Hey everyone! Sorry this email is late... we had to go give a ride to
the AP's because their car broke down! They were actually on the way
to the hospital to see President Harding... he had to get surgery due
to some complications from his last once, but from the sounds of it,
everything went well so no worries here.
The big news around the mission was about the new mission opening up
here in Makan, Georgia soon... we've been told to not talk about it or
to even discuss it with anyone so all I'll say is that we're aware of
it here in the ATL mission and we'll see what happens!! Very exciting
time to be a missionary though!
Where do I start this week???? I had my first exchange this week... I
stayed in my area while Elder Schlesinger went with Elder Gnautavi
(who is from Bountiful... I played against him at the rec center in
basketball haha). His companion, Elder Dematropolis came with me to my
area... so I was the senior companion. I planned the whole day, drove
the car, made all the decisions, etc... I was SO nervous about it when
they told me that's what we were going to do, but after I prayed about
it... I felt so much better and it ended up being AMAZING!!!! We ended
having a great time together and having some amazing experiences. We
got a new investigator who likes to be called "brother bear". He has
native american ancestors and he LOVES to make his own leather, wood
bows, leather shirts, drums, etc. He's got a big beard and is super
friendly... he even asked us for a BoM!! I told him we'd come up on a
p-day to help him tan leather (with dear, elk, etc. brains!) if he
ever wanted help and he said he'd love that... so now I gotta talk
Elder Schlesinger into doing that hahaha. We also went over to a
less-active, part member families house and had an incredible
experience there... we ended up giving their baby a blessing, and
while I was pronounced the blessing, I had a REALLY strong feeling
that the Lord has a special plan for the baby and their daughter...
there's a lot more to the story but we ended up sitting down with them
and had an amazing talk to the wife about the importance of her going
to the temple... her husband is Catholic and she agreed to let him
raise the kids Catholic... but ya, we had an awesome talk and it was
just really apparent that she needed to her those things. One of the
most spiritual experiences I've had yet... and before we left, they
gave us a big bag of crazy ties!!! Haha, Kristi... you're going to be
so mad because they're exactly like the one I gave away to Tyler...
not THAT crazy, but all silk, gold chain super nice ties. They also
gave us a bag of veggie straws which I thought was funny cause I've
never seen anyone else in the world eat those... (we ate them all that
night). So that all happened during the transfer and more, but that's
all I'll write about it for now!!! Another crazy story... a couple
days after the transfer, Elder Schlesinger and I were out tracting at
about 7:30 at night (in the rain). We had gone to a bunch of houses
and knocked but most of them didn't answer... so we're walking along
the road to the next house when a car pulls up next to us in the road
and an old man gets out yelling at us "What are you doing out
here?!?!?" ... we responded that we're missionaries with the church of
Jesus Christ and we have a message centered on Christ and his
teachings, etc... next thing he yells at us "It's too late for you to
be out here doing that!! It's too dark!! You came up to my door and I
almost shot you!!! When I see men come up to my door this late at
night in black suits and jackets... I go grab my .45!! You're lucky I
decided not to shoot!!"... Elder Schlesinger and I just smiled and
thanked the man for not shooting us... we actually thought it was
rather funny and then before the man got back in his car we asked if
we could leave him with a blessing through prayer haha. One of those
"missionary moments" that when I look back on it I think to myself...
did I really do that?
More exciting stuff going on... we had our most productive week yet as
far as key indicators go. We even had a investigator to church!!! We
were sooooo excited!!! We're hoping that have 5 more investigators
with baptism dates by the end of the week so we'll see how that goes
but we're excited for them all!!! It's hard though... it's hard to
love people so much and have such a strong desire to help them to come
to know Christ better and follow the gospel so they can be happier in
life... and when they reject that or make big mistakes in their life
and fall away... man, it just breaks my heart. I just can't even
imagine how heart broken the Savior is every time someone rejects him.
It helps to know that he knows how we feel though.
Elder Schlesinger is still having a lot of health issues... but we're
being as productive as possible though. I'll study, makes calls, setup
appointments, give blessings over the phone and I've even started
trying to teach lessons over the phone while he sleeps... the Lord's
work never stops!! Haha. It's been hard at times but it's helping me
to grow in the ways that I need to grow and he'll be blessed for
enduring these trials.
Thank you all so much for writing me! I don't have much time to write
today and I'm sorry I can't write everyone back but I'm reading them
all!!!! I'm only going to be writing letters and I'll only be writing
them on P-day from here on out so I'm sorry if I don't get back to you
all... but just know that I love you all and that I'm praying for you
every morning and night. Keep writing!!!! You have no idea how much it
helps me to see a new letter in the mailbox for me!!! Just keep doing
the right things in life... and make sure to do the small things.
Small things add up to big things, either for the Lord or for the
advesary. The devil is literally in the details... so do every little
thing you can to have the spirit with you at all times!! Daily prayer,
daily scripture study, attending church and the temple regularly...
all those things will bless you so much in your life!!! I promise. I
love you all so much... I know you're all doing great things!!!
Scripture for this week: Alma 26: 22 and 27
Talk to ya'll next week... may the Lord's peace and blessing be with you!
-Elder Wahlen
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