speechless

Dear Family,

On Friday morning, we had a surprise devotional with Elder Nash and Elder Godoy (the area president and his first counselor). They squeezed in a little time for us before their flight out of town. (They were in town with Julie Beck and Cheryl Lant for a special conference with the Relief Society.) Elder Godoy has a portuguese accent. It wasn't hard to understand him, but it was new.

When Elder Nash spoke to the missionaries, it was fantastic. While he's looking at you, you just know he loves you. His message was impressively taylored to our needs. He talked about obedience and faith, how the two build on each other. Often a good measure of our faith is the measure of our obedience. I loved the way he taught from the scriptures and involved us in the teaching. In the end, he extended a commitment to all of us, and he told us not to speak out loud our answer, but to just think it. It was amazing! I didn't say a word but my entire being was filled with the Spirit and I was committed to doing what he invited us to do. He taught us that teaching by the Spirit isn't all about speaking. He showed us that he could feel our answers without having to hear them. Then he promised the accompanying blessings.

I wish I could express better just how I felt at the end of that devotional, but "inspired" might be as simple as it gets. I wish I could write more as well, but time is up. Some internet glitches threw things off, but I won't complain. I hope you are all doing well, living the Gospel and trying to do what's right. I'm enjoying missionary work immensely!

Love,
Elder Withers