January 3, 2013

Hi Everybody!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS! Wow, 2013! Hope that everybody has some killer resolutions and enjoyed themselves this week. Also best wishes for grandma and grandpa in Thailand, lucky them!

Well, not a whole ton to share from this week. We had a great time finishing the book of Mormon (we did the whole thing in just over 19 hours) and after much deliberation, thought and prayer I've come to the conclusion that ... yes, it's still true:) 

Stefan and Richard are both doing well. Both are still looking good to make their baptismal dates and have committed to live the word of wisdom, pretty amazing. Stefan wants this really bad, he's awesome. On Tuesday we called to see how he was and he asked "do I have to read the whole book of Mormon before my baptism?" and my companion said "uh... no you just have to read enough to know that it's from God." haha, he was completely willing to read the whole thing before the 13th if that is what it took.

We met another pretty amazing guy named Gabriel. He's 22 and he was in a very serious car accident 2 years ago. He is paralyzed from the neck down and has tons of health problems, for example he needs a special machine to help his diaphragm work. His dad is a recent convert and he called and said his son wanted to meet with us, pretty amazing because the whole family is native and were pretty adamant about their own beliefs. We showed up and before we could even bring it up they said "yeah, Gabriel was thinking about being baptized". I just sat there for a minute and then said "uh.... yeah we can help with that!" He accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of January, but we'll see what happens because it may be tricky baptizing him in his condition.

Another interesting experience. We were at Brampton for zone leader council and on the drive home we stopped to eat real quick at the Tim Hortons(thanks dad!). I felt that I should bring in a pass along card but as I went to go get some out of the back seat my companion locked the car so I just thought "alright, no big deal" and walked into the restaurant thinking "if nothing happens no worries, and if I do need that card I'll take that as a pretty big rebuke". Sure enough my companion is approached by a family with a super cute little daughter and they start talking, he didn't have a card, I didn't have a card and they left without us being able to give them anything. So I felt like a pretty big dork, as you can imagine. Those experiences kind of scare you because you hope the Lord will give you another shot after messing that up! But I do have a testimony that God will guide our thoughts and feelings towards what we need to accomplish so long as we are open to hearing it.

Gotta go! Love you all and wishing you a great start to the New Year. I'm doing great and hope that you are too!! Talk to you soon!

Tyler