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
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