The World’s Best Family,
We have had a really exciting week. First i don’t know if i told you this last week but i could use a new camera, and maybe some pictures ya’ll have taken recently, like the pictures of dads elk and stuff i would love to see.
So we have pretty strict rules on when/how we can go to the temple, i won’t get into those, but we decided to go this week. Well pday is on Monday and the temple is not open on Monday, so the rule is that you have to change your pday to another day if you want to go to the temple, so we were going to go on Wed. But Monday night we received word that there were some missionaries stranded at the airport in Atlanta from the MTC. They were headed to Argentina, so our mission took 10 of them and my companion and i got two of them to kind of train for two days until Thursday, Elder Hanson and Moore. It was so much fun, because we were able to get twice the work done in our area we taught 13 lessons in two days and got 4 new investigators which is pretty darn good. It was really cool because me and Elder Hanson taught one lady, it was the first lesson, Elder Hanson (for the first time in his mission) recited the First Vision and when he finished she started crying and said that it made her so happy and that she had been asking God to help her find a church, she accepted a baptismal date and we gave her a blessing to help her quit smoking, we will see her tomorrow. Elder Hanson was pretty shocked, he asked me "does that happen a lot", i said that i had never seen that, and all i could think was "Joseph Smith really was a Prophet!" So that was awesome, we really enjoyed having them, it was definitely a tender mercy of the Lord for me to kind of bring my mind back to what it was like to be green and the faith that new missionaries have, it’s sad but it kind of fades after a while. So that is why I didn’t e-mail you on Monday because today is my pday for this week so I’ll be e-mailing you again in like 2 days....maybe. But also today we had the wonderful opportunity, Elder Walter F. Gonzales was in Atlanta on a layover so he told president to invite all the missionaries in that area, which we are not really in that area but we live next door to the Assistants so they were able to invite us. It was really great, there were probably 30 missionaries and he just talked and asked/answered questions for an hour and a half. I learned a lot and I hope that all the missionaries there did too. Our mission is really struggling right now as far as numbers go, and i just feel for President Satterfield because he works so hard, and loves us so much but some missionaries just won’t change, they won’t become converted to the gospel, they won’t be obedient to the simple rules that are so easy to follow if you just make the decision. But things are on the up that is for sure, i have felt like the Lord has been pouring out his spirit upon us abundantly. The eyes of my understanding have been opened more lately and our numbers will grow, i really hope they do!
The Book of Mormon is so awesome; I love the Story of Abinadi! I would give anything to be there at that time, I love how he is teaching so boldly, then he is interrupted, then he rebukes the heck out of them, says "it doesn’t matter if im dead later or alive, but i have been asked by God to deliver this message and i will, after that who cares I have done His will", then without even missing a beat picks up right where he was when he got interrupted. What a great example of a missionary! Also, in my opinion, there is no chapter I know of in all of scripture that paints a more realistic picture of who Jesus Christ was than Mosiah 14, I love that chapter so much! (its definitely the best Isaiah Chapter)
Anyway i Love you all, the Gospel is true, God loves his children which we are and Jesus Is the Christ.
Julie,
Hey there crazy kid just wanted to say that i love you.....a lot. Have super awesome time. Have dad take you out for ice cream, he probably would love that! Love you
