Happy Valentine's Day!

Well Happy Valentine's Day! Hope all you lovebirds out there have a good one.

This week has been pretty uneventful, but I'll start off with a new investigator we received.

Sandra. She is in her 50's. She came on chat because she wants a better relationship with Heavenly Father. She has depression, a bad marriage, is bipolar, and suicidal. Whoa! Well we talked for a long time and she was really interested so we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. I called her a few days later and she was a little put-off. She said that her neighbor told her not to talk to Mormon's because they just want to convert you. She felt that that is what we were trying to do. We were able to explain our purpose, and how the Holy Ghost converts. She felt a lot better. We were able to talk about the things that make her happy, and what she loves about her Husband. She had a child when she was 16 but was forced to give it up for adoption so she has never seen him. She had an infection that caused her never to be able to have children again, so she doesn't have children, only pets. She was in a car accident when she was 17 that put her through the windshield. She lost almost all the blood in her body and needed a blood transfusion, she was very close to death. It marred her face and she needed several reconstructions and recovery was about a year. She felt that she had a purpose in life and that Heavenly Father was preserving her. We were able to teach about the Atonement, and having faith. We talked about Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and she liked it all. She wants to do whatever she needs to in order to be closer to Heavenly Father. She really wants to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, the local missionaries just need to come! She is a sad lonely lady but I love her. I know the Gospel can help her!

Do you remember Randal? About 6-7 weeks ago when we were on desk a miracle happened. A host lady from the JSMB walked in an older man who had just seen the Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration movie, and now wanted a Book of Mormon. So basically, she walked up and said, this man would like a Book of Mormon! So we gave him one and he took one for his brother as well, and he gave us his contact information so we could follow up and send missionaries to him in CA. Well, I had tried calling but the number was invalid, and I tried emailing but one message was returned, and he never responded to the others. I thought that I would never get in contact with him, but today he emailed me back! He said he had been lazy in responding but that everything had been going well. The missionaries actually came today for the first time! He said it caught him off guard and they talked outside, but after a while he invited them into his living room so they could talk more. He likes what they shared with him. He says that he thinks it can help him a lot. They left some pamphlets and invited him to pray morning and night. He is even going to see what a church looks like tomorrow. That was my miracle for the day!

Tim is doing really good. When we talked to him last week, the lesson went really well. We taught him almost all the commandments! If it were me I would have been overwhelmed, but with each one he said oh, okay that makes sense. He said that He would keep all of them, and that he thinks that they are all from God. He even said that even though he can't fast (medically), he would give up chocolate on Fast Sundays. He has quit coffee too! He only drinks herbal tea. Now there is only one thing keeping him from being baptized...the font. Like I talked about last week, he has to find a way that he can be baptized without the risk of infection. He said the Elders are working on it, and that he should have an answer soon. We told him to find out if there is a doctor in his ward, and seek his advice. We also invited him to receive a Priesthood Blessing from the Elders, and told him what it is, and he said he would get one. But on Sunday, they had a freak storm come through where he lives in Bonney Lake, WA so church was cancelled. So I think the Elders still came over that night, but we have not heard yet if there is a solution for baptism or if he received a blessing. We will follow up when we call him on Saturday. I am really excited!

One cool thing that happened this week. Do you remember Rajiv? From the very beginning of the mission? He lives in New York and is from India. He was really interested in what we shared with him when he was here, and even wanted to share it with his daughter. Well, I have been trying to get a hold of him ever since then, but he has been busy. He's been in India for his daughter's wedding, and other things. So finally when I called again this week he answered! He said that now wasn't a good time because he broke his ankle really bad and is confined to a wheelchair. He just seemed like he wasn't interested, so we asked, well Rajiv, are you still interested in learning more about this church so you can know for yourself if it is true? And he said, oh yeah yeah I am still interested, I just need to get better first, you can call me next month. So I am glad he is still interested and that he is still going to read the Book of Mormon we gave him. We invited him to read Alma 32 and pray about it. So stay tuned!

Well that is about all, I just wanted to end with a story that one of the departing sisters shared in her talk:

The following event took place in a ward in Salt Lake City in 1974. It occurred during a sacrament meeting and was told to me by a Regional Representative of the Twelve who was in the meeting. A young man, just before leaving on his mission stood in sacrament meeting and bore in essence the following testimony.

Brothers and Sisters, as you know, the past two weeks I've been waiting for a mission call. During the time I was waiting I had a dream. I knew it was not an ordinary dream. I dreamed I was in the preexistence and awaiting my call to come to earth. I was filled with the same anticipation and excitement that I had before I received my mission call. In my dream I was talking to a friend, and I felt a special closeness to him, even though I've never met him in this life. As we talked a messenger came and gave me a letter. I knew it was my call to go to earth. In great excitement my friend and I opened the letter. I gave it to him and asked him to read it aloud. It said:

"You've been called to the earth in a special time and to a special land. You will be born to the true church and you will have the priesthood of God in your home. You will be born into a land of plenty, in a land of freedom. You will go to the earth in the United States of America."

My friend and I rejoiced as we read my call, and while we were rejoicing the messenger returned. This time he had a letter for my friend. We knew it was his call to earth. My friend gave me the letter to read out loud. His letter said:

"You've been called to go to earth in a circumstance of poverty and strife. You will not be raised in the true church. Many hardships will attend your life. Your land will be fraught with political and social difficulties which will hinder the work of the Lord. You will be born in Costa Rica."

We wept, my friend and I, as we read his call. And my friend looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, "When we are down on earth, you in your choice land and me in Costa Rica, my friend, please come and find me."

Then this young missionary, with tears in his eyes, said, "Brothers and Sisters, I have received my mission call. I am going to Costa Rica."

There is a sequel to the story. About a year after the sacrament meeting, the bishop received a letter from the missionary in Costa Rica. The Letter had one sheet of paper in it and on that sheet in capital letters were four words: I FOUND MY FRIEND.

I am really grateful to be a missionary. I want to give my best so that I can find all the people I promised I would find in the preexistence. I hope I can find them and share the gospel with them.

I love you all, have a wonderful week.

Love,