Hi dad!
Jordan's home! Wow! I literally cannot believe it! It seemed like so not long ago when he left!
You've been a bishop for that long already? wow.
Haha that was a lame restate of your letter, but I read it and I liked it all. :)
I think the Atonement should rightly be the favorite part of the gospel for everyone, since everything in the Gospel revolves around it. But one thing that I have come to understand is God's wisdom shown through the gospel. I love that the gospel makes sense! It isn't vague, or strange, or full of rituals or scriptures that we don't understand or gods who are "unknowable." The gospel is clear in who God is, why we are here, and how we can get back to God. That's kind of everything in forever, when you think about it! Everything I do or study in the gospel has understandable application for my own life, and by applying it I understand more about God because He shows us His will as we follow it. I try and find out about other religions and I just can't understand them sometimes. For example, and as an honest example - there are a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses here, and I have yet to understand why knowing "the name of God" is so important for their religion. I mean, it is important, but basing doctrine and a church around something so specific is hard to understand. Our church is based on Christ. That's it! Because it's through Christ that we have everything. He is the Creator, the Savior and Redeemer, and our King. What else could the true church be about? It's things like that that I think about sometimes. I love that I can understand, and continue to study and gain more knowledge that I understand. I also have understood something about grace recently. There is a talk by I don't remember who where they compare the grace of Christ to piano teaching. Christ didn't "make up" for what we can't achieve - there isn't a line where we have to get to and Christ will do all the rest, Christ did everything, and we have to do what HE asks, not necessarily "pay the debt." For piano teaching, Christ "payed for our piano lessons" when we don't have any way to pay them. Now, he doesn't ask us to pay anything else, but he asks us to "practice the piano," and do something with the debt that was already paid. I hope that that analogy makes sense through email the same as it did when I heard it. I really loved the analogy and it made me understand grace so much better!
Alright, well, sorry that was kind of a lame letter. But I love you! Good work at work! Have fun in your big long meetings!
Love, Elder Valentine!
Dear Elder Valentine,
Hi, Spencer! I’m back in town for a couple of weeks. This is a busy travel season for me. In about three weeks I’ll be headed to London and then to Israel. I had a great trip to Vermont. It was fun because I got to talk about the Church to a bunch of business executives. I shared with them why the Church has temples and why we do family history work. It was really enjoyable to talk about our focus on families and that we believe that family relationship will continue after death. I also got to visit Sharon, Vermont while out on my trip. I think I sent you pictures. I hope so! It was pretty cool to visit Joseph Smith’s birthplace. We have a nice visitor center there, and you can also see the foundation of the house that belonged to Solomon Mack, the grandparents of Joseph. I love our Church! I love our history!
So Jordan Jaramillo came home yesterday, and was in church today! After giving me a big hug his first question was about you. He wanted to know how you are doing and I told him that you’re having a great mission and tearing it up in Portugal. It was so great to see Jordan. You just can’t believe how much Jordan has grown. He is so mature in the Gospel, so solid in his testimony. It’s also really weird because Jordan was the first missionary that I sent out while bishop, and now he’s back!! I’ve been bishop long enough to have missionaries coming and going! You will be home before you know it, my son. Work your guts out!!
I think about this same thing in my calling. This December will be exactly 2.5 years for me. Most bishops are in for five years, so that would make it half way for me. Yikes!! That makes me nervous that I haven’t done enough and haven’t worked hard enough. I know you know what I’m saying. You and I both want to do our best while we can. So I promise to do all I can to be a better bishop; I know you’re doing all you can to be a great missionary!
Last email you asked me my favorite part of the gospel. That’s a great question. Of course I love the doctrine of the temple. I love the ordinances and covenants that we make. I love that we can provide saving ordinances for our entire family, both the living and the dead. I love the focus on family and service, missionary work, the humanitarian focus of the church. I love so much of the gospel. But the thing that I love the most is the atonement of Jesus Christ. Many churches believe in the atonement, but none of them understand the fulness of the atonement that we understand. We know that it covers every person who has ever lived. We know that it enables us to become perfect, not just redeems us from our sins. We know that we can become a God, not just an angel. We know that we can thus be with our families for ever. We know that grace saves us after all we can do. This are glorious doctrines, and only we truly understand them! Yes, this is what I love the most.
What about you? What is your favorite doctrine or part of the gospel? Before I go I should also mention that I LOVE the Book of Mormon. I have a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. I love reading it. I love talking about it. I love quoting it and teaching from it. I know you do too!
By the way, your mother is just finishing the Doctrine and Covenants. That means she’ll have read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and New Testament this year. She’s amazing!!
I gotta go now. It’s about midnight and I have an early morning. I can’t wait to hear from you tomorrow!
Have a great week!
Love,
Dad
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