October 23, 2017 - Temple Trip

This week was pretty amazing. The highlight was definitely

getting the chance to go to the temple and have the chance to have a spiritual feast. This temple trip was a pretty special one. Honestly it was probably the best experience I've had in the temple. I went with a strong desire to learn a lot from the Lord, and I came away very edified and uplifted. I love the temple.

This week we had a couple of our investigators drop us. Chelann and Josie both texted us and told us that they were no longer interested. Chelann, we kinda expected, but Josie surprised us a ton. We texted her on Tuesday to set up an appointment for Wednesday and her response was "I'm sorry but I don't need you to come anymore. Plz and thank you." It took us totally off guard and was pretty sad but God has definitely helped us to find more people to teach.

Madi is doing super well. We had another lesson with her

yesterday and she believes the church to be true. Woke up at 6 am Sunday morning so she could finish all her chores so her mom would let her go to church. She loves the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized. The only catch is her mom. Her mom is pretty anti God, which makes things tough. Madi says that her mom probably won't let her get baptized, but we have hope. 

Karina is doing okay. She lives with her member sister and brother-in-law who are less active. Karina hasn't met with us this week, but Crystal and Gabriel (the members) both have met with us several times and seem fully intent on coming back to church. It's been really awesome working with them. Gabriel is extremely talkative and he loves visiting with us. Crystal on the other hand is extremely shy, so it's an interesting combo. They are super cool though.

OK so another huge highlight of my week was Hinocencio

Me, Hinocencio, Hermana Juana (wife), not their baby,
Elder Klossner, and Elder Shoemaker
Elder Klossner (MTC comp) is working​ now in my first
area and he's been the one working with Hinocencio.
It was awesome to see him again.

got baptized!!!!!!! He was the first investigator I ever found and taught on my mission. Clear back in Moses Lake and Thursday night he decided he wanted to be baptized on Friday!!! It was so awesome!!! It was so amazing! He's had a long road since I first knocked on his door with Elder Spackman. Since then he's given up alcohol completely after 40ish years of drinking, he's been deported and worked his way back to the states, he's gotten married to a member, and has broken his neck. It was a long time coming but it was extremely special. I've been praying for him ever since we first met him. There were several times that I thought he would never be baptized, but he pulled through and his testimony is super strong now. It was a beautiful baptismal service.

One last experience I would like to share. On Saturday we were on exchanges in Othello (Elder Allsop's old area) and I was with Elder Nunez. It was an awesome exchange but I had an experience that shook me a little (in a bad but good way haha). We went and visited an inactive member family and I was super excited for the lesson. The elders in Othello had never visited them before and we had hopes that since they were willing to meet with us that the lesson would go well. Well it didn't go so well. They let us in but their home felt absolutely empty. There was no hope, no peace, and there was definitely no spirit. It's hard to adequately describe it in words, but more or less it was horrible. They refused to pray, read, or go to church. They refused to do anything. It was super sad. Even though it was super hard for the spirit to be in their home I received a very strong warning from the spirit that "If I were to ever leave the church - that horrible feeling that I could feel would be all that awaits me." It was a really sad experience to see this family so far gone from the Gospel, but fortunately I was able to recommit to never leaving the church.

Love you all! Hope you have a good week!!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission