E-mail received 3/8/2010

I'm glad you got the photos. Yeah i've lost more weight since then. I'm down to 217! Woo! I'm not so much getting slimmer anymore so much as I'm getting ripped. (pronounce rip-ed) I can print pictures myself here at the walmart so if I want prints of pictures I can get them myself. However pictures of people back home would be nice. Like people in the ward and how they're doing and if you run into any of my friends a picture of them would be nice too. Elder Q is fine. I definitely have grown to appreciate Elder T a lot more. We argue sometimes but we solve it pretty quick. All and all we get along just fine. He's definitely from Utah that's for sure. Growing up in a place where the Gospel is generally accepted breeds a different kind of missionary in most cases. Hopefully my future eternal companion and I get along better. I think we'd have to before I'd be comfortable enough to pop the question. Being with a companion out here really does in many ways prepare you, I think, to have an eternal companion because of the love that you have to "make" so that you can stand being 24/7 with a person. Definitely makes me think about the people I've dated in the past and what, really, were their traits that I admired and traits that I probably could do without for eternity. Eternity is a pretty long time. I definitely have a lot more to think about than I have been. I feel like I have really grown out here just in the way I think about things. I was reading my old journal entries last night and I laughed a little bit about how immature I thought I was, and that was only about four months ago! The weather here has actually gotten really nice and sunny. Elder Q hates the heat but I love it! I really miss the warm West Coast. A couple interesting stories this week. I had my first run in with the cops. We were tracting in Andover, NJ and we got in our car to go to another appointment and the cop pulled up next to us. Apparently someone had complained about us going door to door. He was nice enough because we really weren't doing anything wrong. Proselyting is different than soliciting so they can't do anything to us but we were encouraged to go and apply for a soliciting permit just so things go smoother the next time someone complains. We've actually done a lot of good work this week from following up on referrals we've gotten from members. We've been teaching this one guy who's really interested. The Gospel just seems to really hit home with him and he really likes it. He came to church for the first time yesterday and he really like the lesson in elders quorum about moral courage. I think he'll be in the water in no time but it really is great to see the Gospel touch someone in such a profound way. A couple of our members haven't been coming to church so we visited them to find out why. We eventually found out the main reason they haven't been coming is because they really have been slacking on reading their scriptures. I believe it was Gordon B. Hinkley who said that in order to bind people to the church they must have a friend, a calling, and be nourished by the good word of God. While we seem to always strive for the first two, I believe the nourishing with the scriptures is by far the most important. It reminds me of when Dad always said that we needed to be spiritually fed and I would come up with some literary rebuttal to try and escape family scripture study but now I know that is probably the most important part of our day. We spend each morning, for two hours, studying the words of the prophets and nothing but that could really prepare us for the challenges ahead. I hope that you all are doing diligent and faithful scripture study for as the Lord said in Section 103 of the Doctrine and Covenants that all victory and all glory comes to us through diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith. I hope that Katelyn and Maleah are diligently making time to study their scriptures on their own and greater that all of you back home are making concerted efforts to study together as a family from the words which promise to bind us and to bring us together unto Christ. There is no other name given by which salvation cometh. I pray that you all may receive something from the scriptures that will strengthen and fortify your testimonies of the truth this week but that must start with you actually going to the scriptures to find that answer. If you feel like you aren't getting answers the real question you should ask yourself is "Are you really looking for them? Or are you just hoping that the answer will come spontaneously?" Something Mom always said is "You won't find it by standing there. Look for it!" Similarly you won't find the answer by sitting there. Look for it! In the scriptures. As you do you will find what you seek. Seek and ye shall find. But it starts with seeking. This I say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder Guinto