SWEET RELIEF!!!

I LOVE YOU GUYS! so much!

i don't want to be a pesimist so i won't talk much, but maybe we can play madlibs!

Kenya really ______ right now! I'm so ______ of this ______! My mission is _______ than I had ever ______ it would be! Sometimes I just want to _____ _____ because all this _____ is super ______ up...

For real, there is some crazy stuff going down right now! I am not going to lie. If God had not prepared me to this point in my mission, I would have been home right now. The hand of the Lord has really worked upon me during my time here, and I have seen His grace lifting me over every burden. I will quote Brigham Young when he said, "the only thing I ever brought to my calling was grit." God has done the rest!  

And another thing, this Muslim guy was yellin' at us the other day and I just walked straight up to him and stared him down. Just about scared the spirit outta that dude. When I say Kenya turns boys to men, I say Kenya turns boys to MEN! I even took a picture of myself the other day and I was like, "what?!" I'm so ooold now...

But the family looks rockin, all you peeps at that BYU thing look like models. I can't wait to one day join you! 

Love you like crazy,

elder fraga

And I've grown taller!

Ethan! Ethan!

It is the year mark since our son and brother passed away in a car accident. Our ward organized a hike with all of the youth and asked Aidan to write a few words. We couldn't express our feelings any clearer than Aidan did in his words.

Friends, 

It is indeed a bitter sweet opportunity that I have to write a message for this occasion, but nonetheless not one that I would pass up, because I LOVE talking about my baby brother, and I'm so grateful for all of you gathering here today to remember him.

The past year has been something else. It has felt unreal. Time has moved by so fast and it is hard for me to believe. It is hard for me to put in words how I have felt over the past 12 months. There has been pain. Not just stomach twisting, physical anguish, or mind churning mental strains, but there has been a deep spiritual wound that has been with me since I received that news. It was and is something that cuts to the heart. That cuts to the soul. To echo the words of Alma the younger, "There could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains." We all felt that pain in this trial, and I can honestly say that I did not comprehend that, that kind of sorrow was possible. Yet, on the other hand! "Oh, what joy and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" "There can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy!" The joy that we have felt, the love that we have experienced has been immeasurable! All of us have felt the ministering of angels, and we have all experienced something greater, lifting us above our deepest pit. I would like to believe that the reason this time without Ethan has gone by so fast is because Ethan has not left us. Ethan has been with us, and IS with us today, both me and you. I can TESTIFY of his presence.

Throughout this time I have learned so much that has helped me in this burden, and I would like to share some of those lessons today. To begin, I would like to read from a scripture in Romans. Romans chapter 8:35, 37-39 says:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

-This is Paul speaking, and his answer?-

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors (meaning abundantly victorious) through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And how true it is! When we choose to let Christ in, enduring to the end can become enjoying to the end because we can see the beauty in every bit of our lives. I want you for a minute to think back on the hike you took today. Ethan and I always loved the outdoors and we have always believed that there are great lessons to be learned while on the trail. Some of you may have hiked this very trail before, but when you started out this morning among friends, what changed? Every time I hit the trail with my best friend (of course Ethan) all at once nature became higher and nobler, but also more achievable. We knew that we had each other! It is indeed the same with Christ. As soon as we accept the Lord’s invitation "Walk with me" the nature of our lives changes, it does become higher, it does become nobler, and it does become more achievable, because we know that we are not alone.

The second lesson is found in 1 Thessalonians 5. It’s just small, only two little words! 

16 Rejoice evermore!

Who was that kid that could always be found with a smile? Ethan. Who was the one who could always put a smile on your face? Ethan. Ethan is the MAN! Ethan is a MYTH! Ethan is a LEGEND! I love that dude and if we are gonna live like Ethan, we gotta live with love, love for the good! Love for the bad! Love for the earth! Love for each other! So let’s grow our hair out and listen to rad tunes together! Just kidding... But let us always be ourselves like he would. Again I’m very grateful for my younger brother! My love is stronger than words! And I know I will see him again!

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Memories!!! All Alone In The Moonlight!!!

Oh. My. Gosh! You wouldn't believe what I remembered back to this week!!!

My birth!! Just kidding... That'd be crazy. What I actually remembered was this:

One summer day when I was working at Precision Time IWSC, I sat peacefully thinking about the past, imagining the future, and kind of zoning out while polishing some watches, when I got a frantic tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find my beloved brother(Ethan) standing there. I take off my earbuds and immediately his words pierce my ears. "Please! Help me!" was the cry! For what? I knew not. Interested, I listened on.. "Marcelo is making us clean the boneyard!" I was a little confused, because that was kind of our job everyday. I was like, "What?...". and Ethan went on to tell me the dirty deets... "When Alec and I were looking for parts in the boneyard, I thought it'd be funny to fart into the fan... I thought it was going to make a funny noise and echo around-" choking as he tried to hold back tears (laughing tears but...) "It was a silent one!!!! And it smells so bad! David, not knowing what had happened, thought it was so bad that he went to talk to Marcelo about it! When Marcelo came down he started coughing and said 'shi-! something must have died in there!'", assuming that a rat must have perished and the remains were now spoiling. "He told us we have to take everything out and find it!" This time there was despair in his voice..."Please help us.. This is too big of a job for us to do alone." This time I was the one laughing! I literally fell on the floor! HAHAHAHA! Man, I felt some sympathy, and I tried to ask him why he hadn't just told Marcelo the truth. He said he was too embarrassed and he would rather face the punishment than ask for forgiveness. I shook my head in disbelief and started busting up laughing while we walked downstairs...

Super good memory... And I really wanted to share it with you, BUT what is the lesson here? It is far better to repent now than to face the consequences later! Alma 32:32-34 says:

32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

You don't stand before Marcelo after and say, it was only a fart after you've cleaned the boneyard! It just doesn't work like that. If you don't want the punishment, which I promise, you do not want the punishment, then repent now! Repent when it happens and see that burden of sin lifted from your shoulders! I love this Gospel! I love this church! and I love Christ! I'm so thankful that God sent him into this world so that through him all mankind may be saved, and return to the presence of our God, the Celestial Kingdom! (in this analogy, the soft-seated, air conditioned IWSC) instead of living in outer darkness or a lower kingdom (the boneyard) for the rest of eternity. I love God and I love you guys!

 

elder fraga