Hi mom,
Well, now I've actually spent about a week in Hollywood, and it's nothing like the movies. It's actually really ghetto, but then again, I don't hang out in the nice part of town. you were actually probably closer then your calculations, because we're pretty close to the edge of our mission here.
This week was really good. We found some new investigators, lots of cool futuros in a part that hasn't been touched before and set a fecha with a grandma for the 30 of April. We just need to make sure we have time for all the work that we're getting. I've been very blessed with productive areas.
I loved conference this week. Elder Uchtdorf was on a role with his jokes and Elder Holland was right about the Ice cream for the end of conference (i didn't have any, back on a no sweets binge, but I know a few others who did). President Monson didn't say much, but it was still powerful. I think mostly I got "know and do your duty" and "it's time to start looking for your wife" out of this one. There was more out there, but it was mostly just that.
A cool thought that came to my mind this morning during studies. The path back to Heavenly Father is straight and narrow, but what we do in this life doesn't matter so much. I'm not talking about sin, doing evil, and all that. I mean for job or collage. That is all minor details. God will give us counsel on what we can or shouldn't do, but he trusts our agency enough to let us make our own decisions on this matter.
We all have personal agency and no parent should beat themselves up because one of their children fell away from the church. It doesn't have to do with the way or perfection of the parents or their teaching it's a matter of agency. If it were always the parents fault that their kids fall away, then no one would ever fall away, because we have perfect Heavenly Parents you teach us perfectly. This is a basic truth of the Gospel. We hurt when we watch a loved one walk away from the church and the gospel we believe to be true (because we do not have a perfect knowledge of things). Our Heavenly Parents hurt even more as they watch all of us fall and try to improve, and they nearly die when they watch us give up and stop trying, turn our backs on them and the Gospel and do what we know to be wrong. They also cheer and throw a party when they watch us make the right choices and start coming home by turning on the engine of Priesthood power in our lives (via the keys they've given us) through Baptism, confirmation, and other ordinances they have given us. I know this is true, because I've been able to feel a small incline of this joy every time I watch someone be baptized, and especially when it's someone I've grown to love through the process of teaching, praying, and being concerned for they're salvation