talked to the missionaries about the importance of living worthy of the spirit and also talked a lot about the role of the Book of Mormon in missionary work. It was a great experience to meet one of the Lord's special witnesses and then to be instructed that way. We had a combined mission conference with the Anaheim mission which was good. There were about 300 missionaries there.

My companion and I were given a car this week so that we could still go out and work instead of being stuck in the house. We have a few doctor appointments this week to see how his knee is healing which will help us know what the next step will be. I finished, this morning actually, a study that I had been doing about studying the Doctrine and Covenants chronologically and it helped it all make a lot more sense. So today I ended with the official declarations and section 138. It really hit me the importance of making sure that you ponder the things that you study. The scriptures are there to open the door to revelation so that the Holy Ghost can come and teach you "all things that ye should do." I'm grateful for the chance I've had to be cooped up in the house recently and have plenty of pondering time. But now I'm ready to go back to work and do the most important part. Apply what I've learned. Mom, I don't know what kind of missionary experience that you want me to share with you. There are a lot of different aspects of missionary work. I've got lots of stories and if you could specify a little more I could give you one that could help with that part of your lesson.

I can't believe that Matt is graduating now! Wow! I'm getting old. I e-mailed dad last week about my bike and I don't know if he got my e-mail. It is in great condition to come home and let Matt use it when he heads out in a year. (I think with the price of gas that I'll be using it when I get home as well. ($4.36/gal)) And to answer your question, I have all of my flight plans set. You should be getting a copy of them in the mail so that you know all of the details. But if you want I can just get a copy of it and throw it in the mail for you. Right now one of the elders that we live with is going home in two weeks and he is really worrying about it. I keep telling him that just like death it's just a step so that he can keep moving upward and onward. We die to be resurrected into glory. We end our mission to go home and continue our spiritual progression. The mission sets a firm foundation for the rest of your life. I always get put around missionaries that worry a lot. I think it might be because I don't worry enough. Oh, well. Alls well that ends well.

For Mother's Day I will be calling home at around 3:30 your time. Will that work out? Let me know. I love you all. I'm stoked to hear from you soon.

Ciao,

Elder Rubert