How's everyone doing? Everyone enjoy general conference this weekend???? It was AWESOME, wasn't it?? So many great talks... I know that I learned so many things and had so many prayers answered from watching and listening... I pray that y'all had similar experiences.
Some of my favorite talks? Oh man, where do I start??? Elder Holland (as always) gave a great talk... President Monson, his talk on obedience, that one was REALLY good too... I really enjoyed Elder Claytons' talk on marriage... President Uchtdorf gave a great talk... in both general session and in priesthood... Elder Beck in priesthood had a stellar talk... President Eyring in the first session gave another great one... Elder Ballard... that talk was super!!! I think that might be my most favorite talk of the conference... but alas, I'll stop my long list there although I loved them all!!!
So where to start this week????? SO much to talk about, so little time... so how about a quick interesting story... that's a good place to start, ya? We were out tracting with a member earlier this week, we all had our suits on and this member was driving us around in a Lincoln car with his dark sunglasses on... needless to say, we looked like a car full of FBI agents. This is probably why when we went up to a gentlemens' door-step and knocked on his door that he came to the door wielding his Glock pistol... he promptly waved us to go to the garage... on our way to the garage I jokingly said to the member who had been standing behind us "Well, he has a pistol in hand... you better hide behind us Brother Phillips. I would hate to have you get shot while out tracting with us..." Long story short, I did make sure I was standing in front of him when the guy came out to the garage with pistol in hand... but don't worry, after we explained everything and who we were he let us go without incident :)
I had a GREAT Birthday and I just want to thank EVERYONE who sent me letters, food, crafts, presents, etc. etc. etc. I LOVED everything!!! You have no idea how much I love y'all and how much I appreciate everything you sent me... I would write more about that and thank each one of you but I only have a few minutes left and I REALLY wanted to talk about what happened on conference Sunday with a family we've been working with...
So we've been working with this INCREDIBLE family for about a month now... we've been meeting with them about once a week and things have been going really good each week we've met with them... to summarize how I feel about this family before going any further... I would literally give up anything to help them get to the temple and be sealed together for time and all eternity... so we had planned to watch conference with them at their home on Sunday. We planned to watch each session with them and then have a lesson with them after each of the sessions while we ate dinner and lunch.
Before going over to do this... I had been praying the hardest I've ever prayed for anyone to receive an answer and a witness of the truthfulness and importance of the restored gospel in their lives... and I had been praying specially that it would happen during conference... so we watched the first session and talked with them after. That went well enough, but the father had some things that were still holding him back (at this point in time, the wife had already told us that she wanted to be baptized along with her whole family). So we left to do some things and then came back to watch the next session... we watched it and then started talking afterwards... we talked about a few things but then all a sudden the husband sits down and says "Well, I guess we better get baptized". This is the REALLY REALLY REALLY short and simple version, but lets just say that I haven't felt the spirit so strongly since I've been out here in the field... it was amazing... they're going to be baptized this Saturday and I can't tell you how blessed and grateful I am to be here to witness that... the Lord and the Holy Ghost did all the work and I was fortunate enough to be here to witness their mighty work...
But what did I learn from this??? Prayers are answered when we pray with faith and a sincere heart and the Lord will ALWAYS win... I can't even begin to tell y'all how much adversity we've been facing as a companionship these last couple weeks... and this family has been facing extremely hard times as well... and I KNOW that its because the adversary was (and still is) doing his best to prevent this family from taking that step towards becoming an eternal family... but through prayer, faith and following the Lord, this family is going to be baptized this Saturday. I can't possibly express to y'all how amazing that is... and how amazing this journey with them has been. There have been hard times, and there are still hard times ahead... but they've reached out and grasped the Lords hand, and they're not letting go... and neither are we... and by doing so, the Lord is leading us through this tempest of a time to a place where eternal joy and happiness will abound in more ways and for a time longer than we can comprehend. NEVER LET GO!!!! Ask for help!!! I promise you, as a representative a Jesus Chirst, that as we follow him in faith... and as we ask for help when we need it... HE WILL BE THERE FOR YOU!!! And everything will turn out for the better in the end... I promise you that!
My time is up, and I wish I had more of it... but I don't haha. Thank you all SOOOOOO much for everything... in particular, thank you to my family (I loved the happy Birthday card), the Brey's, Sara and the basketball team (OH MY HECK, you have no idea how excited I was to get those shorts and shirt and everything else in that package). Y'all are the best... and that includes ALL of you. I love you. I love you all with everything I have... and I do so through the Lord as he can amplify my love for you beyond any measure that I could ever hope to achieve on my own. Continue to follow him... and keep serving one another.
With all my love,
-Elder Wahlen
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