Santa Cruz de Quiche: My Final Six Weeks In The Mission

"Leader"

Tortillas for the week: 33

My first week in Quiche is about done and it was a good week. So Quiche is not as hot as HueHue, a matter of fact I am actually cold. I know I have said it before but I have never been so tired, this week I was like a zombie, it was bad. Maybe it is because of changes since I didn’t get much sleep the night before. When the alarm goes off at 6:30 in the morning I’m like you have got to be kidding, I just closed my eyes 5 seconds ago. Another thing that has happened is about 5 in the morning someone decided to set off some firecrackers. Elder Chavez and wanted to go outside and let them have it. And then there are some other people who turn up their music at the crack of dawn for all of Guatemala to hear, it is horrible but oh well, the life of tired missionary.

Elder Mendoza, Elder Mac, Elder Bonilla
Generation Photo: Son, Father and Grandfather

So this week we had some very good appointments, on Tuesday night we have a very good lesson. We were teaching a familia parcial (part member family) and we met a daughter that always leaves right before the missionaries get there. We show up and she is about to leave and I said Hermana why can’t you just stay, the lesson will be 30 minutes. And Elder Chavez also encouraged her stay so she did, which was awesome. We taught about the restoration. I can only remember what happened towards the end; we ask her how she felt and she said good. I was like there is more than that, so I asked what does your heart say? Again she says good. And I’m like umm ok you feel peace and hope and she said yes. I said do you feel that your Heavenly Father is telling you to come home, do you feel like He is calling you? She started to cry and said yes, she then said I have been gone to long and I need to come back, it is time. So my friends I testify to you it is never too late to come back because we have a gift called the Atonement to help us. I testify of the Atonement and that through the Atonement we can be made clean, loved, forgiven and strengthened. As my mission comes to a close I know the Savior’s Atonement is available for each us, always. It have felt the healing power of the Atonement in my own life and the Atonement can felt be in each of your lives too. It is through Him we can find peace and solace from our pain and our sins if we will but come unto Him with humble hearts. I ask why shouldn’t we talk about the Atonement and share the joy of the gospel because there is always hope through of the Atonement of Christ. I am beyond grateful for the Atonement of Christ for some many reason but this week I have witnessed the healing power of the Atonement in the hearts in some of the people we are teaching. I have been able to give more things up to the Lord and it is through the Atonement I have the courage to submit to the Father’s will.

Walking The Roads Of Quiche

I would like to end with an experience we had yesterday, we went to go teach this young man. As we were teaching him he told us he wants to repent, he wants to be someone and he wants to do what is right. We shared a scripture in 3 Nephi 11:11, we learn Christ submitted to the Father’s will by drinking of the bitter cup and He has taken upon the sins of the world with great suffering and a light to the world. Elder Chavez and I told this young man you are submitting to the Father’s will by your desire to repent and willingness to do what is right. We told him if you want to be someone then truly submit to the Father’s will and take those steps to repent so that our Father in Heaven can say this is my son and I am so proud of him. Friends I know that if we do the Father’s will, we will actually find our real selves and become someone, a light to those that walk in darkness. Before I end I want to share of other sweet experience we had. We taught his kid who is working to be baptized; his parents were baptized a month ago. When we challenged this kid to be baptized he looked at us and we thought he was going say no. He said I have been talking to my friend and I want to be baptized and so does my friend so is there way we can be baptized together? Elder Chavez and I about died, we just sat there in silence, yeah fue bien calidad (this was so great) and it turns out the kid’s friend has been to church 4 veces (times), all I can say is wow! The Lord is preparing gente (people) to come unto Him.

HueHue Familia 

What I love about Mom is that she taught me that it’s more important not to shrink than to survive, what I love about Dad is that he has taught me what it is like to love like our Father in Heaven.

con mucho amor, ducks forever,

Elder Mcilmoil 

May 18, 2015

Good To Back In A Small Town

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-19

“I have learned that not shrinking is more important than surviving.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell

“As we confront our own trials and tribulations, we too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we might not shrink.” David A. Bednar

“Real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine.” Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

Saying Goodbye And Leaving My Tie As A Reminder To Always Serve

Mother's Day, Changes And A Prayer Answered

I Love You Mom!!!

Make Your Time With Mom Count

Tortillas for the week: 20

First of off I just want to say HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much!!!! So for Mother’s Day we bought 5 dozen roses for the women in our ward here. It was a great experience to see all the women’s eyes light up and to see a huge smile on their face as we handed them a rose, I loved it. 

They Had Been Taught By Their Mothers

I do have changes tomorrow, my last change of the mission. The crazy thing is where I am going….. I’M GOING BACK TO MY VERY FIRST ZONE!!!! I’m being changed to serve as a zone leader in Santa Cruz del Quiché. It will be sweet because I will be able to visit the members in Chichi. My companion will be Elder Chavez, he is from Mexico. I know Elder Chavez from serving in the zone where I am currently serving as zone leader (Zona HueHue Centro). He is a great missionary.

Making Cookies In Pot, Why Not?

One Last Hurrah With Elder Mendoza

This week was hard but so worth it, I don’t have time to write about everything that happened but I just want to testify that our Father in Heaven answers our prayers. I know this from many experiences. I want to share my experience I had on Saturday as a prayer was answered. I had the blessing to baptize a Mom, not just any Mom but the Mom of a convert that I taught and baptized in San Antonio Huista. This Mom would not give permission to her daughter to be baptized at first but eventually her heart softened and her daughter was baptized. On Saturday I baptized the Mom. I witnessed this family being made complete; the Dad is now active and is on his way to be a branch president in Las Hustias, and now the Mom is a member. When I left that area I prayed and asked our Father in Heaven that this Mom would soften her heart even more and want to be taught the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that I could see her enter into the waters of baptism and I did. Not only was my prayer answered but I had the blessing to baptize her. The Lord does hear and answer prayers; in 2 Nephi 26:15 we read that the prayers of the faithful shall be heard. I testify again through that experience I had by witnessing the baptism of Estelita that the Lord hears our prayers. This experience was truly a tender mercy of the Lord. He lives and this is His work and He truly has people chosen and He does whatever it takes to prepare them, and He does it on His timeline. Once again as hard as this week has been, it was tender mercy for me and it truly showed me that our Father in Heaven does love each one of us individually. I know that He lives and loves us and that He is willing to work with us when we are willing to let Him work through us. I love each and one of you!!!!!!

Answer To Prayer

What I love about Mom and Dad was just being able to Skype with them on Mother’s Day.

con mucho amor, ducks forever,

Elder Mcilmoil

May 11, 2015

Las Familias Son Para Siempre

Until We Meet Again

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 93:24 and Jacob 2:12 

“We have great helps to give us courage in this life. The greatest is the atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of what He did, sins can be washed away in the waters of baptism” Henry B. Eyring 

“Mercy is of the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Gordon B. Hinckley

Why shouldn’t we talk of the at-one-ment of Jesus Christ????

My Mother taught me.

Conesejo (Mission Leadership)

Look Unto Me In Every Thought; Doubt Not, Fear Not

Soldiers On The Lord's Errand

Tortillas for the week: 15

Well what can I say about this week, other than it is super-hot and then it rains like crazy. Definitely crazy and unusual weather here in HueHue. This is the last week before changes so the next time I write I will know where I will be ending my mission.

La Belleza Está En El Ojo Del Espectador

We had interviews with President Smith this week, it was great as usual. I learn so much from him. He told me one thing that caught my attention during the interview, it was this, just take everything you have learned and put it in to practice in your last change.

Elder Robelo: Humble And Submissive

Also this week we had divisions and it was a great experience. I stayed in my area with Elder Robelo. I learn something every time we have divisions. This time I learned how important it is to have a fast heart to love and to forgive. That is something we should all think about in any calling we have. Anyway one thing that was interesting about this elder is how bad he wants to do everything by the spirit especially teach by the spirit. It was truly humbling to watch and learn from this young elder as he is truly trying to be led by the spirit. It was a neat experience.

Object Lesson

So this week I have been studying Jacob 2 and it has been interesting because we learn in verse 18 that we must seek the kingdom of God first before seek the riches of the world and then in verse 19 we then read that if we do seek riches we must seek riches for the right reasons, to help the poor, to clothe, provide relief for the sick and afflicted basically Jacob tells us that if we want to be rich we must be rich for the right reason, which is to help build the kingdom of God here on the earth, that we may be able to help God in this marvelous work and wonder. I bear witness this work is the work of the Father, that this is His work to bring forth the immortality and eternal life of man. 

Doritos And Avengers Coming To Me In June

I want to end with this words of heed, times are changing, Satan is hastening his work and God knows this and for that reason we must prepare ourselves for whatever the Lord reveals to us. Remember these words from our beloved prophet Gordon B Hinckley, “God is at the helm. Never doubt that. When we are confronted with opposition, He will open the way when there appears to be no way.” So my dear friends stay strong, and embrace atonement of Christ, come to know Him and everything will be alright. We will be protected if we read the Book of Mormon, pray each day as family and pray individually and pay a full tithing and go to the temple often as we can. Go forward with faith and “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36)

Iron Man Action Shot

What I love about Mom is that she has always been in tune to the spirit, what I love about Dad is that he has taught us how to be prepared through the spirit.

con mucho amor, ducks forever,

Elder Mcilmoil 

May 4, 2015

Art Crimes

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 5:15

Be strong, and always abound in good works.

“If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  

Helping Out President Smith And Working Together

Way To Hot To Sleep Inside

Tortillas for the week: 25

IT IS SO HOT HERE IN HUEHUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe how hot it has gotten, this is very unusual. It is so hard to leave between 1-4 pm en la tarde (in the afternoon) because of how hot it is. The worst is after lunch when it really hot; that is when we are super tired. The other day I sat down to read el libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon) and the next thing I know the phone is going off. I had fallen asleep, I was like what is going on. It was bad but also funny.

Elder Perry And I Sleeping On The Roof

Enough about the heat let’s talk about Wednesday and the presentation we gave to the stake, it went great. Elder Perry and I presented our plan and we pray that the bishops will meet with their missionaries to put it in action. It should help the members a lot with their testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. When the meeting started we had about 120 people in attendance. I sat on the stand with President Smith and Elder Perry, wow all I can say is that was a very special privilege for me. After Elder Perry and I are done sharing our presentation President Smith speaks and he has a coughing attack (he is sick at the time of meeting). He just starts coughing super bad and he looks at me; I’m in the congregation helping and he signals for me to come up. I walk up to the stand and he says to me can you finish what I’m saying. And I told he yes, luckily I have heard his talk before so I knew what to say. So I finish President Smith’s talk for him. I have to say I was humbled to stand in his place but it was also a pretty sweet experience. So that is what happened at the training meeting.

After Four Months I Finally Made My Birthday Cake

This week we did a lot of contacting and we found a soccer player to teach. This is going to be great to teach this guy, we go back tomorrow to meet with him. I can’t wait!  Also we did divisions this week. I stayed in the area and Elder Salazar come over. It was funny to think Elder Salazar and our two kids (missionaries in training) have about 6 months of experience between them and I have about 22 months of experience. It was strange to think I have the most experience. Anyway this week I have realized that working alone in the Lord’s work is not good, yes I’m working with my comp but members need to help us more. It is hard working alone, the Lord needs all of us to work together. In the words of Elder Andersen, “If you’re not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart.” This is His sacred work. He will guide each of us in what to do. He will open doors, remove roadblocks, and help each us overcome obstacles that may share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as we work together. 

Just A Roof Top View Of Our Water Tank

To end I want to express my love and gratitude for my parents, thank you both for everything. Words cannot express my love and gratitude for them; especially since they taught me the gospel and helped to plant the seed of my testimony and showed how to nourish and strengthen my testimony. I also express my love and gratitude to my church leaders and all my teachers I have ever had; thank you. I thank all of you for your support and your prayers. And I deeply express my love and gratitude for my family, you guys mean and are the world to me! As I have seen this gospel bless people and families my love for my family grows even deeper. This gospel truly blesses families mas que sabemos, thank you all. 

Can't Be To Safe

What I love about Mom and Dad is what they taught me.

con mucho amor, ducks forever,

Elder Mcilmoil 

April 27, 2015

"Bat Moth"

Scripture of the week: John 2:4 *Footnote JST John 2:4 and Matthew 5:19, 29-30

“He is ready to come unto you when you are ready to come unto Him.” Joseph Smith 

"Have we not reason to be filled with gratitude, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves?” President Uchtdorf  

Oh The Places You Go

So Many Ways To Serve If We Just Pray And Listen

Another Amazing Day

Tortillas this week: 30

I can’t believe we only have 3 weeks left until the next change, I hate this; time is going by way to fast. Where to begin, I don’t know, all I can say is this week has been crazy. We have been doing a lot of planning. We have been planning a meeting we are having this week with the stake which includes all the bishoprics, ward counsels and all the full time missionaries serving in the stake. President Smith, Elder Perry and I will be presenting a plan to the stake on how the members can help us (the full time missionaries) to teach more lessons and inviting all to come unto Christ. President Smith will be talking about the mission’s vision. Hopefully by doing this we can all work together as a team. This will take place on Wednesday night.

I "Mustache" You A Question

Last night we had a very good lesson with a less active family and one member of the family is a struggling returned missionary. The lesson we had was amazing. When I experience lessons like this I don’t want to go home. We asked this struggling returned missionary if you could summarize his mission what would he say. He said love and service. We then tied in what he said to the video Because He Lives and showed it to the family. You could feel the spirit so strong and you could see that his heart was touched. He called us this morning and said I need your prayers because I have a job interview. I told him we would pray for him right now. He was like un serio (serious)!!!! And I said of course. He was so grateful. It was just so special to kneel down in prayer with Elder Mendoza, Elder Perry and Elder Figueroa and pray for this less active struggling returned missionary for his job interview. I just love this mission!!! I testify that when we pray for chances to serve it happens. As President Eyring said, “…pray for the way to know their hearts, to know what things are amiss in the lives and the hearts of people whom you don’t know well and who are not anxious to have you know them. You will need to know what God would have you do to help them and to do it all, as nearly as you can, feeling God’s love for them.” This is what I love about the mission; we have so many ways to serve if we just pray and listen. 

This Is What Happens When You Have Not Eaten All Week

We have found a lot of people to teach which of course is a blessing since our teaching pool was getting smaller but now it is growing. I am so thankful for the tender mercy of finding more people to teach. No matter what we just keep moving forward and we keep looking to Christ for guidance in our service. We had another great opportunity this week to teach a lesson another to a less active family. We retaught them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was great because we only taught with the Book of Mormon. We did quote a few scriptures from the Bible but when we opened the scriptures it was only the Book of Mormon. It was such a powerful lesson. Diego understood what we were teaching but most importantly he understood priesthood authority is to act in God’s name. He is now super excited to learn more. I honestly love teaching less actives because we can see their testimony be rekindled. It just makes my heart melt and shout for joy for the atonement of Christ. HE LIVES AND LOVES US. For He asks us will we not come unto me so that I may heal you. (3 Nephi 9:13)

Oh The Things You See

What I love about Mom are the letters she writes me and what I love about Dad is how good of a young men’s president he was.

con mucho amor, ducks forever

Elder Mcilmoil

April 20, 2015

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 32:9

“God can grant us power in..... whatever circumstance we may be in. It simply requires that we ask in humility.” President Henry B. Eyring

“We do not ever walk alone.” President Monson

Si Señor Yo Ti Seguiré

"Sir Loin"

Tortillas for the week: 30

I made my decision not to extend my misión, it was hard to decide to come home but after much prayer and counseling with President Smith it is time to come home. I’m so grateful for the experience I had when making this decision. I have learned we cannot rush when seeking answers, we are counseling with Heavenly Father. We can’t just say hey God I need my answer now and oh by the way this is what I might do. We have to look at everything, truly decide our choice and then counsel with Father in Heaven. With that being said my release date is June 23rd, so I will be home June 25th.

Busted Shower Pipes

Alright so this past week I went to Xela with Elder Perry for por consejo de liders, which once again was amazing. Then on Friday we had zone conference which was also amazing. Elder Perry and I felt we needed to raise the bar. I will talk about that soon.

Utterly Delicious 

We found 2 familias (families) to teach this week and one of them is our neighbors which is dang calidad! To break the ice with both familias we showed gracias a que el vive (Because He Lives http://www.mormon.org/easter). When the video message was finished we shared our testimonies and taught about la restauración (the restoration). With our neighbors we talked a lot about the restauracion and they had some good questions and we were able to answer every question which was great, so we will see what happens there.

El Almuerzo

Alright it’s time to talk about what we did for zone meeting. First off we talked about chapter 3 in PMG (Preach My Gospel) and focused on the restauración. A big thanks to the sister leaders for doing that. When they were finished Elder Perry and I talked about the Holy Ghost and being guided by Holy Ghost. And then we had the zone participate in an activity. Let me explain this activity; I took this idea from a talk given by Elder Gavarret from last October’s General Conference. The talk is called Si Señor Yo Ti Seguiré (Yes, Lord, I Will Follow Thee). This is what Elder Gavarret says about this activity that he did, “During my first month in the mission, the zone leaders held an activity to demonstrate a gospel principle. Each missionary in the zone was blindfolded, and we were told that we were to follow a path leading to the cultural hall. We were to follow the voice of one particular leader, a voice we heard before starting to walk. However, we were warned that during the journey, we would hear several voices that would try to confuse us and get us to stray from the path.”

So the activity was based on his experience but we did things a little bit different because this phrase from Elder Holland has been on my mind for some time; he said, “The entire human race in free fall—every man, woman, and child in it physically tumbling toward permanent death, spiritually plunging toward eternal anguish. Is that what life was meant to be? Is this the grand finale of the human experience? Are we all just hanging in a cold canyon somewhere in an indifferent universe, each of us searching for a toehold, each of us seeking for something to grip—with nothing but the feeling of sand sliding under our fingers, nothing to save us, nothing to hold on to, much less anything to hold on to us? Is our only purpose in life an empty existential exercise—simply to leap as high as we can, hang on for our prescribed three score years and ten, then fail and fall, and keep falling forever?” So with those thoughts we wanted the missionaries to somewhat understand what investigators may be thinking or experiencing. Here is a short summary of what we did; we had lots of noise and distractions so the elders and sisters had to listen carefully to hear a voice. If they followed the wrong voice they sat in a dark room blind folded and they couldn’t talk. I talked with those that followed the wrong voice and asked them, “Is life like this? Dark, no redemption, we can’t repent, we are just always failing and falling” And then I said that may what your investigators feel or think. I told them I hope you guys feel alone so that you can somewhat feel what your investigators maybe feeling. I told them there is one person to save us and then a sister took the sisters by the hand with a nail and an elder took the elders by the hand with a nail so they could visualize Christ and then they were lead to a room that had lights on and had the sacrament set up (just empty trays, a bag of water and a piece of bread). I shared with them about how we need to partake of the sacrament every week to have the spirit with us and to know the spirit’s voice and that we may say si señor yo te seguiré (Yes, Lord, I Will Follow Thee). It was a great zone conference because it was different. I learned so much and I pray that we may all follow the spirit each day and covenant with the Lord to follow Him each day.

This Is Not Good

What I love about Mom is that she acts upon the whisperings of the spirit she receives and what I love about Dad is that he follows the voice of the spirit and that he is a priesthood man.

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Mcilmoil

April 13, 2015

Holy Cow, Last One I Promise

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 4:11-12, 19-20, 26

“Rich or poor, we are to ‘do what we can’ when others are in need.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

“Don’t we all cry out for help and hope and answers to prayers? Don’t we all beg for forgiveness for mistakes we have made and troubles we have caused? Don’t we all implore that grace will compensate for our weaknesses, that mercy will triumph over justice at least in our case? Little wonder that King Benjamin says we obtain a remission of our sins by pleading to God, who compassionately responds, but we retain a remission of our sins by compassionately responding to the poor who plead to us.” Elder Holland 

“But if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less [than it is].” Elder Holland

“You can be a great model, an average one, or a bad model. You may think it doesn’t matter to you, but it does to the Lord.” President Henry B. Eyring

The Hands That Save Us

#BecauseHeLives

He Is Here! With Us, Always!

So my time in the mission is winding down fast (return home date is TBA next week.) I can’t believe how fast my mission has gone. It is crazy how time flies. Anyway I have new son (training a new missionary companion from the CCM de Guatemala.) He name is Elder Mendoza and he is from the Dominican Republic. I’m excited to train again, this truly is a blessing.  

Elder Mendoza And Elder Mac

This week was a hard one because it was semana santa (Easter week) and everyone goes out of town. Even though it was hard, it was great since it was General Conference. I love Conference. But I have to say it truly hurt to see that there were members who didn’t sustain the Prophet and Apostles and opposed vocally their disapproval. I just don’t understand how anyone could do that. Which brings me to a very interesting experience we had on Friday night. Elder Mendoza and I went to visit a family and as we talked with them we were able to develop a good relationship of trust. We learned that the Dad and Mom do not believe in living prophets. They told us their apostle is on TV and they wanted to show us. So we watched and it was the most uncomfortable feeling. You could see the power of Satan working through this man as he was preaching. He didn’t even teach anything pertaining to the commandments of God. Actually he didn’t know what he was saying, there was much confusion with his words and it was hard to follow. I was heartbroken. I’m so grateful I have a testimony of a living Prophet and Apostles. That knowledge and testimony brought so much comfort when I listening to this man preach. As I listened I tried to put myself in the shoes of investigators, even in the shoes of young Joseph Smith. I could see why Joseph and many others were so confused. I could not believe what this man was saying. I gained a new reverence and respect for young Joseph Smith. He knew and felt the confusion of so many claiming they had the truth. I’m grateful beyond what words could express that he was brave and asked God (James 1:5) knowing he would receive an answer to find the truth. His prayer opened the windows of heaven and we are the recipients of what happened next.

Yep, That's One Big Turkey

Gobble On

I want to talk about two talks from General Conference, yes one is from Elder Holland and the other one is from Brother Gibson. I have a huge decision to make and as I sat there listening to Brother Gibson, his words told me I was asking the wrong questions. He shared a story about his sons, they completed a 50/20, walking 50 miles in under 20 hours. As he was checking on his sons to see if they were ok, his eldest son said this to him “That was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life, and I will never, ever do it again — unless my son wants me to do it.” As I thought about that I realized as I was making my decision I needed to think about my family, even more my personal family (the one I will one day have). This reminded me of what Elder Holland said in his talk ‘The Miracle of a Mission’, “Plan right now for the stories you will tell your children about your mission. Live right now in every way to look them in the eye and put them on your knee and rock them on your lap and tell them as I am telling you, that you loved every day of your mission. That you worked your head off! That you’ve never worked so hard in your life. That you were tired and sweaty and dirty and hungry and you knew how Paul felt and you knew how Peter felt and you knew how Mormon felt and you knew how Moroni felt. And I promise you that your children will remember and never forget it, and they will cherish it and hold it dear for their mission and so the generations go.” His words were also a reminder to every missionary and I’m so grateful we have been taught this: WE CAN NOT GO BACK TO WHO WE WERE BEFORE THE MISSION, you will break the heart of God himself, if you turn your back on the gospel of Jesus Christ, which you have pledged your life to teach. I just love that because we have committed to be Disciples of Christ for time and eternity. It does not mean we are perfect but we just need to try to better every day.

Elder Mac And Elder Corbett; Waiting For Our "Sons"

I want to end with Elder Holland’s talk for General Conference and about those hands that save us. He shared a story of two brothers; John, 19, and Jimmy, 14, who began a climb up a sheer canyon wall in southern Utah's Snow Canyon State Park without any climbing gear. At one point near the top of the climb, they reached a ledge that they couldn’t climb up or go back down. John managed to help his little brother up to safety, but he remained stuck. In a last-ditch effort, he made a vertical jump, knowing that if he missed, he would not survive the fall. He jumped and his hands slapped down on loose sand on a flat stone. John said his last prayer, he felt his fingers begin to recede slowly and knew his life was over. John said, “But then suddenly, like a lightning strike in a summer storm, two hands shot out from somewhere above the edge of the cliff, grabbing my wrists with a strength and determination that belied their size.” His brother caught him and pulled him up to safety. I love that story because that is how we are at times; stuck or are fingers begin to recede knowing we can’t hang on, but then our Brother, our Savior stretches forth His hands at the last minute to save us. He will never let go of us, never. His hands were pierced by nails and the blood He shed was for us. Those are not the hands that hold us, the hands that hold us are new hands, the resurrected hands of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember that the Savior loves us, and so does our Father in Heaven. Remember when you are falling, y talvez ud esta cayendo and you let go of the Savior, He will never let go of you. I pray that we may never let go of the one that prayed, bleed, was bruised, was rejected, was crucified, and rose again from the dead for us so He could hold us and have us come back to His presence and His Father’s presence. I bear witness to all that He Lives y nos ama.

We Are Never Lost Never Lost When You Can See The Temple

#BecauseHeLives We Can Find Peace

What I love about Mom is that she did the days of Easter for me, what I love about Dad is that he always told us its 10 or 2, it’s time for conference.

Con Mucho Amor, Ducks Forever

Elder Mcilmoil

April 6, 2015

Guardians Of His Work

Scripture of the week: Luke 24:5-6

HE LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“I will never, ever do it again — unless my son wants me to do.” Larry M. Gibson 

“Today is Easter Sunday. This is the most sacred day of the year for special remembrance of brotherly hands and determined arms that reached into the very abyss of death to save us from our fallings and our failings, from our sorrows and from our sins.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Holy Cotton Candy

Duck, Duck, Dinner