Dear Family!


This past week has been a week of miracles and blessings! I have felt the lords love in every moment and I feel humble that we have been blessed so richly. This past Monday we traveled to the capital and visited the Family of Thelma Endicott (she is a friend of Dad). Their family kindly gave us lunch and we ate some really tasty traditional Guatemalan food called Pepian and Revolcado. That evening we went and stayed in one of my old areas and I was able to visit recent converts and members to say goodbye! It was a great day!

The next day we woke up early and went to a conference where we were blessed to meet and listened to Elder Renlund of the quorum of the 12, His wife, and elder Alonzo of the 70 and his wife.

After several other meetings on Tuesday we made the 4 hour trip to our area in asuncion mita and we got to work. This week we focused on the Family of heribeto, Carolina, and Ruth. Heriberto dropped his work and rest and spare time and made a 3 day trip to El Salvador this week to obtain the paperwork to be married on Saturday. They were married on Saturday evening and after attending church yesterday almost all of our branch gathered for their baptism. It was a spiritual experience and we are so excited for them and their goal to be sealed in the temple as a family in one year!

Elder Renlund said ¨Even more than know about Jesus Christ... I have grown to know His personality... He is kind, loving,Patient, wise, firm, and more than anything He loves to heal.. He loves to take that which is broken and dysfunctional and to repair and to succor so that is may become whole.¨

During my mission I have witnessed the healing power of the Atonement. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves us. I know that each and every one of us is worthy of divine rescue and healing. It is a choice to allow our lives to be strengthened by the enabling power of the atonement. We can choose to accept it and we can choose to help and guide others so that they might choose happiness. I know that as we loose ourselves serving others we find true joy. We honor the Savior not only in word but in the way we live.

Although it is very hard to end the mission I know that these past two years have been the best two years for my life. I Love each of you and I am so very grateful for all of your prayers and support. I am Excited to see you this week!

Love,

Elder Baldwin

Well... this is very strange to think this is the last time I will write you as a missionary en la Guatemala. These two years will be a treasure for you to look back on throughout your life. You have learned a lot about who you are and who you want to be. You've gone through some incredibly tough times when you've missed the people, places, and things you grew up loving. You've gone through physical challenges that you never imagined a couple of years ago. You've mastered a foreign language and all of the challenges associated with that. You've lived most of these 2 years with companions from many different countries and overcome all of the associated cultural differences, yet managed to work together to focus on the things you had in common. You've dealt with some pretty major health challenges that seemed like would go on forever. You've learned a lot about leadership and seen first hand how all of your preparation as a deacon, teacher, and priest have prepared you as an Elder You've learned a lot about what you are capable of achieving and what you are capable of overcoming. In short,you've learned who you are and who you want to become. Now you have the confidence to conquer the world. Just think about the time you spent in the office and all of the interactions you had with officials. Additionally, think about the habits you have established. 

More than anything, think about the people you have come to know, come to love, and seen transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have witnessed first hand some of the most important work being done on the earth! How incredible is it to think about the number of people you have come to love and serve. You can only imagine how much they cherish the message the you brought to them and how long would they have had to wait had you not chosen to serve??
Well done elder Baldwin. Well done. 

Know that mom and I are so very proud of you. We can't wait to see you in a few days. We love you. Dad.