Dear friends and family,
Elder Wahlen has been transferred and didn't get time to email this week. He asked that I take parts of my email and parts of my husbands and add his testimony at the end.
Before I do that here is some information:
Release Date January 15th
Homecoming January 18th at 1:00 with dinner after at our house
More information to come on the homecoming - if you know anyone that would want this information that doesn't get his emails, could you please spread the word! I will post his new address as soon as I get it in case you want to send him a christmas card.
So this is from Elder Wahlen.
I am going to a place called Franklin Georgia. it's going to be SO MUCH FUN. I'm going to be serving in a newly created "group". A group is the smallest unit in the church…it's smaller than a branch! They meet in a member's home. There's someone called as a "group" leader who leads the meetings. Church services only last a total of about and hour and a half and there's only about 20 active families that attend.
The key holder is the Bishop of a nearby ward (summer grove). I am staying in a hotel for a few days and then will live upstairs in a members house. (I will get ya'll the address as soon as possible). I will be training a new missionary fresh out of the MTC.
Last sunday I went with Elder Savage to check it out. This was their second meeting ever as the group was formed just two weeks ago. This is how the meeting went:
-I was asked to sit on the "stand" next to the group leader. I sat next to him at one end of the kitchen table.
-At the other end of the kitchen table was the Sacrament. Elder Savage blessed both the bread and water and 1 decon passed it to the group who were sitting on rusted metal chairs and on a couch.
-We were asked to select all the hymns upon our arrival.
-15 people were in attendance
-I gave one of the two talks for the meeting
- Sacrament meeting only lasted 45 minutes
-There was only 1 combined class which lasted for 45 minutes
-Immediately following the conclusion of the meeting, the group held a pot luck lunch.
The town of Franklin only had 1 street light that we came across. It's a pretty rural area……and it's amazing.!!!!!
It's totally different from where I've served so I can't wait to get started. It will be a riot training a new missionary. I'm excited to start laying the foundations of the lord's kingdom in Franklin. What a humbling opportunity.
Here is the testimony he asked me to share:
"Regardless of if we're meeting as a group of 15 members in a house or if we're meeting in a church of 300+ families…one thing remains the same: The spirit that attends the blessing, distribution and worthily partaking of the sacrament. I felt the spirit so strong there with those small families… the same spirit which I felt later in the day at the Pechtree City Ward… and that to me is evidence that this gospel is true. I invite each of you to pray and ask God 2 specific questions that you have need of answers to…and then write them down. Take those questions to church and seek for the answers…and I promise you that you will receive those answers. No matter where you are or who you are with. I know this is true because it worked for me.
This is going to be a strange time for me. The beginning of the end. I'm excited but nervous…I just pray that I can and will finish in the way that the Lord needs me to… so humbling to be sent there to finish.
I love ya'll
Love, Elder Wahlen
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