Know This, That Every Soul is Free

This week has been pretty busy for us, but some awesome stuff came out of it! President wanted us to set up a slideshow of baptism pictures on a TV in the office, with background music and everything, and he bought an asus vivostick for the job. I was assigned to make it all work, and I wanted it to be flexible and efficient, so as I did research on different technologies I could use, I decided to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux, or in short, Ubuntu inside of Windows. I ended up running syncthing to sync the pictures and music, mpd on windows, with mpc on the linux part to play the music, and VcXsrv with feh on linux to play the slideshow. It runs super fast, and is super dynamic. It's super cool!

We also had P-Day today, and went to the Zoo! It was so much fun! We got there and saw sea otters, a giraffe, an electric eel, camels, sloths, spider monkeys, etc. It was so much fun, and made so much the better because we went with President and his family! They then took us out to lunch and we got a ton of food! It was so cool!

We also had a super cool lesson with some of our investigators this week! We taught the Word of Wisdom, and Cesar had read it, and had no problems with it at all. His daughter hadn't read it, and when we asked her why, she said she got back late from youth camp. It was awesome! They are just the best! They said that in between our visits, they feel an absence, which means they are really feeling the spirit! And then, the Mom, Francia, a recently activating member, asked for a health blessing, and we explained it, and it was so cool to be able to tell Cesar, "You'll be able to do this for your wife in the future!" It was absolutely incredible!

I also have been thinking a lot about a hymn that we never sing at home, "Know This, That Every Soul is Free." It's super interesting, because it talks about how the way our life goes is up to us, and that God will help, persuade, and "in endless ways be good and kind, but never force the human mind." It was so cool to realize how much he trusts us, because he's not going to prevent us from messing up! We are in complete control over how much we let him help us, and he is always willing to do so. But he will never preemptively help us. It's as we begin to practice that and really see his hand changing our lives, to the extent we allow it, that our faith begins to grow "unshaken" as Jacob says, and we will be able to live happy lives here, and have eternal joy in the life to come. I know it's true, and I love it!

I love you all!

--Dallin