Good afternoon!!!!!
Well
I think the best way I can start of this letter is by saying this past
week has made me realize that the water cycle here is on steroids. Now
why is that you ask, well here's the reason. The past couple weeks has
been getting hot, and hotter and more like a furnace. Possibly hot
enough to relate to the furnace that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego
were tossed into in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Ok maybe
not that hot, so there is hot humid heat, then because Ocala is in the
middle of the state we get a lot of rain and storms from anything
brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. So it has rained a lot which is nice,
the temperature cools off a little while it is raining. But then once
the rain stops, and I mean immediately it starts to evaporate back up
into the sky. In a manner to where you can literally see the evaporated
water everywhere. And then it gets to be more humid than before it
rained and hotter. So maybe I'm make too big a deal out of this but oh
well. This paragraph was fun to write so I'll leave it in the letter.
Anyways I hope y'all had a great week this past week. I
know mine has been great! This week elder Bladen and I were able to
find and talk to a lot of new people. So that has been really good.
One thing I've noticed down here in Ocala is for some reason people like
to talk to us missionaries. We give out a lot of pass along cards to
people and so when we bike and somebody's walking we offer them one and
90% of the time they take one. And then most of the time they talk to
us for a while after we give them a card. It's great, there are so many
people here that are ready to learn more about Christ and his gospel.
And many have open minds so they don't just shut down and say they have
better things to do or they are just not interested in new stuff. But
not here in Ocala, ah lots and lots of fun here, I love it a ton.
One thing that has been awesome is we recently started doing
some service at a old historical inn that has been change into housing
for veterans. We help out a lot with grounds keeping, by planting new
flowers, putting down mulch, and anything they need to make it look
better. And it's a great place, it nice to be able to serve the
veterans, those who already served so much for all of us. They are
always nice to us and we have great conversations with them. So that
has been a lot of fun recently.
So I
was thinking about one last thing to talk about in this email and then I
thought of something. This week I have really been thinking of the
atonement of Jesus Christ. When he took upon him our pains, sicknesses,
and sin. The power of the atonement is infinite. So there is an
equation for it, infinity=the power of the atonement, -X=our sins.
Infinity + (-X) = Infinity. No matter how much we have sinned or if we
feel like we are not worthy of gods love the power of the atonement can
still help us. This is not to say we should just sin and all will be
well, we have to learn from our mistakes. Repent, and then the equation
comes into play. I know that through Christ we can all be clean. This
knowledge has brought me so much joy. Like the scripture in Isaiah 1:18,
18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.
I'm grateful for this gospel and what it has done for me. I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week!
~Elder Guinup~
Florida Jacksonville Mission
