so maybe ive mentioned a few of these thoughts before but i dont remember anything about anything ive said ever. so here we go. one of the things that people hear a lot from returned missionaries when they get back is how much they love the people from their mission (country, state, etc). and i always thought (for a while anyway) how weird it was to say that you could just straight love every possible person from a country. but then you go on a mission. so lemme preach for a second about the workings of love. at first in my mission i thought man i just need to be out on the mission for x months and i will just automatically love the people. i mean after so many months you just magically know a language and love people right? wrong. love comes, not just from time, but from knowing. think about all the people you really love in the world. and notice something, you know them pretty well. and think about all the people that love you. they know you pretty well. the ability to just love all the people in my mission doesnt come because its just more convenient to work and say that i love these people but rather because we develop the ability to recognize all these people for who they are. now its impossible to say that i know all of these people really well to be able to love them. but i look at a man and know that he is a father. he is a son. he is a brother. he is a worker. he is a dreamer. a woman is a mother, a sister, a daughter, an aspirer, a laugher. a child is a brother, sister, future father or mother, future leader, soccer player, student. and how many people do we know that are like that? i am a future father, i am a future worker, i am a leader, i am a dreamer. and so is just about anyone else i know. i am not here to brag and say that i am now an amazing person that can love just about every darn person i meet. some people are certainly harder to love than others. but there has never been a person that ive known really well (their trials, their hopes, their past, their present, or their possible future) that i have hated. its impossible. and that is exactly why jesus christ loves all of us, every single one, so perfectly as well. because there is no one else that knows us better then He (our trials, our hopes, our past, our present, and definitely our future). that is the reason He can love so purely. so let us practice this pure love with more of the people we meet. if we can begin seeing them as they are, children of God, and just get to know a little bit about them, we can develop this perfect Christlike love. that is something that i have been learning and, in my new area here, have realized as in only a few short weeks in San Julián i feel a great love for these people, some that i may only be just getting to know. i love each and every one of you and hope for the best in this next week. imma pray for you all in the temple tomorrow!
Elder Abilez
Pupusa Count: 30
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