March 25, 2013

Hey Everybody!!!

I hope all of you are doing well! Congrats to Paige and Jules on rugby and badminton! Also say congratulations to Kati Anne (a friend of Tyler’s who just got her mission call and will be leaving on May 8^th for Jackson, Mississippi)!! That's so cool!

We had a good week down here in London. Some ups and downs, but that's expected in missionary work. Jordan has decided to stop meeting with us because he isn't ready to live the Word of Wisdom, it scared him when he realized that being baptized is a lifelong commitment. And that's what it is! Enduring to the end has got to be the most challenging and rewarding principle of the gospel. Most of our other investigators have decided to stop investigating as well, but the Lord poured out some mercy to make up for it.

We taught 2 guys (they turned out to be Chinese so we have to give them to the Mandarin Elders... grrr ;)  ) this week named Chang and Tao. Both know a little bit about Christianity but have no belief in God. They had tons of questions so the lesson was pretty scattered but we managed to teach about the nature of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, prayer and baptism. At the end we had them pray. Both offered very sincere, amazing prayers. Tao's was particularly awesome, he said: "Hi Heavenly Father, my name is Tao... this is my first prayer... thank you for food, and my family". It was a huge reminder to me of the power of simple, heartfelt pray. Elder D and I both felt like crying. The first time that he EVER prayed. I can't imagine going a day without praying, let alone over 20 years. Just makes you realize some of the things you don't really appreciate sometimes, like understanding your relationship with God. 

Another miracle. Sunday comes and a Spanish member brings a YSA friend named Vythi (Indian) to church and introduces us. She's already been taught 2 lessons and given a book of Mormon by the friend. When we were sitting in sacrament I heard the member lean over and say to her "when you're baptized, you'll take the sacrament to remember what you did." Haha, I loved it! That's the attitude we need "WHEN" not "IF" or "HOPEFULLY"! We're going to teach her on Friday. It was a nice miracle after a week where lots of things happened but nobody used their agency properly. God is in charge here! 

Anyways, I love you all! I'm so grateful we don't have to figure things out in life on our own! Christ's atonement really does lift us and strengthen us, I've felt it more than ever recently. Have an awesome week, good luck with school, work and everything else, you're the best!!!

Tyler