Minha Familia,
First of all, thank you so much for all of your support. I love every single letter and package that I get. Will you tell G.G. thank you for the box of Laura Bush's she sent me? haha They are delicious, and of course, they're individually wrapped. I love seeing the pictures of Henry, thanks for sending them in the emails. I don't know how, or if I can print them off. And I don't have time to try and figuire it out really. Mom, haha don't worry about the hangers, I got some here. People just leave them around. And don't worry about the Peanut Butter, it's a sacfrice I can make. Plus, I don't know if I can afford the weight in the luggage.
Well, to be honest, there aren't a ton of really spectacular events that go on here, except for all of the spiritual growth, of course. But most days look the same, and so I don't have many awesome stories. I did however, have an interesting encounter with an Elder. I was in the bathroom and so was he, and I read his nametag. Elder McLaws. I thought, what are the chances? Well, turns out it's Bishop McLaws nephew from Oregon. Once we figured it out, I recognized that he looks a lot like Jace. I see him all the time because we're both Brazil, so our classrooms are near each other.
Alright, maybe I lied about the lack of interesting events. Every week we have one fireside and one devotional, and they are always really moving. This last one was a speaker from the Church Missionary Dept. He spoke about love.
After he spoke, I was talking to Elder Powell, and I told him something like, "We always like talking about love, but I don't know if we ever learn much about it just from hearing words". (Something like that...) I started thinking about it a lot, and I don't think there is anything as omnipresent and as thoroughly mysterious as "Love". I don't really know where I'm going with this but hear me out. When we talk about love, the conversation is often laced with inadequate analogies and hollow superlatives. It's true, and I'm sure I'll use some myself, and that's because love is just difficult to understand. But I think one of the most basic priniciples of love is that love is power. Have you ever thought about how love has changed you or changed someone you know? Something else happened this week, and it relates, trust me.
My class room is on the same floor of the MTC that Ricole's friend, Kristen Hatch (aka, "K$") works on. The other day I ran into her and we started talking. Fact 1: Anyone who has heard Ricole talk about Kristen knows how much Ricole loves her. Fact 2: I love Ricole more than air. Fact 3: I don't know Kristen that well. Fact 4: Kristen loves Ricole, too. With all of that in place, something really cool happened when I talked to Kirsten. Because of all of the facts and assumptions, I felt a real concern for Kristen, and I know, I absolutely know, that despite fact 3, Kristen would take care of me if I needed it. Isn't that just the coolest thing? I don't think I explained it very well, but because of our shared love for Ricole, I saw Kristen as a friend, someone who was on my side, someone who was looking out for me. And we've only met twice now! I don't know, I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense, but it was really cool to me. Love is power, and in that case it was the power to connect two random people.
A second though about love's power. When we have love, when we have charity, it changes everything about us. It reminds me of a quote from Remember the Titans. I'll probably mess it up, but I'm sure Caitlin could give you the real quote. In summer camp, Coach Boone is yelling at his players as they do up-downs, or something like that. He screams, "We're gonna change the way we BLOCK! We're gonna change the way we TACKLE! We're gonna change the way we EAT! We're gonna change the way we WIN!"
When we have love, everything changes. Maybe the nature of the things themself don't change, but maybe we only see them differently. Because of my love for the Gospel, for my brothers and sisters, and for my Heavenly Father, I'm changing the way I study, the way I read, the way I speak, the way I pray, the way I see others around me, the way I feel, the way I look at trials. I'm changing so much. Family, I'm changing so much. And I'm so grateful for it. Changing is the ONLY way I can be capable of helping with this work, and love is the ONLY way by which I can change.
And it all starts, ends, and centers around the love of Jesus Christ. I don't claim to understand every aspect of God's love. I don't think I can in this life. But I know that God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son. And Christ so loved the world that He gave His Life. Christ is the power, He is love.
If I never learn Portuguese, I hope I at least learn how to love. Elder Holland said, "If you can't teach them today, love them today, and maybe you can teach them tomorrow". God loves AND teaches us every day, in His own ways, ways that we don't always understand.
Family, I love you. I love you so much. Thank you for e'rything.
Love,
Elder Jonathan Todd Rogers
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