El servicio sin amor no sirve

Finally got my birthday package and man am I happy! Haha with all the flaming hot cheetos my mouth has been red and fiery since Tuesday. Thank you Cheetos company for making a young missionary happy far from home on a Mormon mission. Haha and of course thank you mom and dad. This week has been pretty busy and we´ve been running around Salta quite a bit. Once again we atended Leadership Council and shortly after we transmitted the message to the zone in Zone Training. I was lucky to share one of my favorite messages, one that I came to love while serving with a good bud, Elder Blake. It has to do with where our success comes from as missionaries. Obedience, Dilligence, and Charity. But with the little time I have, I´d like to talk about how much charity means to me in the mission.

In sacrament meeting yesterday, while sharing his testimony, a faithful brother explained that,¨Service without love is useless.¨ Or in Castellano,¨El servicio sin amor no sirve.¨ When I arrived in Argentina, I saw others around me and they seemed to love it so much. Honestly, I couldn´t tell why. I wanted to know so badly. I wanted to have that same energy.... I wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to come to Argentina. I wanted to learn Spanish. Why then was it so hard to be like the other missionaries? I often asked myself. The answer now comes to me with power. Missionary service without love is useless. I wasn´t striving to love with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. 

Sharing the gospel without love is useless. Church attendance without love is useless. Knowing the scriptures without love is useless. Without charity, we are nothing. Lucky for me, it was very easy to start loving the people, loving the culture, loving the language, and most of all loving to serve the Lord. I LOVE being a missionary. It´s been the best time of my life. I don´t remember if I was really happy before my mission but I´m sure that it doesn´t compare. But what matters most to me, I love my Savior. I love what He did for us. I love the restored Gospel. I love my God. Love matters. Charity is the essence of the Gospel. I know it, I live it, I love it!

Elder Philpot

-The computer doesn´t love me so I can´t send pics :( haha