Elder Preston Armstrong : Week Thirty-two

Dear Family? What's up??

This week was great and there was a lot that was going on. I just got back from a zone activity where we played soccer and that was pretty fun and Elder Dusara showed up with an American football that was shipped to him. It was the first time I have touched a football in 8 months, which was pretty amazing for a kid who used to sleep with one in his arms every night. All the Indians called it a papaya and didn't understand what we were doing, but we had the time of our lives. It's been exactly 2 years since my elbow surgery to the day. And today I threw a football with absolutely no pain and no problem and it felt so good. Such a blessing to have that surgery and thanks again to my parents for making it possible for me to throw a football.

This week we had a baptism, but you haven't heard of him. His name is Rahul Kerala, but he wasn't taught by us. He lives about two hours outside of Delhi and was taught over the internet by on-line missionaries because where he lives there is no church. He will travel as often as possible to church but to make the trip every week will be a challenge. The gospel never seizes to amaze me, even where there is no church, the church is finding the souls who are prepared to receive the gospel. There is a lot of faith in a man like that, I had a five minute drive to church and I didn't want to go most days growing up.

Sounds like there is a lot of snow and a lot of cold in Idaho just stay safe and warm and watch the Cowboys beat the Packers this week. I will be excited to hear the news about the game. I hope you all cheer extremely loud for me, I mean it's America's Team;) You gotta love the Cowboys.

This week I wanted to share something that I have learned on my mission that has been life changing. It is extremely important not to judge someone. Too often in life we judge people unrighteously and we get the wrong impression. We are commanded to not judge people and to accept them as they are. We are supposed to make righteous judgments. So what is the difference? I'll give an example of both. A father has every right to not let his daughter go on a date with a guy who shows up at the door and is smoking a cigarette and is being disrespectful or doing any other thing that makes the father uncomfortable. Not that the person is bad, his actions are just not the influence he wants for his daughter. That's a righteous judgment. An unrighteous judgment is being in India and assuming that every Muslim is a terrorists or a bad person, or if a man has a turban on his head he is some kind of animal that is responsible for 9-11. When in reality if he has a turban on his head he is from the Sikh religion and is most likely the most intelligent and genuine person you will ever meet. I love Sikh people, they easily are my favorite people in India and if I was acting like a child and judging them off of what twitter said then I would never truly know who they are. Too often in life we judge a book by its cover. The Savior took everyone in and he will always love us. We need to do a better job of following his example and judging righteously, and loving everyone.