Family and Friends,
To start off my letter I just want to say that this week we were on exchanges with the assistants and we got a call from President Palmer informing us that President Monson had passed away the night before. I was so sad...but I knew that he is in a better place and now he gets to be with his wife again. I did not realize how long his service was in the church. He was called the the Council of the Twelve at the age of 36. And had many callings before that. He was and is a great man.
Well to get to some good stuff. Juan took us out to eat last Monday and we went to Red Robin. It was pretty good. We got to talk to Juan about his goals and things for the upcoming year. He told us how he is starting up college here pretty soon at Modesto Junior College. Then his ultimate goal is to transfer over to BYU Idaho. I hope he reaches his goals. I think that he is seriously contemplating a mission too...so that would be super awesome if he served! We were also talking about his previous 2017 goals and I thought to ask him, "You probably did not think you were going to be baptized this year, did you?" He responded and told us that he had actually been wanting to be baptized since his sister and his dad joined the church, but he just did not know how to get started. What an amazing blessing from following the council of our mission leaders so that we could knock on his door. He waited for a long time. Something that is amazing that he just did was he took 29 names to the temple and was able to be baptized and baptize others for his ancestors. He had an amazing experience.
On Tuesday we had a great experience going to the dentist...Elder Stewart got a root canal. I really felt bad for the him! It looked like they drilled on his tooth pretty good! It was on one of his molars so they went hard in the paint! It was funny too because the root canal specialist was pretty old and first glance it looked like Elder Stewart was going to get drilled on by an old guy that just decided he was going to do the root canal haha. I am happy to announce that he is fully recovered and doing well...or at least that is what he tells me!
Well we had an exchange with the assistants this week and I was with Elder Wray. It was a great exchange! We had a great experience up in Riverbank. We decided to knock some doors on Alabama Ct. Because roll tide. So when we pulled up we saw this guy in his garage and he looked at us for a little and then got back to what he was doing. Well we knocked and knocked and finally made it to his home. When we got to his house we introduced ourselves. We asked if we could share a message with him. He asked us if we were Jehovah's Witness and we quickly replied with a no. He then said that he would listen. Well...we started to teach the Restoration. When we had just started he asked where the church was. We told him and gave him the info. We felt prompted to bear testimony about family. We told him that we would live with our families again after this life and that death does not separate those bonds. He quickly responded again and said, "What made you say that?" It caught me off guard that this tough guy said that and looked up. I could tell that his eyes were getting a little bit watered...He then told us that we could come back another time to share a message. I still don't know if he had a recent death in the family or if someone close had died in the past. But I do know that God cares about each of his children and wants them to know of the love and the peace that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings.
We got into contact with Tyler this week. We will have to move his baptism to a different date, but we had a great lesson on temples and families. He is really starting to get it. The spirit has been working on him. I think that he has a sincere desire to know what God has in store for us. This gospel is a blessing and I am so thankful to have been born under the covenant of faithful parents. Thank you Mom and Dad.(: The church is true and Heavenly Father loves us and is in the details of each of our lives. Give thanks to Him for His generosity to us as His children. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
--
Love,
Elder Willden
No comments:
Post a Comment