The Last Letter -ONE WEEK!!!!

I don't actually know if this will be my last cause I'm not sure what is
going to happen next Monday. But let's pretend it is.

Well, I just want to say that it has been the wildest ride of my life being
here in Colombia. If you were to ask me if I loved this country, or this
mission, two years ago, I'd probably take a long time to answer. But if you
were to ask me now, without hesitation I would scream, "YES!"

They've been long years but they've been full of good moments. I've grown
to love these people, this culture, this country and this mission. The best
mission ever.

Overall, the most important thing I've learned is that Jesus Christ is my Savior. It's something I always knew but something I didn't fully understand until now. I've never felt so close to Him before. Just the very thought of His love for us gives me chills. I cannot even believe that after all of my sins, wrongdoings, and times when I deliberately disobeyed
Him, that He still loves me. He's my Savior and my Friend.

God exists. Heaven is for real. Christ is a real person. Families are forever. And this has been an amazing experience.

Be excellent to each other and PARTY ON DUDES!

Elder Justin Skinner

 

This is the pillowcase we secretly stuck in his luggage when he left on his mission. Silly kid didn't want to ruin it so he never used it. :)

The shoes we sent for his birthday.

BUGS!

Betty is absolutely gorgeous. Betty is the VW Bug we just bought as a family project!

I like to imagine it's mine but I know it's
not haha. just a family car that's super awesome.

This week has been pretty good.

On Tuesday my comp and I were walking when a weird bug flew into his eye
and while he was trying to get it out, it stung/bit him on his eyeball. So
that was not so cool. We called Sister Pricoli (and now we the name of
"the most sick companionship in the mission") and had to go the emergency
room. A little exaggerated but whatevs. We get there and he's got this huge
bump on his eyeball. then after telling us that there weren't any eye
specialists in all of Palmira, we had to go to Cali and sleep in the
mission home. The next morning we go to the hospital and after a seemingly
torturous eye test (in which Elder B kept saying "Q" every time there was a
"K") he prescribed him eye drops. A whole lot of stress and money to find
out something that we already knew... So that wasn't fun but it's a nice
story to tell. Thanks Elder Brizuela.

Anyways, we had an investigator come to church yesterday and he is
probably the most stressful investigator ever. He's a member of some
trembling and shouting Christian church so the whole time he was asking
questions like, "There's no coffee or fruit?! Why?!"  "Why can't I clap
after the talks? Can I scream out my questions? NO?! WHY?!"
Then during the second hour he had to personally interrupted every single
class in session to ask the teacher what they taught and what the purpose
of the class was. The CTR teacher got mad at him and told him to go away...
Next, he asked around 100 questions in the gospel principles class and
didn't really care about the answers. He has an "I'll ask the question to
see if you say is what I believe and then I'll get offended when you don't"
attitude. But in the end he really liked it and thought it was a cool
experience. We were running after him like the branch president's wife runs
after their hyperactive son. Lots of laughs and stress sweat haha...

I'm doing well. More tired than I've ever been and it's really hard for
other people to understand that I really don't WANT to sleep during
sacrament meeting but that my body just WON'T stay awake. Or that I don't
WANT to fall asleep during personal study, I want to read the scriptures.
But hey, only five more weeks.

Still not very good at soccer but still like to play.

Love you so much mom! What's AC? ;)

Elder Jenkins

The LAST 6 WEEKS!

We just started the new transfer period and Elder Brizuela and I are still
together. Which means, in mission lingo, me va a matar Elder Brizuela!!!
He's going to kill me and I'm going to die in this area. Pretty weird
feeling and frankly it's nothing shy of bittersweet. It's exciting to be
close to the end but scary at the same time.

We've been working pretty hard in comparison to how we were working and so
far we've seen the fruits of that labor. Yesterday we had quite a few come
to church and we taught twice as many lessons and found more than twice as
many new investigators. So that's cool.

I'm keeping my eye out for chances to find stuff to bring home. I'm hoping
for some cool jazz!

J- is doing very well and is progressing like lightning. He's
really into learning about the gospel now and actually asks questions in
the classes at church and in our lessons with him. He came to church in a
shirt and tie this Sunday for the first time. I know that doesn't sound
like much but we're in a country were the youth pass the sacrament in
scarlet jeans and hoodies. So it's pretty awesome that he took that step
without even being invited by us. We'll have to look for a tie or something
to give him before we leave.

I'm stoked to see you guys and it's going to be super weird to have these
last days go by.

I love you mom!!!

Elder Esniker

Baptismo!

So J- was baptized!!!!! Super super super awesome. Really

spiritual and it really brought that family closer together. 

 We had to fill the font about five times cause we filled it, then we started to play
around with the water. Feeling bad we decided to empty it and refill.
Because he's got crutches due to an accident that he had a while back, we
were trying to figure out how to baptize him. We found the keyboard stand
in the chapel and it was exactly what we needed so he could sit down and be
put under water. Then we left the font filling with the keyboarder stand
still in the water. When we came back, the water had turned orange due the
rust and we had to empty the font, clean it, and refill. So we left, came
back to open the church for an activity and we saw that it was almost full.
So we turned the water off and went home to get our baptismal clothes. When
we get to the church, we look at the font and the water had drained a very
significant amount. So in a panic with only 30 minutes left, we turned on
the water and started fill buckets and dump them in. 

We finally got it filled, and somehow the entire branch showed up for the baptism. J- is a
pretty shy guy and didn't want to be the center of attention so he was kind
flaking out. We pulled him aside and started to tell him about the day of
filling and refilling the font and that seemed to calm him down. So he was
baptized, confirmed, and ordained a priest. Now he can baptize his daughter
in November.

SO RAD!!!

I've been getting to know grandma Judy more. Did you know she likes the
Beach Boys? No I didn't. :) Thanks, Grandma Judy for always writing to Justin!

Love you mom!!!

Audio file HERE

Baptism, Ghost, and Taunting

I hope everything is going well in the great ol' USA! 

So it's been a good week. My comp hurt his knee a little while back and so
we've been going to to some physical therapies lately. Almost every morning
this week we were there.

We had divisions with our district leader Elder Florez from Barranquilla
and Elder Quezada who's a gringo with a Latino last name. That was pretty
cool. We walked around a neighborhood in which lived a TON of people who
had never seen a white guy before. You'd think I have Purple skin and
orange hair judging the ways they looked at me. Pretty funny.

So we had a super stellar experience!!!!! We've been teaching the an investigator of about two years and he
never really wanted to get baptized. He likes the church but never wanted
to commit top living the commandments for fear of breaking them after
having made the covenant with God. But sine we've been teaching he's been
felling the spirit a lot more. He has made some BIG changes. On Friday we
felt the spirit prompt us to invite him to a baptismal date and he said
yes! He recognized that if he didn't do it soon he would probably never do
it. So we're going to baptize him this weekend!!!! It was so awesome. But
we wouldn't have been able to do it without his kids. The oldest is an 11
year old boy and the other is a 7 year old girl. His daughter really wants

him to baptize her and I think that's why he finally got around to
accepting the date. He told us, "You guys are good missionaries but my kids
are the best missionaries I'll ever have." SO SWEET!!!

The ghost in our house finally left us alone. Listen to the recording.

Colombia won the United States 2-0 on Friday in the first game of Copa
America so I've been getting my ear filled with taunts and insults. But
hey. I already knew that the gringos would lose...

I love you mom!!!

Elder Jenky-baby

Audio File HERE 

No Rabies Shots, but Got Robbed.....sort of...

Yes I know, in the face!... but all is well. We found the vaccine. Sister
Pricoli was SUPER mad when I told her where it bit me. But all is well ;)
No scars nor scratches. It's not a bad bite AT ALL. 

So this week was pretty good. We've been working a lot harder even though
the results are slow coming. Sometimes it feels like they aren't coming.
But They do and it's always worth it.

A recent convert of about two years gave us a referral of this guy she's
dating and he seems like he is super ready for the gospel. Really cool guy
and so that's good. He's already made a lot of changes in his life to be
closer to Christ so the church will be a perfect conclusion to the process
he's made. We'll let you know what happens.

this week it rained cats and dogs and a bunch of fruit flies (which infested
our apartment). Due to said rain, I got this gnarly cough with lots of
phlegm... pretty jank but I'm taking some meds for it. Another problem for
the mission president's wife haha.. The cough syrup makes me sleepy though
as if I didn't already feel that way.

In other news, I know that my return is about the 2nd. My visa expires the
12 and they normally send you home with the transfer before. I should be
leaving this area the 31st of July. We'll see though.

Love you mom! don't worry too much. This week was better in all aspects.

Elder Jenky Baby

Audio File about getting robbed-ish... Here  

 1800 pesos? SOLD!

 The "big wound" and some minor scratches on the nose. And my new eyebrow piercing due to the DOG.

Bit in the FACE by a DOG!

Suppppp dudes?! Things are well in my family, it seems.

Happy that Ian got to graduate and so that's pretty sweet. Rad senior pics!
I had to take mine in front of the rival high school haha. Congrats Ian.

Going well here with Elder Brizuela. We get along very well and we're
pretty darn obedient as well. Sometimes I feel like the zone leaders and
the district think that we aren't but I don't care because I know that
we're doing well. It gives a good feeling to know that.

Got bit in the face by a dog this week. One more reason for me to take even
MORE pills. It was hard to explain to Hermana Pricoli where the bite was.
The dog was just chilling on the ground and I looked over it and said her
name and WOOF!. Right around my eyes. Another inch and I wouldn't being
seeing out of my left eye haha... So if we can't get a copy of her vaccine
certificate then I'll be getting the rabies shot... Which I hear they do in
the butt here and it takes 7 shots. So Pray so that doesn't happen.

We found a family of five this week and the 17 year old son seems really
into religious things. He's got some gnarly lip peircings and comes across
as just a straight thug but he's really cool and probably pays more
attention than anyone else. We put a date for baptism but didn't come to
church so it fell through. But the fact that he accepted the date without
even hesitating makes us think that we can get somewhere with him.

Well, I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!! You're the best mom. I love you more than
anyone else. ;)

Elder Esniker

Audio File HERE 

Transferred after all!

Sounds like everything is going well up there!

So news time. President recieved revelation and transfered me unexpectedly
And now i'm in Palmira. 
It's been weird cause I left my old new companion alone in an area that
wasn't doing too well and now I'm opening an area with my NEW new companion,
Elder Brizuela. HE's from Bolivia and is suuuuuuper cool. Really nice guy
and pretty darn funny.

This area is a lot better than the other one.

We have some investigaters that are getting ready for baptism that the
other missionaries left. We were pretty exciting about starting the
transfer with some dates for baptism but the investigaters weren't too
stoked to see that their first missionaries had left. So they are now
progressing slowly because we aren't their "homies" yet. it'll takle a
while and we told them to give us time and we'd become friends. That and
the doctrine is the same whether they teach or whether we teach. So they'll
need some warming up. Let's hope they weren't converts to the missionaries
alone haha.

Love you mom!!!! You're my fav!

Elder Skinner

May Transfers

It was awesome to see you guys yesterday!!! (Mother's day call)

I'm so happy that my family is so cool. It's been a really hard week and it helped to have a pick me up from the quirky Skinners.

I won't lie and say I'm happy but it'd also be a lie if I said I'm sad.
Sappy is the right word for it. Transfers always bring a weird sentimental
feeling and that includes just these overflowing feelings of just general
weirdness and being kind of sad. Elder Chicaiza left and went to Popayan.
I'm now with Elder Serrano from Bolivia and he's finishing this transfer
which means I'm probably going to finish MY mission here too. I've only got
two transfers left and so they'll probably send me another missionary when
Elder Serrano goes home. The crazy part is that they just closed the other
area and took out Westfall AND Cumbal. Now Elder Serrano and I are the only
missionaries here. I'm not the district leader anymore which quite
honestly, I am SO happy about. I didn't like that responsability at all.
But now the ward is in big danger. They might be a branch pretty soon now and
the fact that the mission is only keeping two elders here makes it feel
more real and close.

So yeah, not too sad but not too happy. I'm really just trying to keep
everything in. 
Love you mom! Happy mother's day!! I like those calls more than the
Christmas calls ;)

Love
Elder Jenky

April in Cali!

Heyyyyyy mummy!!! Happy birthday Garrett!!! I love that guy. I made a
recording but I forgot to brinmg the recorder...

I asked President Pricoli about my return date and he told me the same date
you guys ssaw on the church leadership website. He said it's just the
estimate though. It'll most likely change.

This week was a lot better than the last one. We had some good lessons and
we found a killer investigater named Lina. Single mom with three kids the
oldest being eight. Really nice lady. Very very shy and quiet. But she's
very sincere at the same time. She won't lie or pretened to understand when
she doesn't.

I scared my comp this week. SUPER FUNNY! Look at the video on dropbox if
it decides to load.
Waiting to scare my companion.

The Scare! 

 There was an earthquake this week. we had a ten minute long little rumble
feeling that made us all dizzy but Ecuador got SLAMMED. Elder Chicaiza is
pretty nervous for his family but his city didn´t get it too bad. But Elder
Cumball, (Elder Westfall's companion) lives in one of the parts that
everything was really bad. So He's really worried about his friends and
family. It's sad to see because Cumball is really cool, the most humble
missionary. ever.
Pray for Ecuador!!!

I love you guys, this is a lame email I know. Sorry I'm of out it from
playing soccer... haha. It's pretty fun when you don't suck ;)

Love you!

Elder Skinner

April 24th
       Sounds like things are going to be pretty darn fun! In reference to being drugged out - Emily and Ian were getting their wisdom teeth out. haha. Take advantage of it while it still feels good because it hurts pretty bad when you come out of it. I'm a terrible example haha... We are having some pretty gnarly troubles here. 
        Our area is more dead than the cockroaches we find almost everyday. It's so hard to be motivated and it's led me to a sort of just, "when can I go home?" attitude. I really don't want to finish anywhere else. I mean I love the ward. But the area mixed with other problems is really pushing down now. But the mission really is a roller coaster. With Guerrero in Popayan we were living the dream but now we are living the nightmare here. Hopefully this next transfer will be the fun part of the roller coaster. But I'm really trying to get better. I'm going to right a VERY long letter to Presidente today and I'll just hope he calls me. But I'll try to get his attention. Maybe I'll throw a swear word or two in there ;) 
        Speaking of letters, I heard you got mine this week!!! I'm so glad! What'd you think? I was kind of clueless on what to write so I kind of just winged it and put them in with a few thousand peso and my memory card. Let me know what you think. 
       Studying the scriptures has helped me keep my sanity and emotions at bay. I'm reading the conversion of Alma the older in Alma 36 and it really helps. Sometimes I feel pretty down and just want to be covered by the mountains and just hide. But reading how Alma got out of it really motivates me to do better to try a little harder. Keep moving forward... 
      I love you mom! Thanks for your prayers cause they really are helping. 
 Elder Skinner

 Audio File HERE

Cali-"The Devil's Vacation Home."

April 4th

I am SO TIRED. We played soccer ALL DAY. But I'm glad to hear all is well!

Conference had some amazing talks! I don't know what it is about Jeffrey R
Holland that always just gets me. We'll always be sitting in the secretary's
office (all of the gringos) and be making comments and just listening but
the room always falls into a heavy silence when Elder Holland starts to talk. It was
the most needed talk for me. President Monson is looking pretty sick...
Poor guy. He's trying pretty hard. Huge respect points to President
Uchtdorf for the Star Wars reference!

This week has been long, Hard and sweaty. It's so weird to come from
Popayan which is like a Springtime land of magical wonders, to Cali which
is like the Devil's vacation home (for the heat and weed levels). Most of
our area is red zone or just too dangerous to go into without a member. So
when we don't have a member we're basically just stuck to our own
neighborhood. But we have some AWESOME members. Our Pensionista is really
cool too.

My comp is cool. He worked in the temple and his name is Nefi. Or Nephi..

Well, I'm not sure what else to write about but I just want you to know
that I love you. It's been an awesome ride so far, the whole mission thing.
Glad I came ;)

Elder Skinner 

April 10th 

Suuuuup Family!!!!

Sounds like ya'll had fun at six flags. I need to hit that up when I get
back.

I'll write that missionary letter right now because it's been a TERRIBLE
week. So I'll skip that and talk about one investigator and the letter you
want to share.

We are teaching this lady named T and she's
really cool. She wants to do the right things and just be on good terms
with God. So she came to church and really liked the Gospel Principles
class. She thought it was really interesting and was able to form some more
questions to ask us. But she's struggling with money and some health probs
her daughter is having. So please Pray for her and Keep her in your
thoughts.

Now the missionary stuff. Missionary work is STELLAR! It is so cool. It's
so hard, buy it is so rewarding. I can't say that the fear ever goes away
because I still have this fear of talking to people in the street. But the
rewards never stop. Seeing the people of Colombia change their lives to
come unto Christ is something I Hope I'll be able to see when I get home.
(I'm totally going to do all I can to visit after my mission). The
blessings aren't limited to just missionaries. The Members are all entitled
to blessings that come from missionary work, even if they don't wear a
piece of black plastic on their chest. The only difference between the
members and the full time missionaries are the rules, the fact we do it full
time and the piece of black plastic. But as the prophets have always said,
"Every member a missionary." The First Presidency message in the beginning
of Preach My Gospel says it all. There really isn't any work more
satisfying like this one. Whether you be a young deacon, laurel or an old
high priest like my dad, this work is for you. Share the gospel with a
neighbor, friend, random person in the airport, ANYONE!!! Because they are
also children of God and deserve the same opportunity to return to him as we
do. So just DO IT!.

I suppose that now that I've written all of that I have to apply it... Haha.

I love you mom! you're the best!!!

Elder JSKINNY

Popayan and then Transfered back to Cali

The Central Park of Popayan

Sounds like everything is OK. (teehee!)

We've honestly had kind of a crappy week. We had very few appointments and
the ones we did have were kind of okay or not very good. We've been kind of
discouraged but it's only going up.

We have the new initiative for Easter!!! It's SOOOOO COOOL!!! Very
spiritual and I just love to think about our family being in the video and
saying stuff about Grandma Joyce and Grandmommy and all of the other passed
relatives that we have. It's pretty cool and the cards are so pretty. Ever
Single one of these new church missionary events just get better and
better. So that's going to be fun to use if we can get into the habit of
passing the cards out.

See Video HERE 

We are in the BEST place for Easter. Popayan is FAMOUS for it's culture
during Semana Santa and stuff like that.

(From Google Images)

Really cool but it's the time when
all the Catholics who don't normally go decide to be very die hard. So it's
easier to talk about Jesus because we are in the Easter mood but it's hard
to get anyone REALLY interested. Whatevs though. ALL IS WELL!

I love you!!! 
Love,
Elder Skinner

March 28th 

Well, Sadly I've been transferred to Cali. I'm now in Israel 2 with my
comp, Elder Chicaiza from Guayaquil, Ecuador. That's from Dad's mission too. He's
cool and has about 6 months in the mission.
(Didn't get any pictures from him for Easter in Popayan, so he must have missed it...)

 
I'm still district leader and ready to ROMPERLA! I'm pretty excited for
this transfer.

I got your package!!!! I love you guys so much!! I already gave away almost
all of the flags. They're a HUGE hit. A lot bigger than I thought they
would be. And the only lame part of your package was that YOU thought it
was lame. ;) I loved it and now I'm super hyped up on candy and probably on
my way to being  a diabetic....

Pedro is waiting til June to be baptized. :( He's really excited to keep coming to
church and is now showing up before the other members even get there.
Really cool. I just hope that he keeps going strong cause he said that he
wouldn't come back to church if they changed me.

Short letter, I know. I'm getting better at soccer but still not great.
Finding some cool things to bring home.

I love you mom!!! You're my favorite. Say hi to everyone for me.

Elder Skinner 

Miracle Contact?

So this has been a a pretty good week. We had this crazy miracle experience
the other day when we went to teach an investigator. While we were there,
her cousin gets there and starts to talk with us. Our investigator said,
"hey these guys can talk to you about Jesus!"

HE proceeded to tell us that he had this book that someone gave him four
months ago as a crack addict, along with many other books. He pulled out
the very familiar blue Book of Mormon and when we pulled out ours, he said
"hey that's my book!" (or something like that). He then told us his story.
To buy more crack, he sold all of the books but for some reason held onto
the Book of Mormon because it made him curious. He had it in his room for
four months and for some reason felt like he should bring it with him that
day. We just "happened" to be there that day and we had a very powerful
lesson with him. We talked about baptism and without hesitation, accepted a
date. We testified that this was God telling him to listen to us and follow
Jesus Christ. STELLARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!.

I now know more than ever that Heavenly Father really is preparing the
hearts of these people. He isn't just leaving us alone and watching,
but rather his hand is in the work. right next to our hands.

Still don't know my return date exactly. So i'll ask President to see what
he says.

I love you and I hope you have MORE FUN!!!!

Love

Elder Eskinner.

Training in Popayan

Sounds like some crazy stuff has been happening. I really like the most retro derby car you guys made. It sounds like he had the most style out of them all.

The new comp is pretty dang cool! He's form Bolivia and is 18 years old. I really like training. It's been VERY stressful because he's not really used to being bossed around and sometimes just doesn't want to listen to me. But he's very excited and is definitely on the mission for the right reasons.

It's been a LOOOOOONG week though. It reminds me so much of my training. In Popayan and everything. It's actually bringing back some of the homesickness I felt in my training in a strange sort of way. But no biggie. Getting better!!!

We had some cool experiences. We were walking to one of our scheduled
appointments in the night time and on the way there, I had this weird feeling that we shouldn't go to that appointment. I kind of shrugged it off until i thought we were going to be robbed and then suggested that we go a different way with more street lights, because it was dark. Well, the feeling just kept coming until I said, "Okay, we can't go to this
appointment". When I said it, Elder Mariaca also felt something weird. So we went to a nearby less active part member family to teach them. Well we got there and everything was going to normal until we heard their 6 month old baby screaming like crazy from the room. Turns out the mom was folding something and the baby fell and bonked her head pretty hard on the floor and was hysterical!!! So they brought her in and they were both in like this weird mad but panicked mood. They asked for a blessing and so we went and washed
our hands to give her one. We blessed her and then we left and sent the war mission leader to see if everything was okay. The next day, the son came to church and we later found out that Emily (the little baby) was perfectly fine after we left. We passed by that night and saw that her big goose egg was now just a little red scratch. They committed to come to church next week so the husband of 20 years old can get the Priesthood and his wife can get baptized. It was truly amazing because who knows what would have happened if we hadn't followed the prompting to go them? Nuts!!! I LOVE THE SPIRIT.

I love you, mom! I feel the prayers lifting my head up every time I'm feeling down.

I don't know the exact date. But my friend in the office who's form my group said we'll be going home somewhere around the 2nd of August. Yikes!!!!

Love you all!!!

Su favorito misionero,

Elder Esniker

TRAINING!!!

Sounds like you've got your hands full of responsibility!! And guess what...
ME TOO!!!

Transfers came in last night and Elder Guerrero left at 4 this morning for
Pasto. Really cool and I'm happy for him. He's a good guy. But I was shocked
to hear that my new companion really IS new. I'M GOING TO BE
TRAINING!!!!!!!! I'm getting a greeny named Elder Mariaca. I don't know
where he's from but I know that I'm gong to Cali on Wednesday to pick him
up. I'm actually really excited. It was something I dreaded for SO long but
now that it's here and I'm coming out of a good companionship, I'm really
looking forward to it. From the sound of his name, he's from Peru, Bolivia,
or Ecuador. I'm currently with Elder Smith form Riverton, Utah who will also
be training for his first time. He's pretty cool and we are having some
fun.

The week was a good one. Still having a problem with being sleepy. But I'm
sleeping wonderfully! And having some crazy dreams. Super weird ones. But I
kind of like it. It's like I'm dreaming a music video to a Psychedelic Rock
song. Quite stellar.

Owen's car was DEFINITELY the coolest one there. Doesn't matter if he won
any prizes because he already has the best family in the world.

(Owen's pinewood derby car-3D printed exterior over the wood block from the kit. He got most Retro-tastic!)

Loving life here in Popayan. Even though I'm soaked to the bone by the
rain.

I love you mom! You're the best and now I can try out my new goals about
taking iniciative.

Elder Jenky

Valentines on a mission is just another day...I HOPE!

 
Yooooooooo!!! Sounds like some fun things have been happening. Most of
which being involved with Guitar Center, Roller Coasters and Gram and
Grandad, in that order (just kidding haha!)

It's been a pretty great week. We had a baptism on Saturday for a recent
convert's daughter and that was super cool. She really likes the church and
after being baptized said that she felt like a burden had been lifted.So
it's cool to see the promise that the First Presidency made in the
introduction to Preach My Gospel. Read it and weep!!!! Because it it 100%
truth.

Today during study I had a pretty cool insight. I was reading in Alma 10
when Amulek is talking to the people and he says that he didn't recognize
the things of God because of the wickedness of his heart. Well, that's a
lot like Laman and Lemuel in 1Nephi 15 when they say "The lord maketh no
such thing known unto us" when Nephi asks them if they had prayed about
their doubts. The insight was that really, we cause our own confusion.
Someone who is not willing to try living the word of wisdom because he
doesn't understand will never understand because of the "wickedness of his
heart". We have the answers or at least a way to get them. All we have to
do is look.

Also, whilst I was showering this morn, I had one of those, "I love the
mission" moments. Because of the mission, I've really come to know my
Heavenly Father and what he wants for me. I really have grown to love the
promise that families ARE forever! Forever would be a long time to spend
without the people I love.

I love you mom!!!! I'm getting better about standing up for myself. 

Love

Elder Skywalker (Skinner)   AUDIO FILE




 Colombia never fails to have new, weird fruits! This is Guama.



 This looks so gross to me! Like little baby mice or something. -mom






And this looks like some animal toe or hoof. UG! haha -mom

No word if it was any good...