November 4, 2013 "Halloween/Transfers??/Onward Ever Onward

 

November 4, 2013

Hey y'all,

It's been a crazy 3 months! I've just moved onto my 3rd transfer here in Wisconsin and it really doesn't feel like 3 months have gone by. I remember getting off the plane and wondering why my pants were sticking to my legs and why there was Packers stuff all over the airport. Already I have seen changes in my life and the lives of the people of this small town of 586 being changed through missionary work.

We've been able to work with a few family members in "Flooding the Stake with the Book of Mormon". Our stake president received a prompting that the Wasau stake needs to flood this stake with 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon - the same number of copies that were printed in the first edition of the Book of Mormon - within the next 3 years. In this year alone I think they are just over 1,000 so one of our goals is to plant as many copies as possible in our proselyting.

A lot of the work in this area is helping to reactivate those that have strayed away. We've been working with a family ever since I arrived in Gresham who has been wanting to come back for a while. We were able to give them priesthood blessings and that was an amazing experience. Having worked hard and acted in faith, they now have the privilege of going to the temple as a family this coming Saturday.

We had a lessons with our recent convert and were going to talk about temple attendance and working towards the temple - turns out, she already had her interview and is going on the youth temple trip this coming Saturday. She's awesome.

A new guy we've been working with is thinking about being baptized. When I arrived he wasn't sure if the church was true and didn't want to be baptized. In my second transfer he began to see his own conversion happening as he recognizes the power of the Holy Ghost influencing him on occasion. And now, the first thing he said to Grandma at church was, "I think I'm gonna get baptized." He's praying about a specific date that we talked to him about and we continue to work with him - I think this is the transfer he'll be baptized.

This mission can be a roller coaster at times; the adversary really is working his hardest to fight against our Father in Heaven. But the thing that I continue to learn and love is God's love and mercy towards each of us. God doesn't expect perfection; he expects improvement.

Thanks,

Elder Taft Robinson