Monday, June 6, 2016

Week 38: June 6, 2016

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