09-14-09

Hey there, how's it going?
Well... another Sunday with no one at church and the poor Garcia family is going through their own trial of faith. They were out of town 3 Sundays ago, so they missed church. Then the next Sunday, school had started and all the kids were sick! Missed church again. Then yesterday we were expecting them for sure... Their van broke, no transportation left. Because a couple a months ago Alejandro got in a rollover accident and their car was totaled. They are struggling financially as is everyone else. But their trial of faith is tithing. I have seen miracles from it, especially in such hard times right now. The valley (Imperial Valley) has the highest un-employment rate in the nation & it's worse in the summers because the fields are closed. The economy here is basically held up by the Mexicans that come shopping here. It's hard to help people understand that God doesn't need their money - but they will be taken care of if they give it to Him. Even harder when you have no vehicle, empty cupboards & pantry, needs for a family full of kids going to school & the sickness that comes with that. We went over yesterday after church. Laura had allergies that were really bad. She doesn't have money to pay for medicine, their kitchen chair was broken and Alejandro was trying to fix it while we taught them the story of the 2000 stripling warriors. It's hard to see and not be able to do anything. This is a great test of faith for many people. Elder Grow
(70's that spoke at Stake Conference) said that is the reason there is no temple in TJ, or Mexicali, (Northern Mexico) One of the very best things about being a missionary is being able to promise blessings as an authorized representative of Jesus Christ. He will fulfill!~ Heavenly Father is humbling his children with the economy right now. The more obedient we are and the more we sacrifice for him, the more blessed we will be. He will take care of us in such hard times. He gives us challenges so that we will depend on Him. We have to learn this lesson! Pray for the Garcia's will ya? Man - we got caught in a massive sand storm the other day. We get them every so often, but this one was the worst yet, and we were outside! No rain, water, cold, nothing like that, just hot strong wind and lots of sand from the dunes. It's sorta like getting sand blasted. What a mess! But it was fun! So we went tracting this apartment complex in Holtville the other day. Playing with this new idea- "Hi, we're representatives of Jesus Christ, we would like to bless your home if that's okay with you?" We met a cool girl named Jessica. We are really excited about her. She's from L.A. - Awesome! We just had another really good zone conference. Really good! We finally get it! Big things are happening in missionary work around the world and we were the guinea pigs for it! Oh we got the new bible!! Yay! The Reina-Valera 2009, LDS edition! The 2ND most correct book on the earth after the Book of Mormon! Watch for it in conference in October. We got it! YaY! Sis. Donaldson brought us all three vita-lites this time. She came teaching with us over Youth conference (stake) weekend and got dehydrated and heat stroke, so we got more vita-lites. Really funny! Well, I guess that's all....
Hermana Baker

Also with this letter...
~Time Line of the Great Apostasy~
0 AD- Savior is born (5 years later changed to zero)
30 AD- Saviors earthly ministry
33 AD- Jesus Christ establishes his church, is rejected & crucified. His apostles are now in charge of his church.
42 AD- Peter calls Linus to be the Bishop of the church in Rome & establishes it.
43 AD- Paul goes back to Rome. Bishop Linus' church had gone apostate. Paul calls a different man named Linus to be a deacon over the church. (There is confusion with the 2 Linus' being one person)
64 AD- Nero, Leader of Rome, has Linus the deacon killed. The authorized church in Rome, disappears. The Christian church under Bishop Linus' church still existed.
70 AD- Jerusalem is destroyed
78 AD- The church in Rome receives a letter from one of it's members about how it is a "universal church". They decide to be called "The Roman Catholic" church.
96 AD- The Book of Revelations is written & John the Revelator disappeared to Patmus. The rest of the apostles were killed.
101 AD- The apostasy was complete in the world.
320 AD- Christian live (Apostate Christians) was hard
320 AD- Nicea creed was announced. The emperor Constantine held a council at Nicea to discuss the trinity. Church & state are now together. This begins the rein of Popes.
785 AD- Empress Irene is in charge & holds the 2ND Nicea Council. Commencing Idol worship. (Roman history & Catholic history are the same because Catholics were the roman government - they are the same history)
900 AD- Pope Joanna (woman) got pregnant & disappeared. (Lutheran church has physical evidence that there was a woman pope)
1100 AD- There were 3 popes at this point in time. They excommunicated each other then went to war with each other, to prove who was the true pope.
1200 AD- Printing press was invented. Pope innocent 3rd "Boss Pope" fought in a lot of wars, needed money to fight so he invent the "sales of indulgences" or to pay to have sins re-mitt ed.
1300 AD- Cultural revolution in Europe, the renaissance. (the printing press had people influenced, they began questioning until then only the elect could read full)
14921492 AD- Columbus sets sail
1515 AD- Martin Luther, Augustinian monk (one of the highest offices) disagreed wit the sales of indulgences. Nailed 95 grievances to the door of the church in Germany.
1515 AD- The reformation starts.
1523 AD- Martin Luther is excommunicated & the church puts out a warrant for his death. A group of reformists, also not in agreance with the church, hid M. Luther, and made him (either this or death) be the hero of the Lutheran church.
1534 AD- King Henry the 4TH wanted a divorce. (in the church, divorce is not permitted) The church denied his request, so he starts the Church of England (Today known as the Episcopal church) & gets a divorce from his wife.
1540 AD John Calvin a follower of M. Luther didn't agree with some of Luther's ideas. he started the Huguenots. Now known as the Presbyterian church in Switzerland & France.
1560 AD- John Knox in England didn't agree with Calvin or Luther so he started the Puritans.
1565 AD- Bartholomew Day
1620 D- Puritans come to America, Columbus invents a new nation.
1776 AD- Declaration of Independence to King George... A new nation is born. The revolutionary war, won the British by Gods intervention.
1781 Ad- War ends.
1785 AD- Philadelphia began writing constitution
1787 AD- Signed constitution
1805 AD- Birth of Joseph Smith
1812 AD- War of 1812 (beat British again)
1817 AD- Carl Marks born in Europe. The opposition raised his leader. (700 million communists)
1820 First vision, the restoration begins- the only time the church could possibly survive.
1830 AD- The Church of Jesus Christ is re-established (that day, the patent office was closed. They said that they had already invented everything) The saints & the church were driven to the Salt Lake Territory, not a state.

Since then, more progress has been made on earth than in the previous 5000 years.
Why 1820? Because this was the only time the church could possibly survive.

My spelling as you can see is still kinda bad, so you figure it out. :-)