Don't be offended!!! Its a choice.

Hola!

   Happy P-Day! And more importantly, Happy Birthday,(Yesterday), Mom!!! I hope it was a good day! I'm sure that you had a good time! My letter for you should be arriving shortly, I just have to go buy some more stamps today! :)
   This week has been really good! I'm back with Elder Tellez and we've been working hard! On Friday, we were invited to go to a Funeral with one of the members in our ward. He wanted us to share a message and help him prepare something to say because almost everyone that was going to be there were not very religious.  But the Funeral was up in L.A., so we had to get permission from our  mission president, but he told us that this was a great opportunity and to represent the church well. So, we went up to L.A. for this Funeral and we, (mostly Elder Tellez because my Spanish is still terrible), got up and answered tons of questions at this funeral. We ended up teaching a couple lessons and making some new friends. The member that we went with really appreciated us being there and we were able to help out a lot with the funeral.
   Also! Vicente from my old area, and his two brothers, Genaro and Alex, should be getting baptized really soon. Genaro and Alex were supposed to get baptized yesterday but they ended up going up to visit their Uncle in Riverside. SO, their date is being pushed back, and Vicente might be a little longer then that, but they are the best. I love those guys and they've became some of my closest friends. In our area, we are teaching a family of 15 brothers. Five of them are really interested and most of them just got here from Mexico. We are really excited about them because they are sincerely interested in what we have to say, which doesn't happen that much haha. So, I'll keep you updated on that!
   This week, we had a Multi-zone conference and President Orgill gave a training on not being offended and he gave us a talk by Elder Bednar about it, and I love it. He explains it so plainly, and lovingly. Being offended is a choice, and as Saints, we should never, ever choose to be offended. I love that because I know a lot of people out here that have been offended by the church and have stopped attending their meetings and enjoying the blessings from being an active member in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In Elder Bednar's talk he says, "Dear Friend, We are here today to counsel you that the time to stop being offended is now. Not only do we need you, but you need the blessings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please come back, Now." I love that. You can feel the love and concern in his voice. I encourage all of us to remember that we are Children of our Heavenly Father endowed with agency, and being offended is a choice. It is not a condition afflicted on us.
   Thank you all so much! I hope you have a good week! Love you!