Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Transcription: 5 March 2012

This week was awesome! (haha) We had a blast. Initially it started off kind of slow. We had a lot of stuff fall through, and then other things take up more time than they probably needed to, but we have been soo busy (haha). It's so much fun. We have been helping a lot of people, and a lot of people are really starting to progress, and to move forward and do better. It's so much fun to see the happiness that is coming into their lives because of the gospel.

We had a baptism on Saturday, and he was confirmed this Sunday. It went really well, and everything was really good. He is seventeen. He was so excited to be baptized. He had made a lot of changes – like he had stopped smoking, and then we taught him about the Word of Wisdom (haha), and how our Heavenly Father doesn't want us to smoke because he wants us to keep our bodies healthy and strong so we can be sensitive to the Spirit and become more like him. We had taught him that, he had actually stopped smoking before (haha), so he was right on target. He is such a good kid.

We have another person who is going to be baptized on April 7th. So we are excited for them too. The Lord has just been blessing us with people who are ready to hear the gospel. I think it's partly because of the faith of the people in the ward. It seems like it's nothing we do. It is just a testimony builder to me that this isn't my work, this isn't anything that I'm doing, this is the Lord that is preparing all these people. Since we are ready to teach them, he is bringing them to us, and we are able to help them out and introduce the gospel into their lives so they can make those covenants and ordinances that are necessary for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father.

I am thankful for our Heavenly Father's mercy and how the gates of heaven are open to all. While there are certain things we need to do to return to live with our Heavenly Father, the opportunity is going to provided for everyone who's ever lived or who will ever live. I don't see how it could be any other way. I love the gospel, and it has made such a difference in my life.

It makes me so happy to be out here. Initially it's kind of stressful being on a mission because you're learning everything new. When you start to get the hang of things, things start to turn out really well. And, I am with an awesome companion who just loves to work hard. So we are able to get out and do a lot of good work and help a lot of people. I am thankful for that – probably more than anything (haha). Ah! I have changed so much this last transfer, these last few weeks. I think I have become a whole lot more humble and patient and calm and just overall happy too (haha). I just love serving with all these missionaries. This is starting to become the funnest thing I've ever done (haha). I am really thankful for this opportunity I have.

Oh, I learned a new song in Samoan. It's called (something in Samoan).



Elder Record Singing a Samoan Song (Length: 00:00:31)

Yeah, it's so much fun when you sing it with like, the whole ward (haha), because they all sing really loud. They love to harmonize, so it sounds really good. We have our ward conference coming up. We are going to be singing it with the priesthood. At the baptism we sang “Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy.” Me, Elder Thorne and Brother Siana (the ward mission leader) all harmonized, and I sang the base part. That was really fun (haha).

There was a ward party on Friday. We got to go and meet a lot of people there. We ate some good dinner. Taro and fish is the BEST combination it tastes soo good (haha). It was funny. I was asking Elder Collins and this lady from the Diamond Ward what happens if you eat taro raw? Elder Collins just laughs, and he's like “you don't do that, you're mouth will get all itchy” – like he thought that was just the funniest thing ever (haha). The only place I know you can buy taro, they actually precook it. There isn't any risk of anybody doing that. I love boiled banana, it's fun to eat too. There is a lot of good food up here, and they treat us soo well.

We also had the opportunity to meet with this less active family. His wife, actually I think she's his girlfriend, we got to meet with them. She is not a member, and she wants to start learning more about the gospel. So we are excited to teach her and see how much the Lord can bless her life and the life of her family.

There is a whole lot more that is going to happen this week, and there is a lot more to talk about, but it's so much fun to go out and do and see the progress of everything that is going on – and how much I'm learning and how much more confident I'm becoming. It becomes easier and easier. It was hard, but after the first little bit of my mission, it wasn't as much of a problem anymore. Things would be hard, but it is like any other kind of hard – like to win at a soccer game. We are always so busy keeping up with the demands of everything. But now that I know kind of what's going on (haha), it's hard, but it's easy for me to do it because it's so much fun to do it because we're helping people.

I know the gospel is true. I am thankful for it and how much it's blessed my life. I am thankful for the wonderful opportunities our Heavenly Father is blessing us with to help even more people. Actually, just yesterday it was so neat, we were going to visit some people after church and it seemed like every where we were stopping and helping people out (haha). There a couple of guys who were trying to push a car off to the side of the road, because it was dug into a little ice rut. So we jumped out and pushed the car out. They were like, “oh, thank you so much” (haha). That was fun. After that we went over to the house of less active members, and they were like, “just in time!!” We said, “what?!” She said, “I just asked my daughter if she knew your number because we have a baby who is sick that we had to take to the hospital and needs a blessing.” Apparently, right as she asked her daughter about seeing if she could call the missionaries, she said, “oh, no, that's okay they are right there,” as she pointed to us out the window. So we got there when they needed us.

The other lady I was talking about who is the girlfriend of the less active member, wants to start learning more about the gospel. We had actually met with her about a month ago when I was with Elder Leota. She had been sick for about a week or two, she just had a bad fever. We were having dinner at the less active man's father's house. They asked if we could give her a blessing. We said, “absolutely.” We gave her a blessing and after we had left the dinner, she said she immediately felt better, and she was just crying and laughing. I think that really made a difference and helped her to see those witnesses our Heavenly Father gives us that he is there, and that he loves us, and that he has a plan for us.

I know that is true. I'm thankful for the gospel. I know the priesthood is real, and that we have that authority once again established on the earth like we had in Christ's time. I know it was restored through the prophet, Joseph Smith, and has been handed down to the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, today. I love the Lord, and I am thankful to serve him.

I love my family. If I ever have a rough day or a rough week, it's always wonderful and nice to hear from all of you to kind of brighten up my day and get me smiling again so I can go about my week a lot stronger. It always nice to hear from everybody to find out what's new and what's going on and things I didn't know about. It always brightens up my day. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know the gospel is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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