This week has been one of the most amazing weeks ever. Even though it hasn't been a full week since my last email, I think I've had more great experiences within the past 6 days than I've had in a long time. The two highlights definitely being my exchange with Elder Metekingi and Evelyn's baptism.
So after our last p-day last Wednesday, Elder Metekingi and I went on an exchange in my area and let our two trainees be together for a day in Rockingham. When Elder Metekingi and I were planning on Wednesday evening, we really could not think of what to do to fill our day with productive activities. There was a challenge from President Cahoon for exchanges in December that we tract for 2 hours and mark the streets that we tract. Well we ended up deciding that we were just going to take that to another level. We decided to tract ALL day. From 10-8. We knew that it would be tough, especially with the heat, but we also knew that if we relied on the Lord that he would take care of us and help us in our endeavour to preach the Gospel to everyone we met. The next morning in companionship study we were studying in Preach My Gospel about finding people. We read one verse in D&C 24:12 that we would be given strength beyond that which man knows if we talked to EVERYONE. So we made that our goal. We decided that we were going to be more bold on that day than we had been our whole mission. And let me tell you, that promised blessing in that verse is true. We also decided that morning that we were going to be relying on the Lord completely that day. Not just to help us find people, and give us strength that we needed to walk around in that heat all day, but to provide us the food and water that we needed throughout the day. So all we took with us was our phone (for emergencies) and a bottle of water each, and the pamphlets at things that we needed. We found such great success on this day, it was amazing. Throughout the day, we found 13 people that wanted us to come back. That is definitely the most people I've found in one day by far. On one street there were even 4 houses in a row that said they were interested in our message and wanted us to come back. How amazing is that?! We also were able to ask people for water and they'd give it to us even if they were about to slam the door in our face. And we ended up calling a member to bring us some food while we were taking a shade break in the park. I don't think anything went wrong that day. Now the only thing we have to do is follow up with all of those people and hopefully get to see them progress towards baptism someday. Following up is the most important part. We already have gotten the chance to follow up with one of the guys and it turns out he wasn't as keen as his friend was that was living with him and we were able to teach, give a book of Mormon, and invite to read and pray about it. Who says you can't see the fruits of your labours right away. Maybe in some cases, but definitely not in this one.
Evelyn's baptism on Saturday was also one of the most memorable days of my mission along with that day with Elder Metekingi. I was really worried that nobody would really show up for it with it being on New Year's day and everything. But boy was I wrong about that. We had about 30 people show up. That right there was definitely a blessing. Past baptisms of my mission have had no more that like 10 people there, and the experience just wasn't as good (even at the ocean baptism), but because there were so many people there, you could feel the spirit profusely being poured out upon us that attended. I asked a few members of the ward to get up and bear their testimony towards the end of the baptism and I think that was great for Evelyn. The biggest thing that we've been struggling with with her is helping find some fellowship for her because of her language barrier. But because these people came to the baptism and congratulated Evelyn afterwards, I felt like she felt a lot more welcome into the ward after that. Arturo bore his testimony last and it was so strong. He told the story about how his wife was converted and how it just happened over time as we kept teaching and she kept reading. There were definitely some tears in the room. I loved it. The next day for Evelyn's confirmation, she actually came to church wearing a skirt and everything where in the past she would usually just wear jeans and converse to church. You could tell that it actually meant a lot to her to be confirmed and become a member of the church. Even though I didn't get to be the one that baptised her or confirmed her, I feel such a connection with her and Arturo since I've been in the area ever since she came over from the Philippines and been teaching her every week since then. It's going to be sad to leave this area, and it's also a bummer that I won't be able to see them get sealed in the temple next year. But I know that it will happen. Her testimony is only going to get stronger and if it matches up with Arturo's testimony, they'll be such a strong couple in the church.
Speaking of people getting sealed in the temple. I got permission this week to attend the McGaughey's temple sealing. I'm so excited to be able to attend that. I called up Jeremy McGaughey after I got permission to go and he said that the sealing has been pushed back to late February because of a delay in the temple garments. Hopefully I still get to go in February. I guess the only reason that I wouldn't be able to go was if I got transferred to somewhere very far away. But Jeremy was still excited for it and still working towards it. I guess this just gives them an extra month of preparation. So it should be good in February. I'll let you know when that happens though.
I don't have much time to email today because the library is still closed and we're using he Internet kiosk at the mall. $6 an hour, so my time is almost up but I hope that you all are having a great week and had a great new year! I pray for all of you and your safety. Have a great week! Love you all!
Much love,
Elder Tanner
ps. I was going to attach a picture from the baptism but you know how public computers are, of course the USB slot doesn't work. I'll try to remember next week though!
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