From Pres. Tilleman

We are not supposed to forward President Tilleman's weekly letter, so I am just going to copy and paste part of it!

Second, you may have heard (or felt!), there was a major earthquake (7.7) on Haida Gwaii on Saturday evening, with numerous after-shocks since then.  If your parents or anyone asks, all the missionaries that could have been affected (Haida Gwaii, North Island, and Prince Rupert, in particular) are doing fine.  There were no deaths, or even injuries, in Haida Gwaii or anywhere else.  This is a miracle given how big this earthquake was (third largest recorded in Canadian history, in fact).

II.        Spiritual Thoughts for the Week

What a remarkable mission presidents’ and wives’ seminar Sister Tilleman and I had.  We are humbled and feel very blessed.  Elder Maynes called it “extraordinary and historic.”  I would have to say the theme was “the time to hasten the work is now; the Prophet has spoken.”  Three members of the Seventy (Richard J. Mayes, Presidency of the Seventy), Elder Schwitzer (First Quorum), and Elder Aidukaitis (First Quorum) instructed us.  They were joined by Richard Heaton, the MTC’s top administrative advisor.  It truly was an amazing conference.  And the theme came back, over and over again, to how the Lord, through his Prophet, has called on each of us to hasten the work, right now.  If we were called by Brigham Young to cross the plains, would we jump right in and do so?  In terms of missionary work, this is that type of revelation from the Lord.  Truly historic and extraordinary.

Elder Maynes reminded us that the Lord has already declared: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.”  D&C 88:73 (emphasis added).  Elder Maynes explained that President Monson has declared that time to be now.  The Church normally receives about 300 missionary applications per week.  Since the Prophet’s announcement, as of Wednesday of last week, the Church has received more than 10,000 applications in two and a half weeks– that is more than 10x the normal number applications.  The missionary department will be holding at least twice as many assignment meetings each week, with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve presiding over each of these meetings.  Our leaders are truly leading us by example.  With all they have to do, the Quorum of the Twelve will be spending significantly more time to make each of the significantly greater number of missionary assignments that will have to be made.  The hastening of the work is starting at the top of our leadership in the Church!

Missionaries’ time at the MTC will have to shorten to accommodate this surge of missionaries.  Soon the English speaking missionaries will not even be spending three weeks in the MTC.  We will therefore have to be exponentially more prepared to train missionaries as they arrive into the field.  Do we see, now, why the Lord implemented the 12-week program?  The Lord has been preparing us for this time of hastening.

In our mission, right now, we must prepare ourselves, and our areas, for many more missionaries.  We must be better teachers, and more of us will have to be prepared to take on the highest honor that the Lord can give a missionary – to train.  Right now, we must have more truth seekers in our teaching pool and improve or “hasten” the work in each of our areas; some of the areas in our mission that currently have two missionaries will soon have four.  We must prepare our areas and our wards and branches to receive and put these new missionaries right to work.  Right now, we must respond to the clarion call from Elder Haleck to have each companionship averaging one baptism per month.  We can do this!

One of the Keys to Hastening the Work – Serving With Zeal Toward God and To All Mankind (Alma 27:27)

Elders and Sisters, to answer the call  of the Prophet, I feel we can and should truly become like the sons of Mosiah.  After the sons of Mosiah were converted to the Lord, or as Alma the Younger said, after they were “born again,” (Mosiah 27:25-26), these young men “zealously” strived to repair all the wrongs they had done.  Mosiah 27:35.  These fantastic young men became their era’s examples of Preach My Gospel missionaries – they became “instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.”  Mosiah 27:36.

What was their reward for doing so?  “And how blessed are they!  For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.”  Mosiah 27:37.

What was their desire after being born again?  They became so immersed in the Savior’s work of salvation that “they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.”  Mosiah 28:3.

How were these missionaries received by those they taught?  After Ammon and his brethren first experienced much “long-suffering” and “many afflictions” (Alma 18:11), the Lord guided them to those who were truly searching for the truth, even though at first they did not know they were.  The Lord guided the missionaries’ thoughts and actions, and touched the hearts of those they were teaching.  The Lord blessed them with much success.  See Alma Chapter 26.

And what type of converts did the sons of Mosiah have?  The Ammonites were noted for their “zeal in keeping commandments”.  Alma 21:23 (emphasis added).  Later, after they had moved to live with the Nephites, they were again “distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly upright in all things; and they were firm in their faith of Christ, even unto the end.”  Alma 27:27 (emphasis added).

May each of us individually continue to become that type of missionary, and may we collectively continue to become that type of mission.  May we serve our Heavenly Father, our Saviour, and our brothers and sisters, with zeal, or with “enthusiastic dedication” and “eager desire.”  As we serve with enthusiasm and eagerness, our lights will shine and those we teach will, in turn, feel of our enthusiastic love for God and all mankind, such that they will come to believe and then emulate these same qualities.  Elder Schwitzer taught this perfectly at our mission president’s seminar, when he said, “it is not so much what our missionaries teach, as who they become.  As they become more like the Savior, their teachings will naturally become more like His teachings.”

The Church is true.  God lives.  Jesus Christ, His only Begotten son, is our Savior and Redeemer.  Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, who through the power of God translated the most correct Book of any on earth, the Book of Mormon, which will bring us closer to Christ than any other Book on earth.  Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God; He is God’s mouthpiece on the earth today.  This Church is guided by true Apostles and Prophets, just as we learn Christ’s Church should be governed from Acts Chapter 1 (calling another Apostle to the Quorum of the Twelve after Judas Iscariot had died), and Paul’s great teachings in Ephesians, Chapters 2 and 4 (Christ’s Church is founded upon Apostles and Prophets, with the Savior Himself being the chief cornerstone).  You and I have the privilege of being full-time witnesses of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I testify to you of these things, and am pleased to join with you in doing so.

This is the Savior’s work of salvation in which we are engaged.  It is so marvelous and wonderful.  Sister Tilleman and I love it, and we love to serve with you in this glorious labor of love.  We love you, respect you, and are so grateful for you!

Have an incredible week.  Bundle up, stay warm, and serve like there is no tomorrow – with great zeal and haste!  Also, a reminder to get your flu shots if you have not already done so.  And finally, as always, I anxiously await each of your emails this week.

Love,

President and Sister Tilleman

Burns Lake

Family!

There was definitely an earthquake up here, but at the time, we were on the ferry, so we didn't feel anything. We only heard about it when the assistants to the president called us to ask us if we were okay. Apparently it shook quite a bit for about a minute, particularly members who live in trailer parks and things like that. Burns Lake was pretty unaffected as far as damage goes, but Haida Gwaii had an evacuation order because they were pretty worried about a tsunami. Winter does seem to be in full swing, though! It's snowing right now and there's somewhere between eighteen inches and 2 feet already. (I'm not sure exactly because everybody tells us the height in centimeters) It's supposed to get warmer in a couple days, and so it might melt, but... whew. It's not even Halloween yet! Since we have a house in Burns Lake, we bought a bunch of packets of skittles and taped them to pass-along cards. We aren't allowed to leave the house past 6:00 on Halloween, so we are just going to do our weekly planning and let people tract into us, for once. :)

Elder Epperson thought he had a bad sinus infection because he felt congested and was getting pretty bad headaches, and so we went to a walk-in clinic because he wanted antibiotics. The doctor walked through his symptoms and told him that he didn't have an infection, they were probably just tension headaches. Elder Epperson was not happy about that. He really just wanted some antibiotics. He went to a pharmacy and got some Neilmed sinus rinse stuff and he uses it 4 times a day now. I imagine that when patients think they have sinus infections, it's kind of a pain to convince them that they don't. It's probably a pretty busy time in medicine. It's good to hear that the trip was awesome and that you got back in one piece! Some of those pictures looked very cool. I got a postcard in the mail today that came when you were at the Vatican, I think!

The mission is really revving up to get ready for all of the new missionaries! It is a super exciting time to be in the field. I might sent part of President Tilleman's email that talks about all of it. It sounds like they are going to be shortening the amount of time missionaries are spending in the MTC, and putting missionaries all over the place up here. Next transfer we are already putting another set of missionaries one area away in Vanderhoof, and they are opening an area called "100 Mile House", and that's only in the Prince George Zone, and this is before the wave of missionaries from the announcement has started to pour in.

The work in Burns Lake is doing awesome! I feel like I might be leaving next week, which honestly is a little heart wrenching. This branch is filled with a bunch of characters, and I love them all. When I first got here the members really weren't very excited about missionary work, and now they give us almost too much time in PEC and branch council to talk about the work, and President Lambert now always talks about missionary work when he bears his testimony every fast Sunday (because in a branch this size... almost everybody bears their testimony every time) and always thank us. When the members find out things that we need, like that we don't have winter tires on, they always figure it out for us. about I think some summer I am going to have to come back and "portage," which is like backpacking, but you carry a canoe on your shoulders and canoe whenever you hit a lake or river. They all complain about doing it, but since I've been here, they've gone on 3 portage excursions, so it can't be all that bad!

Vanessa is doing well! This Sunday she was called as a Primary teacher. That will be really good for her! When on exchanges, me and the new missionary in Smithers, Elder Marshall, tracted into a new investigator, which is a miracle because Smithers rolled their truck, and so without a vehicle, they have had to knock nothing but the streets in walking distance many many times over the past couple weeks. The guy said that the last time the missionaries came to his door he cussed them out and kicked them off his porch. He got in a crazy car accident a couple days earlier, however, and that in combination with us coming to his door, he took to be a sign as God reaching out to him. It is amazing how people's hearts change. Tracting is never a waste of time. Many miracles happen up here in the North! It is such a blessing to be here serving the Lord.

Elder Blotter


PS - A 17 year old member from the branch, Jace, left with some program to go teach English in China about a month ago, and I heard that he ended up in the same group that Justine Larsen is in! Justine passed some inside joke through him to a member in the branch to me, but I have no idea what she was talking about. How crazy is that?

Re: Things are getting chilly in Burns Lake (From Mom)

My dearest firstborn, Elder Blotter,
    I can't believe we missed you AGAIN. But I think it will be easier now that we know it will always be on Mondays now. I was comatose last night by 8:00 with jet lag. Jacey and Jed actually put me to bed and tucked me in and said a prayer with me. There was a 10 hour difference on our trip. I can't even tell you all that I experienced and learned on our journey. It was pretty epic and a trip of a lifetime. We saw the Colleseum, the Vatican, the Pyramids, mummies of Ramses and other, the Holy Land, Greece, and the beautiful Amalfi Coast in Naples, the lost city of Pompei and many other amazing things. But by far my favorite thing I got to experience was the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. I want one day to have all my kids be able to experience it. The Spirit was so strong. Dad and I both just really felt it. Tears just streamed down our faces and you just KNEW that Jesus Christ lived and died for us and it happened right there. I can't even explain it. It was just amazing.
        Do you know how much I love your letters? I mean really. They are awesome and a highlight of our week. All day Saturday as we were traveling home I thought of you on your trek home from Vancouver and rushing home to fill the font. And then I thought of you about the time of the baptism and I just WISH I could have been there! And sweet tender mercy happened. We had been traveling about 20 hours and were just arriving in Hyde Park I got a text. It was from Sis. Lambert in Burn's Lake with a photo of you just minutes after the baptism with Vanessa. I couldn't believe it!! It was such a blessing after having thought of you all day and wondering how it went. I would love to give that woman a hug. And how adorable is Vanessa and her sweet little one! Can you believe how her life has changed with the gospel as a part of it? I hope to be able to meet her one day. (And I loved that Gemma said you're name)
    Well, we got a new Stake Presidency on Sunday. The new Stake President is named Mario Durrant, from Amelia's ward. We don't know that much about him, just that he has really great kids. Then Scott Erickson (Pres. Erickson's son) is one counselor and Mitch Gatherum's dad is the other. They were all bishops in our Stake. They are all pretty young! About Dad's age, I guess.
    Poor Chester is most likely dead. The word on the street (from Preston Whitteker) is that animal control was scraping something white off the road in front of our driveway. He told Jacey at school while we were gone so she cried all day! Not sure how to break the news to Amelia.  :o
    Jacey LOVED the Canadian candy. That was a huge hit with her. She shows it to everyone and lets them try a little.  Well, I wish you a very successful and happy week! Know your fam prays for you many times a day. During our family prayer tonight after Family Home, Dad was saying the prayer and when he started to pray for you he couldn't say anything for like 25 seconds. We love you and are so blessed to have you as our son. Forgive us for not writing last week. But did you start to get any of the post cards yet?  :)  I will send you a couple pics from the trip. Have a great week. Love, Mom

Here we are at the Sea of Galilee. It was awesome.

Things are getting a little chilly in Burns Lake.

 

Well hello!

It's been another great week up here in Burns Lake, and down South (well, still up North for you people) in the lower mainland during the middle of the week! I had numerous experiences that I won't forget. It's definitely starting to get colder! We went tracting in a few inches of snow, but fortunately most of it melted when we were out of the area. It was -7 degrees outside (In Celsius, so not too bad) when we drove to church yesterday. If I don't get transferred out of here next time calls roll around, I might have to have some warmer clothes! Either way, it's going to be an adventure. We have to get creative sometimes doing missionary work in the North. Up here when it gets colder, we have to take golf balls when knocking doors, so that you can hear the knock even though we are wearing gloves.

It was a monumental week for the Burns Lake elders! Vanessa Jack's baptism was amazing. We were a little worried at first, because the font was so underused that the only water that came out of the spigot was a murky greenish brown. After a while of leaving the water on, it turned into... a less murky (but still distinct) greenish brown. But Vanessa was so excited that she wasn't put off by it at all! She was just really excited. During the service, she bore her testimony about the Holy Ghost and it was incredibly powerful. It has been such a blessing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ really change her life. Before her baptismal interview, she confessed that she ate half a granola bar before she realized that it had mocha in it, and she was so stressed that it would push back her baptismal date, and she kept on asking me if I had invited all of our investigators to come see her baptism. She's that kind of a person. The Spirit was present the entire time during the service. You can feel the Spirit SO strongly when you are in the font, and it was such a sacred experience to be able to baptize her.

I absolutely adore Vanessa's 2 year old daughter, Gemma Rose. (She can't really say anything except "uh oh" whenever she sees a ripped page of a book or something like that, but she totally said my name while Elder Aldred was interviewing Vanessa. Brother Moore heard it. He can vouch for me.) It is so amazing to see how the gospel has affected how Vanessa views being a parent. Alcoholism and immorality, which is really prevalent in the culture of a lot of the single mothers in this area, won't even be a concern for Gemma. I am SO happy about that. SO happy. You have no idea.

Well, I had a lot of eye opening experiences down South, as well! We stayed the night with the elders that are currently working in Surrey, an urban area not too far from Vancouver. Wow. Burns Lake has 9 avenues. 2nd Ave has... I think 2 houses on it. Their area covers the first hundreds of streets with ritzy apartment complexes and trailer parks and everything in between. We went street contacting and there were people everywhere! It made me glad that I was trained in the North, where everybody is a stereotypically laid back, polite Canadian! The first person I walked up to, with a big ol' smile on my face, cussed me out and told me I was being "way too pushy". Ha ha, it's a bit of a different pace in different areas. That is something to get used to. Burns Lake really hasn't been too wet. I think it's rained maybe 6 or 7 times since I got there, and never enough for it to really get in the way of the work. Down there it was POURING. We left our raincoats in the truck in Terrace, so we went out in regular suit jackets and we got soaked straight through. It was awesome.

I also had the opportunity to hear quite a bit from one of the Seventies, Elder Haleck. He shared many powerful and sacred experiences from his time as a mission president, and it was awesome. President Tilleman is totally going to become a general authority after his time as a mission president. He's nearly doubling the number of baptisms as compared to before his time here, and the mission he presides over is exactly obedient. He's very inspired. Anyways, Elder Haleck talked a lot about how to work with wards and branch councils, how we have the obligation to remain active after we return from our missions, and he bore a special witness about how the prophet is receiving revelation to "hasten the work". The Lord is hastening His work of gathering His sheep, and it is such a privilege to be a missionary at this time. Miracles are happening, and angels are preparing the hearts of people to hear us. It is a blessing to be here. Today I got many letters from girls all talking about how they are planning on serving now. (With return addresses like "Future Sister Pack" and "The Happiest Girl in the World") President Tilleman says that he is requesting to double the number of missionaries he gets each transfer. It's an exciting time! The Lord is expecting a lot from His missionaries, and He deserves it.

Hope all is well at home! Have a great week.

Elder Blotter

PS- I forgot to mention it last time, but the Library changed its hours so it is now open on Monday, so I'll probably always be using computers on Monday from now on. *cough cough*. :)

Report from Burns Lake

Hello, family!

It was great to see all of the pictures of the Holy Land! I have no idea if there is any turmoil in that region or not right now, but this one crazy Canadian guy living on Southside starting ranting about "the prophecies of Ezekiel being fulfilled in the chaos and fighting around Israel", and so I hope that everything is well. Your trip has made me think of the part in Elder Holland's general conference talk that talked about what his apostles were going through after he was crucified. It must have been really neat to see everything up close!

Well, it has been another amazing week up in Burns Lake! I was a little skeptical when I first arrived in Canada and saw all of the signs that call British Columbia the "Most Beautiful Place on Earth," and I've mentioned a bit about how beautiful it is up here, but a while ago, we were tracting around 7:00, (the sun sets at like 6:30 already) and we saw the Northern Lights. Whew. Northern BC is a great place to be. My new companion, Elder Epperson, and I were able to have another great week of teaching and finding, which made last week not seem like a fluke. The bar is being raised in Burns Lake! The missionary work here has a very different feel than when I first arrived. This area really is being blessed by the Lord, and we can see His hand in what we do every day.

This upcoming week is really exciting! Once a year in the mission, somebody from the quorum of the Seventy comes and gives a big training to everyone in the mission, and so we're going to be flying down to Vancouver and spending Thursday and Friday in Richmond to meet with Elder Haleck. That should be a spiritual feast. On Saturday, we're going to wake up early, fly for two hours, drive for 4.5 hours, and hurry to our church to begin filling the font for Vanessa's baptism! Vanessa was so prepared for the gospel, and the branch has been very good in fellowshipping her and making her feel welcome. I have learned so much about the  what President Hinckley called the"better" way to do missionary work from the experience. The Spirit does the converting, the members provide the friendship, and the missionaries just get a front row seat! The branch is really excited for it, because they haven't had a baptism in ages, and it is the first time they have had a First Nations person convert to the gospel. I am also really excited because it will be the first time that I have had the sacred privilege to perform the ordinance of baptism on my mission. Tell Jacey that I am thankful that I had the opportunity to baptize her and so I won't be nervous now. :)

Speaking of Vanessa, we had another miracle with her this week! Vanessa ran into one of her friends, Vieonna, one morning before one of our lessons with her, and invited her to come. She had just gotten out of treatment and was looking for something more in her life, and through a really long chain of events, things in her schedule miraculously worked out and she was able to come to the lesson. When she got there, we decided to just teach the Restoration to her instead of what we were going to teach Vanessa. She wasn't expecting it to be anything particular, but that definitely changed. When we were giving Joseph Smith's recollection of the first vision, she just starting laughing and buried her head in a pillow. We were a bit thrown off by that, but it soon became apparent that she was just really overcome by the spirit. Vanessa was right there to bear her testimony about the Holy Ghost, and the spirit was very strong, and now Vieonna is going to be baptized on November 11th. Elder Epperson and I aren't quite Amulek and Alma, but with the incredible blessings and guidance from the Lord, we are indeed beginning to have success among the Lamanites in Burns Lake!

We've also began meeting with a part member family on Southside, the Johnsons. Ray Johnson was born and raised Catholic, and Wendy Johnson is less active. When they were married, they had to compromise, and their compromise ended up to do neither religion. They have an 8 year old daughter, Brooklyn, who wants to be baptized, but Sister Johnson doesn't feel like she can insist on it since they weren't baptized as babies into the Catholic church. We are meeting with Ray to try and soften his heart so that he will (if nothing else) allow Brooklyn to be baptized! When we visited, Brooklyn showed us her "Book of Mormon Stories" book with all the pictures that she reads form every day, and walked up and handed me a little drawing of the second half of the Plan of Salvation that she remembered learning at church one time. She is such a little gem, and we are praying for miracles.

That's about it! It is still such a miracle to be finding as many new investigators and teach as many lessons in a town that only has about as many people as Sky View does. It has really built my testimony that this is His church and that He will move the work forward in these last days! It is such a blessing to be a missionary, and life is great up in the North.

Have a great week! Hope the trip in the Holy Land goes well!

Elder Blotter

Jerusalem

Dear Josh,
You sure had one happy mom last week sitting on a computer on the Royal Caribbean. I LOVED the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please tell your companion THANK YOU and that I like him already. They were great pics and I needed to see you. You looked so cute and like such a nice little missionary. I can't see why EVERYONE you meet wouldn't want to listen and immediately be baptized. :)
For the last two days we've been in Egypt. Wow. When I get home I want to write you all about it. Very poor and dirty, but the pyramids were cool. Today we came to Israel and got to go to Galilee and Caapernum. So many things happened there! At the Sea of Galilee, Jesus told Peter and the others to Follow Him and become Fishers of Men, he walked on the Water, calmed the Sea.... It was unbelievable. Tomorrow we see Jerusalem, Mount of Beatitudes, the Garden Tomb, Gethsemane and others. Tonight we are sleeping inside the Temple walls by the Jotha Gate. I can't believe I am here. I love the Savior so much. :)
I am so looking forward to your letter this week. It is the highlight of our week. Hope you are doing good and it's not too cold. Love, mom

Egypt

The Sea of Galilee

Jerusalem

Burns Lake Report

Well hello!

Well, it sounds like so far the trip to the holy land has gone well! I think it would be fascinating to see the Vatican and to explore all of it. The more you look at the Catholic church, the more bizarre it seems that so many people think it is the same church that Jesus established on the earth. It has none of the same ordinances or organization. They call their leader "the Pope", which comes from Papa, or Father, when Jesus specifically taught to call no man your Father save it be your Father in Heaven. Everything just seems a little off with that religion. It is a blessing to have the gift of the Spirit telling us what truth is, so that we can know when something is what God would want us to do! I wrote Jed a letter finally, and the post office was closed last time I tried to send something for her birthday, but I sent Jacey a package for her birthday. Hopefully they do not think that I have forgotten about them!

General Conference was amazing. You get a lot more out of it the more spiritually in tune you are. They say up here that General Conference is the missionaries' Super Bowl, but it's even better than that! Everybody up here loved President Monson's shout out to the Canada Vancouver mission. President Tilleman says that President Monson really loves "his Canadian missions". And I'm guessing that tens of thousands of life plans changed with the announcement that missionaries can leave on their missions at younger ages. It's certainly inspired. It will be awesome to have the increase in missionaries. More and more areas can open up inside of British Columbia, and so that will be a blessing in this mission. Now I will have an excuse when after 6 months the flow of letters starts to stop. "All the girls that would be writing me are on their own missions!" Ha ha. I figured that Amelia would immediately call her bishop after the announcement. It will be exciting to see where that takes her.

Well, the work in Burns Lake is going fantastic! We taught more lessons than Elder Epperson has on his entire mission, and he's been in areas like Victoria with hundreds of thousands of people in his area. The Lord has really blessed us. Vanessa is still going strong. She has been living the Word of Wisdom like a champion and is going to be baptized on October 20th! I hope that the white clothes that I brought will fit me! I should probably double check before the day of.

There were a couple experiences this week that really touched me. At the end of one of the really long, destitute roads on Southside, there is a clump of houses that we call the Morris reserve because all the people there have the last name of Morris. We taught one of the investigators there, and then we felt like we should visit one of the houses on the other side of the Reserve, even though me and Elder Neher had taught him and he hadn't been interested. We knock on the door, and the man yells for us to come inside. He's sitting on the couch with a Book of Mormon, and tells us that it is the "biggest joke he has ever read." Apparently, in the morning, his car wouldn't start and so he couldn't go anywhere, and so he just started reading the Book of Mormon we left with him weeks ago. He had read all day at his slow pace, and was in Word of Mormon when we knocked on the door. He thought that Joseph Smith had written the book as a story or something, and was about to burn it. We were able to explain to him what the Book of Mormon actually was, teach him about Priesthood authority, and he calmed down and is now investigating the gospel. He just needed a bit of guidance and direction right at the time we were able to be at his door, and it was miraculous that we were able to talk to him before he hardened his heart. If we were an hour or so later, he wouldn't have talked to us.

The other was an experience with a man named Jonathan Alec. We were knocking on doors looking for the apartment where an investigator moved to, and one man said that he had never heard of the person we were looking for. He asked us why on earth we were walking around in nice clothes in "the middle of the night" (it was like... 8:30) and we told him we were missionaries. He let us inside, and as we taught him part of the message of the Restoration. He said he would like to meet with us, but he was going into treatment to get him off of illegal drugs on the 7th of November. The Spirit told me to promise him he could quit using and be baptized on November 3rd, and he felt the Spirit witnessing it was true and agreed to be baptized. It was amazing. The Spirit literally put words in my mouth. We're meeting with him again today and we are very excited.

Well, life is going well here! That is about all I have time to write, but many miracles are happening here. I've got to try and upload pictures now, so hopefully that works out. I love and miss you all and hope everything is great at home and in... Egypt now?

Elder Blotter

PS- I found a charger for the camera!

Hello from ROME!

Hi there! It was fun to here about Elder Eppersen. I Facebook stalked him and think he looks like a very nice boy. How was your first week together?  Are you getting ready for the baptism? That is so exciting.
    I'm sure it's beginning to get pretty cold in Burn's Lake. Are you able to still run in the mornings? Is your companion a runner? Oh wait, you said he was on the track team. It would probably be fun to run together, if it's not too cold.
    Today we saw the Pantheon, which was build so that a perfect sphere could fit inside. It was incredible, and amazing that it was built around the time Christ was born. We also went to the Vatican and saw where the Pope lives and the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Square. It was very ornate and fancy and kind of Gothic. It was good to see it, but I would probably not go back. The Spirit was not at all there. It was a weird feeling. It made me want to go to the temple. There is no feeling like it!
  Oh! Where you able to see Conference? I'm sure you've heard by now about the big announcement. As soon as I heard it, I KNEW Amelia would go on a mission ASAP. I just knew it. An hour after it was announced I received a text from Amelia (in Rome) saying...(I'm GOING ON A MISSION!) in fact she already has an appointment for tomorrow (Tuesday) with her bishop! She could go by December and be home about the time your home. She will be such a great missionary! I think this announcement will change things so much. Many, many more sisters will go. Isn't it crazy? I missed seeing conference SO much! I can't wait to read it when we get home. We say good bye to Italy tomorrow and head for Egypt. Wish us luck! Can't wait to here from you tomorrow! Love you,  Mom

Sent from my iPhone

Inside the Pantheon.

The Colosseum.

The Vatican

Re: It's definetly October in Burns Lake (From MOM)

Elder Epperson sounds like he will be a wonderful companion! The two of you will do great things together. I am so excited for the baptism of one Vanessa Jack. I can't imagine how it will feel for you to participate in a baptism of someone you found, didn't give up on and then was able to teach about the Savior and his Gospel. It has to be the best feeling in the world and very humbling. Today in Lewiston I read your e-mail to Grandpa and Grandma Jorgy. They were so touched by your words that both of them had tears streaming down their faces. It was a sweet experience and you must know they love you very much. When you ever have a minute, will you write them a letter. I don't think Grandpa has a whole lot of time left on his earthly journey. It would mean the world to them to get a letter from you. (Because they don't have e-mail anymore) There address is 795 E. 1600 S. Lewiston, Utah, 94320.

     Well, the time has come for me to PACK for my trip in 2 days. So much to do and we hope everyone will be OK at home. We sure do love you and are so very proud of you and the young man you are. Any luck on finding your charger?  Maybe we didn't send it! I'm still investigating that.  Love, Mom

It's Definetly October in Burns Lake

Hello Family!

Well, it's been another great week in Burns Lake! A lot of miracles have been happening, and it has been pretty crazy because of transfers. It is a beautiful drive from Terrace to Burns Lake with all of the fall colors. It made me think back to when I drove to Burns Lake from there over 3 months ago at the end of Spring when everything was SO green! It has been great to be here long enough to see the seasons change. It is certainly beautiful up here. It is starting to get chillier though! You need a sweater/suit jacket whenever you are tracting outside now. Elder Epperson is always freezing, since he's been on the Island for the past 4.5 months. I think that I have just gotten used to the temperatures up here. I think I might be a little hot when I have to come back to Utah in the middle of June in 2 years! And I am pretty sure that just a few days ago I was doing missionary work right outside of the same building that Dad would have gone curling inside of.

You'll have to let me know how helping with the zone conference goes! I went to the Terrace zone conference after the district conference there, and I went to the Prince George zone conference after I went to the Prince George stake conference there. What was the conference like? Up here President and Sister Tilleman usually provide a lot of inspiration and we all bear our testimonies. It's pretty great! Before President Tilleman, the mission used to baptize in the low 200s each year, but this year the mission goal is to baptize at least 325, and we are probably going to baptize even more! He is a great mission president. It sounds like all is well back at home, though! It will be interesting to see who the new Stake Presidency will be. Your trip sounds very exciting! I hope that some day I can see some of those sights. I will certainly have to pray for your safety, ha ha. And I am also excited to get your postcards. I bet they will arrive faster than when you are sending them from Utah. Elder Aldred is from England and he gets packages sent from home in under a week! I heard that Utah State beat the U in football. Is that true? That would be pretty crazy. And has Dad heard of a patient named Victor Manwaring? He might be visiting soon and he just moved from Burns Lake.

My new companion, Elder Epperson, is fantastic! He is a very good teacher and testifier and I think I will be able to learn a lot from him over the next couple weeks. I am also learning a lot because I am the only one in the companionship who knows any of the members, investigators, or where anything is, so I have to really know what I'm talking about. It definitely has been a great learning experience. Elder Epperson and I have many similar interests in our previous lives. He is from Murray, and did cross country and track in high school. He also wants to have a lot of success in the area and wants to work hard, and so I am excited for the next transfer! It makes me reflect on my time with Elder Neher. I really had to learn charity for him because we had different personalities and work ethics. Sometimes it was very stressful for me because I really don't like contentious situations. The Lord really blessed me with patience, and I grew to love him over the time that we served together, and I am glad that it ended that way. (Elder Epperson is quite worried that we are going to be mauled by a bear on Southside, becaues a less active member we were visiting talked to us about recent bear attacks on people who were fishing around here, we saw a bear when we were driving on Southside, and I showed him the picture of the bear in the house on the Reserve. It's pretty funny.)

Well, I am beginning to feel like a legitimate missionary now! I have knocked on every door in Burns Lake, and now I am beginning to knock on them all for the second or in some cases even the third or fourth time. It is amazing to see how many new investigators we are able to find now, in of despite that. It is truly miraculous! I remember in my first couple weeks in Burns Lake we might have found 2 or 3 investigators. Now we are finding and teaching almost a new investigator every day. As a result, we are setting more baptismal dates and getting more progressing investigators and naturally we will see more baptisms down the road! Vanessa Jack will be baptized in about a week and a half, and I am very excited for that because she is such a golden investigator and it was such a blessing to be able to teach her. When investigators who have never been taught about the Holy Ghost begin to describe how they feel in lessons, it is such a powerful witness that we truly are representatives of Jesus Christ! I feel blessed to be here, and I am happy to serve.

It was great to hear from you! I hope that you all have a very great week!

Elder Blotter