February 21st Email !!!!

Hey Everyone,

This week has been a little different than most but that's what keeps me on my toes out here. We had two missionaries at different times spend time with us on their last day in the field. Elder Dooley who had finished his two years and Elder Gallagher who unfortunately tore his ACL and had to go home early for surgery. It was tough to see him go we were going to be going home at the same time and he just did not want to go home. He's a great guy and hopefully, if the Lord sees it fit, he'll come back out. I'd like to share a story about a great finding experience. It was Saturday morning and Elder Cook and I had just finished helping our ward clean the building and had some time before we picked up Elder Meiners and his trainee Elder Boehme to take them grocery shopping. So since there is nothing going on campus on a Saturday morning we decided to at least drive around campus and see if there might be anything. As we were leaving campus I pulled up to a stoplight to turn right and a guy that was gonna cross stopped to let me go by and our windows were down and I'll just put the conversation like a script haha me "go ahead a cross bro" robert "thanks....are you guys the men in black?" me "almost but not quite (laughs) we are missionaries from our church, you mind if I give you a card" robert "not at all, you guys are mormons right?" me "yea, have you heard of the church before?" robert "yea, you guys give out free books and I was trying to get one back in Miami but I ended up moving down here before I could get one" me "of course! our cell phone number is at the bottom of the card and just give us a call and we'll come down and give you one and explain to you about what the book is about" So then we exchanged information and just a hour later he called!! We went down to his house and gave him a copy and taught him about The Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him this week to teach him more. I love seeing the blessings of simply opening your mouth and talking to people about the gospel because you just never know where the Lord's elect are unless you talk to everyone! I have been thinking a lot about remembering. President Kimball once said that the word, remember, was the most important word in the dictionary. I believe this is so. As we remember Him I would hope that we would pause each day and think about how we have seen His hand in our work each day.
President Eyring taught, “When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: ‘Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?’ As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.” As I cast my mind over our days, I see the evidence of what God has done for me. I see His hand in the small and simple things. I see His hand every morning as He wakes me up. I see his Hand as I kneel in prayer and a name comes to mind who needs a prayer. I see His hand in allowing me just enough time to get enough exercise to help energize me for the day. I see His hand in the discovery of Gospel Principles in individual and companionship study. My prayer is that you will see His hand in your life, especially in the small and simple things. Find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness and write them down so you won’t forget. The Holy Ghost will help you see what God has done for you. You will find that He loves us and blesses us more than we have recognized. If we will develop the pattern of remembering Him as we serve Him here, we will establish a pattern of remembering Him throughout our lives and serve Him forever.

I Love You All!

Elder Salmon