Family

Dear Mom and Dad!

25 years! Amazing!

We talked to a woman in the grocery store today. She has been married 55 years! I told her you had your anniversary yesterday and she said, “Oh the second 25 years are harder!” ha ha. So hang on! You’re not out of the water yet! But you are both amazing and I know you are in it for much longer than 50 years! I’m grateful for the gospel! And I’m especially grateful for temples where we can be sealed together as a family for eternity! I keep reflecting back to when little Damiance told us she didn’t want to go to heaven if her family isn’t there.

Our ward had their primary program yesterday and each young child bore their testimony of “eternal families.” I couldn’t believe how powerful the Spirit bore witness to the truth of those simple words they spoke! We have a Heavenly Father who sent us to earth to learn and grow and become like Him. He gave us families to help each other. The longer I’m out here the more I’m realizing how Satan is literally destroying the concept of “family.” Society is trying to make the ‘individual’ the “fundamental unit of society,” but in any healthy society the ‘family’ is truly that fundamental unit. And it’s because it’s an eternal principle!

We’re teaching a sweet woman named Mary! Oh I love her and her family so much! She lives with her son and 14 year old granddaughter and they are a neat little family! The other day we were driving to another neighborhood but the Spirit prompted us to stop at Mary’s. So we did. We found out it had been an extremely hard week for their family. Mary’s granddaughter is in a difficult circumstance with friends and drugs and it’s been hard on everyone. We had a beautiful lesson with Mary about the Holy Ghost and how that peace and comfort can be a reality in our lives.

I couldn’t get them out of my mind this week. I become more and more grateful everyday for the gospel in our family! We are so blessed!

Martin came to church yesterday! We were excited because we haven’t seen him for awhile with his work schedule. He was touched by the primary kids! Who wasn’t?! Actually all of our meetings were centered on the family and eternal marriage. So Satan is on the offense, but we’re still standing our ground!

I love this gospel. Really it is the way to find peace in this crazy world! Mom, I’m so proud of you for doing acts of service! See! It’s a wonderful feeling!

I sure love you all! And I love this work!

Sister Painter