Two special days

On Wednesday, I went on exchange with Elder Hatch, who replaced me as Elder Wohlleben's companion in Council Creek Ward. Elder Hatch and I came on the same plane out to Oregon together and until now, I hadn't really gotten to know him. We had a fun day and it was gorgeous weather. The only downfall is that we are still required to wear jackets during the winter season until April Conference, so we cooked a little bit in our black jackets. All the while, we walked and talked and biked and had a grand old time. It was like I had never left the area, though, I did see many new locations that I hadn't ventured with Elder Wohlleben.

On Thursday, I celebrated my 18th Anniversary since coming into the mission field - or in other words, I've now completed my "Sister's Mission." And what better way to celebrate such a checkpoint than by doing missionary work! Yay! Haha So to put it simply, I did the same old same old thang that I would normally do on Thursdays. I'm amazed at how quickly time has passed and am enjoying my mission like none other. I am slacking on producing a 6 month interval video interview, but I will send it home soon hopefully. Haha.

That evening, we took a trip to the Temple Visitor's Center and gave our recent convert a tour of the temple. We started with a cool video that illustrates hard work, diligence, and obedience to the Lord's calls he gives to men. The video can be viewed on the Doctrine & Covenants Church History DVD and is called "Only A Stonecutter."

Saturday I was pleased to be able to return and attend a baptism for an investigator who I tracted into last August on my birthday with Elder Baba! Elder Bresnahan and Elder Osgood took over where Elder Baba and I left off and I was happy to hear from my first greenie delivering such information. It was cool to see Elder Baba baptize this woman as I acted as a witness. Words can't describe the joy I feel from such events.

A joyful new beginning

The work is going great - like clockwork. While I'm avoiding getting proud in my own abilities, I am absolutely loving that God is providing miracles of missionary work left and right. We have been working heavily with the ward members to get everyone excited about the work and we are seeing the fruits of our labors -- I'll mention just a few of them:

First of all, we have had gloriously gorgeous weather almost all week. It's been sunny and beautiful and a great week to be outside. It just so happened that this was Elder Rees' and my week to be riding our bicycles. So naturally, we were extremely grateful and I was just beaming wherever I rode about. I couldn't help but whistle a tune or sing a little ditty while biking up and down the streets of Forest Grove. I felt like I was in one of those classic black in white, happy musicals. Lol.

Wednesday, Elder Buhler (my zone leader) and I didn't have as good of fortune and we were accompanied around by rain and clouds all day. However, rays of blessings and miracles came our way as we spent most of the day tracting and knocking on people's doors. One person we visited wasn't home, so we decided to knock the surrounding doors in the area and ended up finding an inactive member that wasn't on the ward's records, as well as a new investigator. She was a younger woman with three little kids. It was sad to see her come out with a cigarette in her mouth and a beer in her hand with her sons watching.

Elder Buhler left no room for hesitation and testified that we know that the Gospel is here to help us change bad habits and take care of our bodies by not smoking or drinking alcohol. Surprising to me, she received the testimony with hope and a comment about wanting to change for the better. The Spirit truly works through our words as we testify. It's not as important what we say, as it is that we bear strong testimony of the Gospel in any simple way.

Our other miracle happened when we went tracting with the Priests of the ward. This was the same young men we took out a couple weeks ago, but this time I went with the other young man. He was very open and shared his testimony freely. I felt that if I treated them as though they already knew what they should do, while still adding small suggestions and hints, that they would be who they needed to become and say what they needed to say to help the people we met. It could be intimidating to some to think that we let teenagers go out and represent the church, but I always remind myself that hey! They let me out here. Haha.

While no immediate success was apparent from the doors we knocked on, we went back the next morning to talk to a former Jehovah's Witness who said she might be interested and lo, and behold, the single mother with five kids opened her door and heart warmly to the Gospel. We will be teaching her more soon.

Saturday we had the baptism of the individual who was interviewed last week. President Morby said in front of all the missionaries in zone conference that our baptismal candidate said the most sincere prayer he has heard anyone utter while he was interviewing her and he congratulated us for being able to teach her the correct vision of the Godhead. I felt humbled by the comment but knew that it was God's influence that promoted her progress, not mine.

The baptismal service went well and it was a strong spiritual meeting. Elder Rees and I testified of the Restoration (in front of President and Sister Morby and two companionships from our district who were also there to witness the baptism- ahh scary!) during the interlude and it was cool.

I'm grateful that the work is going so well and productive for us and I pray that it will continue. I know it's not my own strength, but that it's God's strengthening of my weakness. This is a great work. Thanks everyone for your support and prayers. Keep em coming!

A great week

This last week we've beasted the work! Elder Rees and I are just stoked to be working together and since we've become companions the work has only gone up and up. There have been set backs but it's our attitude that's keeping us moving along. We've put a lot of emphasis on guided tracting, working with the youth, and teaching 20 lessons a week (active members, less-active members, and nonmembers included).

We took six boys out to go tracting with us on splits on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. It was neat to be able to talk with them about their future and realize that it used to be my future not too long ago. Revisiting such paths in a new perspective has opened my eyes to wonderful learning experiences. I love seeing the Atonement working in these young men.
 
With one young man I was able to go tracting with, we had many friendly doors open to us. The young man's mother was at first concerned when I told his parents that we would be taking him out to go knocking on doors. She explained that the young man has some degree of high functioning autism and has episodes occasionally and didn't want someone to misunderstand us as we went out to talk to people about the Gospel. I reassured her that he would come with me and that I would take care of him.

The opposite happened, it seemed. He took care of me. As we started talking with several friendly and conversational people, I merely helped him along by starting our introductions (i.e.: "We're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm Elder Irvine and this is... . We're sharing with others how our families have come closer to God and Christ through His Restored Gospel...") and I left parts of the conversation of to him -- from that, miracles happened. With one especially winded and intellectual man we spoke with, I turned to the Priest and asked him what it meant to him to come to church with his family.

His response was exhilarating for me as a missionary. Inspiring, to say the least. "I come to church because of the feelings I have in my heart when I do come. Those good, warm feelings are the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is God's Spirit He sends to us to teach us truth. That's how I know I'm doing the right thing."

It was a simple perfect answer. I loved it. I even shared the experience with the ward yesterday during fast and testimony meeting. The mother was in tears of gratitude and joy when I explained to her afterwards that it was her son. What a beautiful representation of the Atonement's influence working with our weaknesses as human beings and changing us into something extraordinary.

We went about to each of the ward members and shared about the blessings of the Atonement and how through the Restoration we have those most important things. My testimony has expanded as the members share their testimonies with us and when I stop and allow Elder Rees to share his thoughts and testimony even though he's a little hesitant to speak at the moment. I don't think he enjoys me staring at him silently in the middle of door step approaches and lessons until he starts to speak, but I know it will help him in the long run. Training him is really cool and I am loving the learning and growth that is visible and apparent in each of us day by day.

Of all the wonderful things that have happened this week, I would be leaving you out in the rain if I didn't mention one last special detail of our week -- Our investigator we've worked with since I've been here is getting baptized this Saturday March 9th! President Morby came to interview her this last week and despite the initial complications of the event itself, our investigator is ready. I am thrilled and Elder Rees is like a kid in a candy shop.

Many more miracles have been happening but, alas, I have not the time to share them with you. I pray that you will all have a fantabulous week. Is strengthening your relationship with God and Jesus Christ "the desires of (your) heart?"