We Are All Enlisted

Hello Everyone!!

This week has flown by!! It probably went extra fast becasue I was finally back to work and not laying in bed 24/7! It was nice to get back to work! Really tiring but nice. Things are going well here Tagbilaran. I feel 100% which is awesome and the work is movin along. JJ, an investigator, is finally starting to come to church and we set a date for Feb. 8! We are super excited about that. Elder Ymas is great. It's different having a filipino companion but it's awesome. I think I mentioned last week that he is from Davao so he is a native Cebuano speaker which is helping or hopefully helping my Cebuano. He and his family are converts. They were converted in 2002 so he was 12 years old and so that's really cool! He said his dad was a heavy drinker before but is completely clean now. They were catholic before and he said his mom new that they had to be baptized by immersion and the catholoic church doesn't do that so she started searching for churches that do do that and she found the missionaries. Really cool. elder Ymas is super nice and funny. so I have been studying grace the past few days and I have a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it. i've learned so much about grace. It's amazing that as we search, ponder, and pray and desire knowledge, the Lord gives it to us. all we have to do is desire, ask, and search. I've had some amazing personal studies the past few days. Some of the best on my mission so far. I read "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox in the September Liahona and it was amazing to say the least. You all need to go read it right now! I'm serious it opened my eyes to what grace really is. Also read in the Bible dictionary, the definition for grace and John chapter 15. Grace is the constant power and strength we receive from Heavenly Father and the Savior to do what they have asked us to do. As we put forth our best effort to do what they have commanded we receive immediately the strenght to do it. it says in the scriputres that the Savior progressed from grace to grace also until he received of the fulness of the Father. We too, progress from grace to grace. We receive the strenght we need for the given moment, for the given trial, and when another trial comes, we receive the strenght or the grace to overcome that one. I hope this is all making sense. Grace is also the power that saves us from our sin. When we fall short, and as we repent grace is given and we are forgiven. That is the most common understanding of grace I would say. The other part, the constant strenght and power part, is something i didn't know but I love. I've seen it so much on my mission so far. I have to wake up at 6:30 every day which I was really worried about and you all know how worried i was about it but i've been doing it for 4 and a half months. as I've done my part, the Lord has granted me grace to be able to do it. He did the same thing while i was sick the other week. He's done it time and time again and I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for Him and His mercy towards me. I love Him so much. i'm just amazed at how merciful our lives are. Everything in our lives is proof of how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how merciful and kind He is. I love Him and I'm so grateful for Him and for His plan for us. I'm so grateful that families can be forever and that we can live with our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ for eternity. My last thought comes from a talk Elder Holland gave a few years ago in priesthood called "We Are All Enlisted." You all should go listen and read that talk. It's amazing like Elder Holland's talks always are. But he talks about how we need to be a voice not only against evil but for good. Our Heavenly Father needs children that will fight. He ends the talk with lyrics from we are all enlisted. "Haste to the battle, quick to the field, truth is our helmet, buckler and shield. Stand by our colors, proudly they wave. We're joyfully, joyfully marching to our home." I know this church is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that this is His work. I pray that we will fight for Him who fights so dearly for us. I love Him and am so grateful for Him. I know that He is the Christ and that He will come again. I love you all and pray for you more than you'll know!!
Love, Elder Fox

"so first i was iron man, then joseph smith, then superman, and now i'm a jedi haha this is what we did last night after a long day of work."