Letter dated August 31, 2010

(I received 3 letters in one day, dated August 11, 25, & 31.   What a happy day for me!)

Tuesday August 31, 2010

Blessed, blessed family,

This morning has been one of joyous excitement. Our running water was working! First real shower in nearly, if not over two weeks, and it was warm! It was so incredible.

This morning we went out to get our hair cut because we didn’t have time Monday. When we got there the shop hadn’t opened yet. As we were waiting a nearby school was doing a parade on the same street so we watched for a bit. There was a torch, dancing, percussion and a little brass as well as some Guatemalan instruments. It was pretty cool, and while we were watching a man Elder Segura knew came up and talked to him for a bit. He is a security guard at a nearby building and works from 7 am to 7 am, rests the next 7 am to 7 am. DANG, well that’s work here in Guatemala. I’ll think twice before complaining about my next 8 hour shift.

Our work in this area is steadily getting better, little by little. Oh, I figured out what Santa Elena means. Saint Helen. My first area was Juana de Arco, or Joan of Arc. Things are alright here in Guatemala, raining at least once a day, some days hard. We’re lucky for the most part. Many times we make it home for lunch right before it hits, like it’s waiting for us to get to safety first.

Being a representative of Jesus Christ, I find myself almost having the same feelings He (I imagine) would have. Today we were visiting a family, Perdomo, who for whatever reason, are also listening to things from someone else of another church. This has led to them asking us some pretty funky questions about things anywhere from tithing, even to baptisms for the dead. When they were explaining what she taught and from where (always Psalms or Proverbs in the Bible) I would get mad. How dare she confuse and teach these people such ridiculous things. Look, here are 10 scriptures in the Bible that teach this subject, and if you want, here are 7 more in the Book of Mormon that teach it twenty times clearer. In this last bit she taught about not needing tithing because we all have our own salvation. She used a scripture in Psalms that said something like “the heavens are Jehovah’s and the Earth is not yours.” What does that have ANYTHING to do with tithing? This among other doctrine of men shows how wacky beliefs can get when going upon your own knowledge. I like to use the example of a clock when describing the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The Bible is like a minute hand of a clock, spinning quickly. Alone the minute hand can’t tell us time. If we want to know the exact time we need the hour hand too, the Book of Mormon. Now when we look at the clock, oh, it’s 4:30, instead of, oh, 30 minutes past the hour. Many times people go by what their pasture tells them, some if not many don’t know a single thing even about the 10 commandments! And nobody knows anything about the Plan of Salvation (especially the Jehovah’s Witness).

Just, please guys, stay away from false doctrine, it’s stupid. You don’t know until you hear the strange theories of the world just how right we have it. I can’t even imagine going only by the Bible alone; how can any church do it?

Keep safe, keep strong, keep smart. I love you.

From the front lines,

Elder Andrew Bronson