August 21, 2107

It's been a pretty awesome week. We've worked a lot with

Elder Nielson, Andy (Recent Convert),
Angel (the 11 year-old getting baptized on Saturday), Me

Josh, and Angel was able to go on the High Adventure with all of the other boys.

Josh is an absolutely amazing kid. He has such a good desire to know the truth. On Tuesday, we had an awesome lesson with him about prayer. He told us that he hadn't been praying a whole lot because he didn't want to pray unless he really meant it. We had a nice long discussion with him about prayer. We read in 2 Nephi 32:8-9 and had the Berthelson family share their experiences with prayer. It was a super awesome lesson and Josh had some really amazing questions. He asked about temples, and about the advesary, and he also opened up to us about how he's having an internal struggle with making his decision. He said that part of him wants to continue to go to church and repent and change, but there's another part of him that wants to stay the same and go back to his old ways. It was really neat when he opened up to us about that. So we talked about that for a little with him. Sister Berthelson bore some amazing testimony about just testing it out, and giving it a chance to work in his life. It was really neat.

Then on Saturday we had another amazing lesson with him.

Elder Miles and Elder Nielson

We taught him the Plan of Salvation and about Temples and he absolutely loved it. He told us at the beginning of the lesson that he had been praying several times a day and that he felt his relationship with God growing! It was awesome. When we first met him he barely believed in a God and now he can feel his relationship growing. For our lesson, we read in 2 Nephi 2:14-29, which talks about the middle section of the Plan. It was awesome and it answered a ton of questions that he had had from the previous lesson. He soaked it all in and really, really liked it all. It all seemed to make sense to him. Then as we talked about the Celestial Kingdom we read a part in a pamphlet that said in order to get into the Celestial Kingdom we have to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now our member that came with us, our Ward Mission Leader, explained that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is essentially Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Then he asked Josh "Have you thought about baptism?" Up to this point we had talked with Josh about baptism, but he had never really been super open about how he felt about being baptized. Well in response to the question he said "You know, I've actually been leaning towards the idea of being baptized." It was sweet! Things are really starting to click for him. Tonight we're going over to visit and talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hopefully set a baptismal date with him!

Angel is doing super well. He went on the High Adventure

Another stampede pic

and had a tough but good time. He got pretty sore after the 20 mile hike, but he seemed to really enjoy himself. He said it was the hardest thing he had ever done, but it was worth it all. He looks all set to be baptized this weekend. We have a couple more things to teach him and he still needs a baptismal interview, but that should all be taken care of by Thursday. The biggest thing is his mom needs to give him permission, so pray that her heart will be softened and that she will allow him to be baptized.

Also, quick update from Wenatchee. I heard that Jose Rios, my recent convert down there, just received the Melchizedek Priesthood on the 13th!! And that yesterday he was set apart as the 2nd Counselor in the Elders Quorum Presidency! He also taught his first ever lesson in Elders Quorum yesterday on the Power of the Book of Mormon. Apparently, it was a super powerful lesson and he shared his experience that he had with Elder Cannon and I. It was so awesome to hear that he's doing well!