1/11/2010 Letter from Elder Joshua Shelhamer

This week was an exciting week as I became one more year older.

Now I am 20 years old. Wow! My friends here had an amazing party for me, and I enjoyed my first Birthday in the mission very much.

There is a Hymn of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is titled Called to Serve that outlines and explains well the purpose of Missionary Work and why it is so important.

The words are as follows:

Called to serve Him, heav'nly King of glory,

Chosen e'er to witness for his name,

Far and wide we tell the Father's story,

Far and wide his love proclaim.

Called to know the richness of his blessing--

Sons and daughters, children of a King--

Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,

Praises unto him we bring.

Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name; . . .

God our strength will be; press forward ever,

Called to serve our King.

I love the message of this hymn. The message is clear. We, as missionaries, are called and sent forth by the Lord, through His living prophets, to lands and countries around the world to proclaim his great message, to witness for His name and tell of His story. As missionaries, we enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and truly reap the blessings of service.

As a Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a Representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I am filled with joy everyday, having the privilege of serving our Father in Heaven, and telling all of His children about His wonderful plan for us, and how we can experience joy and happiness in our lives.

This past week I spent 2-3 days on a division, when I went to another area to serve with a different companion for a short period of time. I had the great privilege to serve together with one of my friends, Elder Coleman, and we had a great time together. Elder Coleman and I spent my Birthday together, but, we also worked our hardest, and really thought and pondered about the needs of those people that we were going to teach that day. As Elder Coleman and I sat in our Companionship Study, and one by one thought about each of our Heavenly Fathers children that we would teach that day, we followed the Holy Spirit, and planned accordingly. At the end of our day, we looked back at some of the lessons we taught, and realized that we had a really good day, and really helped some of our Heavenly Father´s children learn more about Him, and come closer to Him.

I know that the Holy Spirit is real, and that as we listen to the soft still voice of the Spirit, we will follow the will of our Father. I believe, without any doubt, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord´s Kingdom on Earth. I thank everyone for their letters, cards, thoughts, and prayers, as I serve our King, Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.