HE LIVES

Hey y'all,

God is our loving Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and is convincing evidence of the restored gospel, church and Priesthood authority here upon the Earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one true church of Christ and is Gods Kingdom here upon the Earth. The Prophet Thomas S. Monson is the true and living Prophet here on the Earth today and the 12 Apostles called to assist Him and the Lord in leading this church are true Apostles of the Lord. The restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way of happiness, peace and joy in this life and the eternities. Families can and will be together forever through Christ and the Restored Gospel. I absolutely know these things to be true... with all my heart, with all my soul, with all that I am, ever will be or ever was... I know these things to be true. I testify that God and Jesus Christ live! I testify of these things and invite all to come unto Christ and discover the great blessings that come to those who follow Jesus Christ and His teachings within His restored church... and I do so in the sacred name of our Savior... of my Savior... who I will always love and follow... Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Wahlen

Elder Wahlen's homecoming

Come help us celebrate Elder Wahlen's Homecoming!

Homecoming on Sunday January 18th

Time:1:00p.m.

165 W. Monarch Dr.  Bountiful, Utah 84010

You are invited to the homecoming and to our house for dinner after!

Wahlen's

4432 S. Devonshire Dr.

Bountiful, Utah 84010

? Call Tracy 801-860-6904

How are all y'all doing today? I pray that things are going well for you and your family! This last week has been great here in Franklin... many trials and many miracles! 

I wanted to share a bit of my experience that I had yesterday during the groups fast and testimony meeting service....

As many of you may know, the group meets in the home of a member. Well, as you can imagine there's not too much space for seating... which hasn't been a problem as we've had about 25 to 27 people attending each week... but yesterday we had a record 42 people attend our group! The house was literally packed. It was so full that we were scrambling to find more room for seating and more sacrament water cups to be filled to accommodate everyone all the way up until the sacrament hymn started to be sung. The scene and spirit was a bit rough around the edges with all the shuffling, instruction giving and moving... but what happened next certainly smoothed things out. 

As the sacrament hymn concluded and the first sacrament prayer was offered... wow, I wish you could have been there! The entire home fell completely silent and still... and the Spirit descended upon us all. The Spirit came into that home so powerfully as the sacrament was administered... it was almost as if Christ Himself had entered into the home and service. Everyone, including the many children in attendance didn't speak or move throughout the entire administration. The great Spirit and reverence that came from the blessing and passing of the sacrament continued throughout the meeting. 

I share that simple experience and my simple testimony of the sacrament. It's the most important thing we can do each week together as families. I know that as we partake of the sacrament weekly, that our souls are being filled with bread and water that will quench all hunger and thirst forever more. The sacrament represents the body and blood of Jesus Christ... who I testify is our Savior. It's blessed by the priesthood authority of God which I know and testify only exists in this restored church. I invite each of you to begin today to prepare to partake of the sacrament this next week with a renewed focus on the Savior. I promise as you prepare yourself each and every day of this week for this upcoming sacrament that you will feel of the Spirit more richly in your life and that you'll have a new and powerfully profound spiritual experience this next week.

I love you tons! Have a blessed week

-Elder Wahlen

Hey everyone,

This is Tracy

Just a reminder that Elder Wahlen will be returning home on January 15th at 1:00 in the afternoon.

His homecoming is Sunday the 18th at 1:00.  Ya'll are invited and we would love to have you over to the house after for lunch.

See ya'll soon!

Happy New Years y'all!

I hope y'all had an amazing Christmas and I hope y'all have an amazing week planned to start the new year of 2015!

I have many things I could share this week... but I feel impressed to share a fairly simple and somewhat comical experience.

Yesterday my companion and I went to track down a member of the group that we haven't seen at church yet. We drove off towards the address we were provided... but as we arrived to the place where our GPS led us to, we quickly realized that we were going to have to do some hunting to find this guy. None of the mail boxes had house numbers on them and there was no way to tell which house was his! So we pulled into a house that was our best guess as where this brother might be living and went up to the door to knock and find out if he was there. No luck. We went back to the car and went to pull out of the houses driveway... but all a sudden, our car came to a complete stop without explanation. My companion and I looked at each other with puzzled faces before jumping out of the car to see what the might be causing our car to be stuck. It turns out that we had driven into a hidden yet very thick and deep mud hole.... and our front tires were now completely submerged and stuck in the thick Georgia mud. We weren't very happy to say the least... especially since we had much to do that day. We tried everything we could to get ourselves unstuck... but all of our attempts only made things worse and got ourselves more stuck. Eventually we had to call a member to come and tow us out with his big truck. But here's the best part... as the member arrived and started to pull our car out of the mud... the good brother we had gone to that area to find drove by and saw this bizarre scene. He decided to turn around and come back to find out what was going on... which led to us being able to meet him, get his phone number and find out which house he lived in.

Now, there's many lessons to be learned here... but what I want to share is this: sometimes we set a goal and we're working hard and doing our best to achieve it... but then all a sudden, we find ourselves unexpectedly and frustratingly "stuck in the mud"'. It seems that we're wasting time... not moving forward and maybe even making things worse the harder we try to accomplish our goal or start moving forward again. But this is what I know... I know that God can and will help us accomplish the goals worthy and righteous goals that we've set. He has a perfect plan for us to follow that will enable us to do so... and I know that sometimes He loves enough to lead us into a seemingly sticky pit of mud to help us accomplish what we're trying to do. Sometimes we need to get that point where we're stuck so we can learn to rely on Him and His help to accomplish what we want to accomplish... in fact, it's when we hit that "stuck" point that we can rest assured that God is about to reveal His plan and power to us to accomplish our goals and receive of the happiness that He wants to grant us. As we remain faithful, as we keep working hard and doing our part, as we remain patient on the Lord and His timing... and as we reach out and ask for His help... I know that the God will always come through for us in the end and that things will work out. They always work out.

I invite each of you to keep this in mind as you set your goals this year and keep working on the goals from this last year that you may feel like you're "stuck" on. You can do it! God is with you and will be with you as you keep going. 

I know that God lives and that He loves us. I know He sent Christ to help us get "unstuck" if we've got ourselves stuck by disobeying His commandments and I know that everything will be ok according to His plan!

Love you tons,

Elder Wahlen

Hi Ya'll

Well he only has 39 days left and he is finally starting to sound southern.  ha ha

Right now he is still living in a hotel, but tomorrow he is supposed to move in with a member.

This will be his address at least for now.

℅ Merrell and Angelia Harcrow

Elder Mark jay Wahlen

2248 Gum Creek Airport rd.

Roopville, Georgia   30170-3617

In case you're interested, his new companion is from new mexico and is 19 and fresh out of the MTC.  He says they get along great and that he also loves basketball.

Last Week we had a problem with his debit card, in that it was not working,  He said that the people are so nice down there that a lady in back of him at the grocery store and another one at a c-store paid for all their stuff, no questions asked.  it's working now, but I think this was a good way for him to really get to know the hearts of the people.

He doesn't want too much stuff to bring home, so for christmas, he would probably love a christmas card and a hand written letter.  He also loves pictures.  His favorite thing is to hear your inspirational stories or ways that you are bringing 

Christ into your christmas and any experiences you have had sharing the message with others.

I am just sending him a small box and then wrapping presents and leaving our tree up until he gets home on the 15th.

Love ya'll,  Tracy

Howdy ya'll

Howdy y'all, 

WOW!!! Y'all need to just pack up and come on down here to Franklin, Georgia! THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE!!! The people here are the most kind and pleasant people on the planet (no offense to the rest of y'all and where you live...) and there are so many amazing miracles happening here! The Franklin Group nearly doubled in sacrament meeting attendance this last week... especially since the Stake President, his wife, his 1st councilor and our technical Bishop and his wife came... that group right there nearly doubled our attendance haha. It was an amazing first fast Sunday meeting! I wish you could've been there... it was as if the spirits of the early church saints and Joseph Smith himself was there. Miracles happened that day! I wish I had the time to tell y'all of all the things that have already happened and are happening... just know that it's truly humbling to be here at this time and to be doing this great work... even if we have to live out of a hotel room for now :) 

One experience I wanted to share with y'all....

Being this is the first time that missionaries have been down here in Franklin, my companion and I are literally starting from scratch with everything... including finding people to teach (not to mention figuring out where the people to teach are down here! We don't even know where to go right now haha).

So one of the first couple days in which we were here, we decided we would go around the town and just knock on as many doors possible and talk with as many people as possible. We started off and went to various area's that we had driven by as we came into the town that seemed like spots where families would be home and that we'd have success in finding people. Well, not much luck. We went most of the day without much success.... and eventually we found ourselves walking back to our apartment and car along the main road that runs through the middle of town. We started to feel a bit discouraged about the day... but then we thought to ourselves... NO! This is exactly when miracles happen! After you've done all that you can and worked to do your very best and AFTER we work through the TRIAL OF OUR FAITH. That's when we'll receive a witness of things (just as Ether 12: 6 directs). So as we walked back, we decided to keep knocking on every door possible... never giving up faith that the Lord would lead us to where He needed us to go. We ended up knocking on one door near the end of our journey back to our car and just as many doors prior, the women who answered the door nearly had the door shut as fast as she had opened it. However, my companion and I got her to stall just for a brief moment before slamming the door shut again by identifying ourselves as representatives of Christ and by asking her who she knew that could use a prayer in their life or a message about Jesus Christ. She paused at the door just long enough for a little girl inside to yell out to us "YES! I know someone! I have a friend that lives just down the street who needs help". We then were able to gather some quick directions and a name for this little girl before the women at the door finally got it shut on us. My companion and I jotted down the name and the directions and ran back to our car. We jumped in the car and drove down to the spot where the little girls directions had pointed us and said a quick prayer before jumping out of the car to go knock on the door. Just as we approached the house, an older women, a young mother and 2 small girls came out of the house and started to get in the car to leave. We called out with a friendly hello and asked them if they knew of the person that we had been told lived there and could use a prayer and message about Christ. The young mother paused with a strange look on her face as we said the persons name... we asked her if she knew who we were talking about (and ensured her that weren't the FBI or police and that we were indeed sent by God to represent the Savior). The young mother told us to wait a moment as she ran inside... this person we were looking for was one of her daughters. Moments later she came back outside with a couple cute little girls. My companion and I kneeled down and cracked a couple jokes and gave them some CTR rings to ease their tension (They were a bit frightened by us). We then asked why her friend has sent us there to pray with them and share our message. With a somber face, the mother and one of her daughters related that she had been experiencing bullying at school recently... and because of this bullying, she had begun to be depressed and had started "cutting" (a practice of self inflicted harm). My companion and I instantly felt the love and compassion of our Heavenly Father and the Savior upon this little family and this little girl. We prayed with this little girl and the family and the Spirit was SO STRONG!!! After the prayer, we were all in tears... and we testified of the healing power of Christ that could be had in their lives through the message of the restored gospel.

We are now going back to teach this family more about our message of Christ and our loving Heavenly Fathers plan for each of us and our families... and how we're never truly alone and that there's always someone there who understands us and can and will and wants to heal us.

I know God sent us there that day at that time to bring that love and healing power... and I know that God and the Savior knows each of us an our needs perfectly. I invite each of you to keep pressing forward with faith and never give up! He is there for you and He needs you to keep going so you can not only make it back to God one day, but so that you can help others too.

I love y'all so much!

-Elder Wahlen

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