Sister Erin Jones. The Week Church Attendance Doubled (1.13.2014)

Zdravo!

So this week was fantastic!  A lot of weeks this last transfer were a little slow, but it's really starting to pick up.  We've been meeting with more and more people, finding more people, and seeing a lot of miracles!

One of the most exciting things about this week was that English class started up again.  And guess who came: our good friend Jon Benjamin, that 19-year-old who stopped us on the street a week or two ago!  He came with a friend, and said he'll be inviting more.  On Thursday he came again and stayed for the spiritual thought (this time a church tour).  After that he was asking Sister Flanders and I a lot of questions about the church, and he agreed to accept lessons!  I'm super excited--he's definitely getting baptized!

All of Thursday itself was evidence of the fact that things are starting to pick up.  We had 5 lessons, PLUS English class!  Normally we only get 2 or 3, so 5 was exciting!  There were a lot of great things that happened in the lessons, as well.  Last week we gave Medina a stop smoking program and asked her to read through it so we could go over it the next time.  We went back on Thursday, and she had started it on her own!  Today will be her week mark, and she hasn't smoked one cigarette since last Monday!  We also taught an inactive member named Renata.  The last time, we had assigned her to read Alma 36.  She did, and she told us she had felt the Holy Ghost for the first time!  She told us like she had felt that she wasn't alone, and she heard a man's voice telling her that she could call that feeling back whenever she wanted.  She also told us that she knew it would come back if she read again!

Friday we had Zone Conference.  It was a really good one!  We talked about baptism, why it's important, and the importance of invitations.  We practiced explaining why we want people to be baptized, and it was really good.  I'm excited to study and practice more and get some baptismal dates this week!  ;)

Sunday was absolutely amazing.  Last week, attendance was sparse; only about 15 people came.  This week, there were 33 people at church, including 4 investigators and 2 visitors!  Jon Benjamin came (after simply inviting him at the church tour and sending him a reminder text the night before), plus Jolanda and her partner, Igor.  It was Igor's first time at church, and he said he really liked it and felt very good!  It was a good week for people to come, too.  The district president and one of his councilors came, and it was a really great meeting.  

I've also started a little book where I write at least one daily miracle and one hard thing I've done that day (one of our standards of excellence is to do something hard every day).  It's been a really cool experience.  I've noticed that the more hard things I do, and as I make a conscious effort to work hard, the Lord gives us even more miracles.  And the Lord always gives multiple miracles for even just one hard thing.  His hand is ever-present in our lives and in missionary work.  I know He is with us!

Things are looking up--it's going to be a great week!

 

Na svidenje!

Sestra Erin Jones

PS: I forgot to mention this, but we found out about transfers!  (I may or may not have mentioned that Slovenia is on a 9-week transfer schedule now.)  I'm still in Celje with Sister Flanders, and Elder Hunt is coming here from Maribor to replace Elder Benson, who will be in Ljubljana.  I'm going to be the only one still here from the "original" Celje district when I first got here.  Weird!

Elder Jansen Hall - January 6, 2014

Hey Yall!

Wow its been quite a year! I cant believe its already 2014! But what a great time of year to look back on your life and reflect. On all the good that you have done, and how you can even add more to that in the next year! Its been really cold here in Bama the past couple of days hah the wind blows hard but missionary work goes on none the less! An interestin fact about alabama is that about 90% of the people here dont celebrate the New Years haha im not sure if that percentage is right or not, but with all the people ive talked to no one said they stayed up and celebrated haha how lame! But Hey i guess i cant complain, I was only able to celebrate til 10:30 then it was bed time for me haha:) Also some important news. This wednesday is transfers. I will be stayin in North Port and gettin a new comp, and Elder Bean will be goin. So ill be here for at least 6 more weeks!

This week has been a great one though. It went by super fast! We have done a ton of service, mainly movin people, but a couple things i wanna share are the lessons we have had this week with some investigators. So the first one is Mike. He is doin great! We were able to see him on Tuesday, and also on Thursday. Both lessons were great, but somethin I want to point out is that one was with a member and the other wasnt. The one on Thursday we were able to go out with Bro Lewis and see Mike. Bro Lewis not only taught a little bit of the lesson, but he helped answer questions, He brought in personal experiences and the spirit was so strong! We could tell that Mike was feelin the spirit stongly, as his eyes were tearin up a lot durin the lesson! We have been able to answer alot of his questions. The only sad thing is that he was sick yesterday an wasnt able to come to church. He is plannin on commin next week though so we are gonna do everythin we can to get him there!

We were supposed to see Stephanie, our other investigator, when we went over to her house, she said she had to get over to her daughters house to help with her sick grand children. We are gonna do a service project for her as a ward and we are gonna go back to see and teach her. We were able to introduce the sister missionaries to her as well so that they could also go an teach her! An the last person is actually a members nephew. Now he is in his 50's but came to church the first time yesterday. We had never met him, he is movin from Baltamore. He said he really loved our chruch and wants us to teach him. So we will be goin over this week to teach him with a member!! We also have done some tractin and maybe have a couple other investigators. I dont know how strong those ones are though.

The last experince of this week I wanna share is on New Years. That mornin we had gotten up and played basketball with our ward. Then went over to a sr couples house, the Champions, and ate lunch with 2 sr couples. After that all of our apt fell through for the night. We literally had nothin for the rest of the night an didnt know what to do. Well Lee, a less active member that we have done a ton of service for, called us up and wanted us to come to his house. We went over and at the start it wasnt the best. He wanted us to get some stuff to eat then said just come up stairs when you get your food. Well we went up there and he had the TV on, his girls were downstairs watchin TV and he is a man you dont wanna offend or make mad. But ther was just a lot of noise we were tryin to talk to him and nothin was workin. He just wanted us there to hang out basically. Well that was good cuz it got us out of our apt, but not the best thing. Time was gettin late and we needed to wrap things up. Usually when we go over for service, thats all we do. We dont really leave a spiritual message or anythin. So we had talked about how to help him that way. Well I just asked him, "Lee what can we do for you spiritually? Part of our purpose as missionaries is to teach people and help people grow stronger in there testimony of Christ." He said he wanted a blessin cuz he was sick, we also got him to let us come over an  read the BOM with him. But anyway we got him to turn off the TV and I gave him a blessin. Right after he said, "Hold on one sec." Then he called his daughter up, who isnt a memeber. He said these 2 need to give you a blessin, as she was sick as well. We explained to her what would happen and she finally allowed us to do it. When I got done with the blessin, he looked at her and said, "Do you feel that?" She was cryin and he said I dont know about you but after my blessin I felt better immediatly! She said she felt the same way. Then he went on and expalined the preisthood to her and basically taught her the first lesson without knowin! It was such a great experience for him, her, and us! I know that apt didnt start out the best way but it sure did end great!

Member missionary work is so important! I know that God will keep his promises with you as you honor your covanents with him! Pray for missionary opurtunities! Open your mouth and youll be successful! I love yall so much! Have a great week! Remember to be happy!

Love Elder Hall:)

Here is me dressed yup in my cowboy stuff haha i got a gun holster, from a less active family in my last ward.

Yes, I'm sendin it home just incase anyone says anythin haha and the black cowboy hat was from them as well:)

Elder Tanner Clement, 01-07-2014

Latest from Elder Clement, 

We had a crazy week. But unfortunately it wasn't filled with lessons, rather visits to the doctor. We had to go to the hospital a few times because the doctor wasn't there, etc. But finally they were able to take my blood to see why I had red polkadots all over. The doctor said he thought I might have a disease called 'Dengue' that is really bad from mosquitos, but he said it was probably the non-lethal one so that made me feel alright. Although, they had to take my blood for a second time to do more tests and I gotta tell ya I think I've gotten more brave out here on the mission because after what happened the first time (poor Nurses and Elder Chamberlain who had to help me...) I wasn't too excited for the second (ok yeah, I passed out). But actually one tender mercy of the week is that the second time went very well. No blackness. No suffering. The nurse just took it right up and everything was fine. The bad news is that I had Dengue, but the very good news is that it is indeed the non-lethal kind. It went away in a few days and my skin is now spotless (or to the degree of spotlessness of which it was at before anyway). 

It was a crazy new years here in Mexico. Well, I suppose. I slept through the whole thing but apparantly it is a really big down here to shoot your guns up into the air and drink at midnight, which is probably not the best combination. Luckily our roof is made of concrete so we were safe and sound. 

I had a picture of the Armenta family with whom we ate on New Years Eve but the virus on my chip said that I would not be sharing any pictures this week... sorry. I just gotta put in the chip without the virus. Pictures will come next week. 

Our new investigator, Alejandra, is doing very well (cousin of the wife of the counselor of the mission president. The counselor lives in our area which is great). She left her old church because she saw some things she didn't like but she has soaked up everything we have taught her so far. She said she really wants to believe what we are saying and she is excited to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. I am convinced that we were very blessed to have been able to find her from our obedience. If all goes well, she has her baptismal date for February first. She didn't go to our ward this last week but her counsin, Sister Cruz, said she went to a different one so that is good. 

We had a very good lesson with Gloria and Minerva last week with a very enthusiastic member. He is the son of President Cruz who is the counselor of President Munive (the mission president). He talked for a while about how he gained his testimony of the Book of Mormon and he helped us out by explaining that if it is true, all doubts are washed away. We found out that her doubt is still about the seventh day worship. Ay. Despite all of the scriptures we showed her that show 'proofs' of why it was changed to Sunday to remember the Resurrection of our Savior, she still is unsure. I learned something very important, that I was right in the beginning, that even though the Bible really contains the doctrine that we teach, the same problem still stands, that every church has their own interpretation of the Bible. And because of this, I think of two reasons of things we have in these latter-days. First of all, this is why we need a prophet; to tell us how the Bible is to be interpreted. And second, this is why we have the Book of Mormon. Where the Bible is unclear or interpreted in different ways, it is ok, because we have the Book of Mormon. And if this book is true, and if it was really translated by a prophet of God, where can we doubt? Where is the confusion? If the Book of Mormon is true, every word that the Spirit carries from our mouth is true. And it is true. The glorious fact is that the Book of Mormon is true! It is the very word of God. And through all of the people who died to get it here, we have it in our hands, for the single purpose that we might know God and return to live with and be like Him someday. I know that this is true. And that is why I am here. 

We invited Gloria and Minerva to fast with us this last Sunday to be able to find an answer and they accepted. Gloria wasn't able to make it to chruch. After church started we didn't have any investigators there which was too bad. But after a few minutes, Minerva walked in. Woohoo! :) Horrah for Israel! She told us that she was indeed fasting for the answer she was seeking. I fasted for the same, that she and her mom might gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon as they seek it diligently. I know that God will give them the answer in His time. 

I had a lot of cool experiences in teaching with the Spirit this last week. With one brother in the ward who is inactive we talked about the importance of the priesthood and being an example as the head of the family (it was a very bold lesson as you can tell). He is a nice man but refuses to go to church with the rest of his family. He has some of his own ideas that hurt a growing testimony. But as we were talking he said that God would bless him for being a good person whether or not he went to church. Immediately the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants popped into my head about how we receive blessings. We shared a scripture on the Sabboth Day and how it is a commandment then we showed him the scripture from D&C that explains that the law based in heaven is that we receive blessings as we obey the laws on which they are founded. So we explained, Yes, you might be able to receive a few blessings without going to church by doing other things, but you won't receive the blessings reserved for those who go and "offer their sacraments unto God on His Holy day", which are many. Not to mention the importance of renewing out baptismal covenants every week to have the very important companionship of the Spirit with us in every moment of the week. 

Also with another investigator who didn't quite understand the cooralation between "If the Book of Mormon is true" and "that means that God has restored his only true church on the earth today". The spirit really gave me the words to say so I could explain it in a way so that he could understand the relation between the two things. In the end he understood and he committed to read and pray about it. 

I also was able to interview a woman who got baptized yesterday which was great. It was so cool being able to feel the spirit telling me that she is ready and it was amazing to hear the sacrifices she has made to be able to more fully follow Jesus Christ. She left her work so she could attend church every week which is pretty big here. 

Despite the time we spent in the hospital it was actually a good week and Elder Chamberlain and I are working very well together. He is a really good guy with a great testimony. I know that as we stay focused and obedient that we will do our part and that the Lord will be able to do everything to fulfill His will in the conversion of these people. 

I know that the church is true and that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us, as does His son Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be here as the work is hastening and I am so happy and honored to be a servant of the Lord. I would also like to invite you guys back home to support the missionaries in any way possible (if you ever see them as they have a few stakes that they cover haha) to answer the call of President Monson. "Now is the time for members and missionaries to work together. We are one". We have felt the blessings of this revelation here in Los Mochis and I am sure the missionaries in Utah will feel the same.

Elder Clement

December 30, 2013
Elder Dana Sorensen, Valencia, Spain

Great to hear from you all! Thanks for the news and pictures.

I´m going to keep it a little shorter this week since we talked on Wednesday.

We've been eating quite a bit for Christmas, that is, 2-3 meals with members a day for a few days there. I´m feeling a bit bloated. Since we didn't really eat any of the food we bought last week I just bought about 6 liters of juice instead  this week. Mmmm... juice.

Élder S____ from our piso went home this week. He blew up his meniscus and tore his ACL playing ultimate frisbee a few weeks ago. (He didn't even hit anything or step on his leg wrong, he just went down). We got up at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday and took him to the airport. He should be back in 3 months after the surgery. Because of that we're in trio this week until transfers next Tuesday.

We're planning on jump starting our areas this week: three way split (each missionary with a member) contacting and visiting. That way we can get three times the work done, in theory.

I´m really enjoying the Christtmas package. Those caramels are great, the sweater makes me look good, and the bands make me look even better. Honestly I was a little skeptical about the pedometer but I've been using it and it's great! It's fun to see how far we´re walking every day. (We´re averaging about 5 miles a day or so.)

I´m still working on the D&C. I read section  98 today about forgiveness. If we bear our trials patiently and forgive our enemies, we are blessed. If we forgive again a second time, we are blessed an hundredfold. And so on and on. A recent convert we are visiting is passing through the hardest time of this life. He has been taken advantage of  for 8 years, and now has nothing. It's difficult to try to teach someone forgiveness and patience when you've never been through trials so difficult, but I know that the Lord is always in control and that all those things will "work together for [our] good".

Thank you for your support and prayers, they mean a lot to me. Enjoy Christmas break and don´t get too lazy!

Hasta el lunes que viene,

Élder Sorensen

December 23, 2013 -- Elder Dana Sorensen, Valencia

¡Hola Familia!

This has been a fun week. I'll dive right in.

Monday night we had another family home evening with the bishop, E____, and A_____. We ate a TON. Next morning we ate breakfast with a less active, later lunch with a member family, and then dinner with a member from the other ward who we thought was a less active from our ward.

In other words, I'm getting fat.

I wish the members would give us more opportunities to teach their friends instead of so much food.

As if as an answer to that wish, we went out with a member to meet all her friends. She had given out 7 (!) Book of Mormons to friends, and we got to go out and meet them all. She's going to be a good missionary.

A____'s (our recent convert) Dad (first councilor in the ward) took us to meet one of his friends. His name is F_____, and he´s had a very hard life. But, we feel like now is his time. He is very prepared to receive the Gospel. We've been meeting with him, and he (and another friend) have come to church the last 2 weeks.

Friday night we had the ward Christmas dinner. There was a musical program first, then a ton of paella. It went so late that we barely caught the last bus back to the piso.

Christmas is practically here. The other night P____ dropped by and gave us about 40lbs of oranges for Christmas (he picks oranges for work). We gave him two church DVDs to send to his family in Nigeria who he's trying to convert. We printed out and framed pictures of A____'s and E____´s baptisms to give to them for Christmas. Tomorrow we're doing a white elephant gift exchange with the missionaries. It's a fun time of year, I just miss the snow (trees are only now starting to loose their leaves over here).

I'm attaching a sheet the office gave us that has all the missionaries in the mission on it. In case you'd like to see some of the missionaries I'm working with.

I'm really enjoying Doctrine and Covenants. I've never read it all the way through before. I really like this scripture from D&C 84:88

 88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

It´s really true. When we are really focusing on the work, working hard, and putting our trust in God, we see success and we are comforted in whatever happens.

I´m out of time now. Thank you for your support and prayers! Have a very merry, white Christmas,

Élder Sorensen

PS  It was fun, but it´s actually a mission rule to not play soccer (too competitive with the Spaniards). We played American Football, then Ultimate Frisbee, and then Capture the Flag in a nearby park.

About the package, it´s still in Madrid. They´re still waiting for Madrid to respond if the release request has been accepted or not. So, I´ll probably get it, but in another few weeks. But it´s no problem.

If there are any problems with the call we can communicate by email to fix it.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Latest from Elder Clement, 01-02-2014

We had a great Christmas here in Los Mochis. Elder Chamberlain and I are doing very well together and we are enjoying the area very much.

There I was. Gasping for air. Not knowing if I could survive another moment of it. As I thought back to how I got into this situation I thought of the night before, *flashback*. We had just finished eating our Christmas Eve dinner with Victor and Perla. It was delicious. We had arrived at our next appointment with the Bojorquez family. The older couple had a few of their children and grandchildren at their house to celebrate. We shared a spiritual thought about giving something to our Heavenly Father for Christmas by improving ourselves in something that would make us more Christlike, which was the invitation extended by Presidente Munive. We checked the clock. 8:40. Yikes. We had an appointment with Gloria and Minerva to eat a second dinner. We told the Bojorquez family that we would have to continue on to our next visit, that was when Sister Bojorquez explained that she had already cooked dinner for us which we did not know. (*sidenote: The people here in Los Mochis take a lot of pride in their food. If they offer you food, you just gotta take it) I tried to explain quite politely that we were already late for our next appointment and that although we would love to eat, we just could not stay (we figured the family would eat plenty so nothing would go to waste anyways). But Sister Bojorquez would not budge. I thought fast. "Would it be alright if we came back tomorrow?" She said that would be alright, so we got away, but at a price. The next day was Christmas. After we enjoyed a nice, long conversation with my parents and grandparents we went to lunch with Sister Chaparro. There was a ton of food for Christmas. It was good, but after I finished my plate, I make a rookie mistake. "Elder, would you like more?" "Just a little bit please, Gracias." I foolishly forgot that 'A little bit' doesn't exist here. PLOP. The other two sister missionaries and my companion wisely declined after seeing the double portion size. It was tough, but I got through it. After, we went to give a blessing to a nonmember brother of a sister in the ward at the hospital. It went very well and he was very grateful. After, we had to keep our promise with Sister Bojorquez. The food was alright, the problem was that I was already filled to the brim. I struggled a bit but I got it all down. I finished and didn't make the same mistake again, keeping something daunting in mind. We still had round 3. We walked (hobbled) to Jerson's house (a priest in the ward) a bit later to spend our Christmas night with them. Jerson, his mom, and his sister are really good people and we enjoy our time with them. After talking for a bit, they set the table. Tired, spent, and full, I stared at my plate. And it stared back at me. ...I've come this far, I can finish one more Christmas plate! I ate for what seemed like an eternity. Bite after bite. I took a break to blow my nose. Everyone had finished. Slowly and carefully I finished the last few bites and I had eaten it all. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do. 

This week we had some good and hard times. Unfortunately the prologue (does the 'prologue' comes after the story?) to this story includes being quite sick that night and staying home the entire next day, which was kind of a bummer. Also right now my skin is covered in red dots which is new... we're gonna go to the doctor after we finish here. Also another bummer was a lesson last week with Gloria and Minerva. The lesson went very well about the Godhead but at the end Gloria and Minerva told us that they have chosen to stay in their church for now. We didn't see that coming. We are still going to teach them and find out what could possibly be holding them back. I was a bit confused afterwords and I asked a bit in my mind why they hadn't received an answer. They had sought it diligently and openly we had thought. I couldn't think of why they hadn't received it. Then a quote from Elder Christopherson popped into my head from a Mormon Message, "I am the Gardener here, and I know [what I am doing]." I felt in this moment that everything was ok, because Heavenly Father has a plan for them, and they will find it as they are genuinely ready. I know that is true. 

We actually had a pretty cool week of finding great people to teach. We have one new investigator, Jesus, that has a lot of potential. We only taught him the first lesson of the Restoration yesterday but it went very well. He is excited to read the Book of Mormon to find out if it is true. He was born into a Christian family but he saw things in his church that he didn't like a few years back so he and his wife left their church. He believes in Christ and everything already and he is very open to the things that we say. He said he would love to meet with us again next week. ChaCHING! Booya! Blessings from obedience! 

We are really excited to work with these new people! The work goes well here in Los Mochis. Thank you for all your support and love. It is great to hear how things are going with everyone. I appreciate all you do. You make it easier for me to do the work here. 

Thanks again, 

Elder Clement

Catherine Aldous' Christmas Update

Catherine was transferred last week to Eugene 1st Ward, which is the mission president's ward. (She said, "Pressure" :) Her assignment is to be Sister Training Leaders with her new companion, Sister Petersen from Kaysville, Utah, who has been out since September. The mission president says that Sister Aldous and Sister Petersen is a companionship made in heaven. They will work in their own area and travel to go on exchanges with the sisters in Eugene and Springfield. Her mission is also one of the missions which has missionaries assigned to use social media for one hour a day. She is supposed to use Facebook, email, blogs, etc for missionary purposes. This is Sister Petersen:

Here is a wonderful story from her last area, Philomath. (Our family has been touched and impressed by the love and support the members in Philomath give the missionaries, and we have received an email with a picture or a kind note about our missionary multiple times.)  She had an outpouring of blessings and baptisms in November.

If you only have time to read the story's punchline:

"This is a thought that burns in my bosom: this man, who just three months ago, was just a resident of Philomath, is now progressing on the path as a son of God who is learning who he truly is. And how absolutely powerful that the man I met on a sidewalk early in September is now authorized to renew my baptismal covenant. The priesthood he can now exercise and his role in the ward as a priest are part of my salvation."

Here is the full story:

"I'd better tell the whole story of R and B's family. It is very special to me. And best of all, it isn't over. I still plan on attending their temple sealing in a year.

"On a morning in early September, Sister Levy and I were getting ready for our morning exercise. I remember pulling on my running shoes and kneeling in the kitchen for a moment, simply praying to Heavenly Father to ask if we could please find someone. I didn't necessarily mean right then, but I was seeking to exercise my faith. By then Sister Levy was ready, so she hopped on one of the bikes and followed me while I took off jogging down College Street near our apartment. Within a minute or two, I saw a man with a walker and a large dog. In the spirit of "Talk with Everyone" (see Preach My Gospel), I jogged up to him, Sister Levy pulled up behind me, and (a little out of breath) we asked if he would like a prayer that day. He said that he would like that and that we could come over the next day to offer the prayer. We wrote his contact information on a mormon.org card I saw a cross on his necklace and thought that he would probably try to tell us we were mislead when we came over, but I thought it was worth a try. (He mentioned he was attending an Evangelical church in Corvallis.)

"We went over the next afternoon with a fun woman from the ward who was taking us to visit people that afternoon. We had to come in the front door carefully because there were six large dogs in the living room. They jumped and squirmed everywhere for several minutes before settling down. The first meeting with R pretty much consisted of his telling us all about his dogs and about his friend who had just passed away and about his recent medical crises. He mentioned having known a Mormon that he was impressed with. About halfway through the visit, R's wife came home. Sister Levy found out that she was involved in the Young Women's program and had been baptized when she was a young adult.

"Things were pretty slow because of talkativeness. It was about two weeks and 3 or more meetings before we were even able to get 'lesson one' out. But one day, I was on exchanges with two other sisters, and we were determined to do the Restoration lesson, do or die. We decided to do a chapel tour to change up the environment, but it would be the day that the chapel was being recarpeted.  It took two hours, but we did it. At the end, R commented that the pattern made sense to him. "If there were prophets then, why not now?" He said, though, that he had commitments to his church still and that he has the honor to fulfill them. (He was on the Board of Trustees and taught Sunday School.) But he said, "I'm not married to my church" and that, over time, he would consider our church. Others were also leaving the evangelical church, which made him not want to abandon ship too soon. "But I'd have to make sure I wasn't jumping out of the frying pan into the fire." After that lesson, I wrote on the teaching record that I was pretty sure he would be baptized, but that it would take time and patience. I fully expected it to take a year.

"It's hard to summarize all of the miracles and events of the next two months. It wasn't a smooth path. We had some wonderful friends for him at Church that helped so much. One of them gave him a priesthood blessing for health. On a certain weekend, I wrote on a post-it note that I can have the faith to see R baptized "in my day." (instead of letting obstacles control the situation) One day after over a month of teaching R, I woke up one morning and just felt it in my bones that it was time to extend a date for baptism to R. We prepared a lesson about covenants. He got it. He accepted!

"As the time for his baptism neared, his old church started an awful spiritual and emotional attack on him. He was told he was going to Hell. He lost friends. He was raked over the coals in front of the men's group.

"He covenanted. He understands the restored gospel. He earnestly desires the temple. He wants to bring his whole family with him. He was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. I love him and B and their children. I am very fond towards his puns and talkativeness.  Last night, after his ordination, he said to the small group, 'We need to take count of the angels in heaven, because I think two of them are missing.'

"This is a thought that burns in my bosom: this man, who just three months ago, was just a resident of Philomath, is now progressing on the path as a son of God who is learning who he truly is. And how absolutely powerful that the man I met on a sidewalk early in September is now authorized to renew my baptismal covenant. The priesthood he can now exercise and his role in the ward as a priest are part of my salvation.

"I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."

Love, 

Sister Aldous

Photo of R's baptism

Catherine thought she would have to develop a greater appreciation for dogs if she was going to be a missionary. This family has 6 large dogs! 

Early December's record-breaking cold and snow in Philomath