The Lord's Focus- To Progress, Not Impress

Dear Dad- 8/10/10
That's awesome that Cameron got up. Tell him that skiing is more fun when you don't sit down. I'm jealous though because I would love to go skiing. It hasn't been that hot here though. Actually, it's been raining alot so we haven't had that good of skiing weather.
Melissa must be getting braver, hopefully she'll be skiing by the time I get back.
I love the MTC because there is really nothing to do here except study. No TV, no internet, no nothing. So it just kind of baffles me when people don't study because they honestly have to look for something else to do. If they could see, just for a minute, how much this gospel could mean to people, I think they would work so much harder.
Everything is going well here. I feel like Spanish is coming easier than I thought it would. The days go by so fast, but I am getting so much done. It's crazy how much you can get done when you get up at 6:30 am. Thanks for everything.

P.S. I almost forgot I had this thought the other day, so I wrote it down.
The Lord looks past us, never at us. He does this not out of disappointment, but hope. He looks past us, all of us, all of our shortcomings. He focuses not on what we are, but what we can be and the direction we are going. He cares that we progress, not that we impress. Men judge so quickly because we see each other as dots on an infinite plane. When viewed as such it is easy to consider another small, reproachful, insignificant (person). But every soul is great in the sight of God. he sees us as lines in an eternal plane. He sees where we came from and where we are going. That is why God doesn't judge, that is why His son Jesus Christ could atone for us. Christ sees us for what we truly are. This is His atonement.
Tell Mom to put that on the blog, that's my thought for the week.
Love,
Braden

Braden also sent a letter to his "siblings" as he calls them. But it is ALL in Spanish. I can't translate, but the "siblings" understood it just fine. He is really enjoying the language, although he did write that it was good that Melissa "translated" a new food. We think he meant 'tried'. One of the letters was his testimony of Joseph Smith in Spanish. Muy bien!