7 more days to serve the Lord

On Monday, December 14, 2015 12:43 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

This last Zone meeting, we got some news. There was an announcement made that starting at the beginning of the year missionaries speaking their native language will spend three weeks in the Missionary Training Center. To make up for this, the upcoming transfer will last 7 weeks instead of the typical 6. This means I get to spend another week in the mission field!!! Hence the title- 7 days more to serve the Lord. This week with the assistance of ward member, Sister Barton, we sang at a retirement home. We got to sing 5 or 6 Christmas songs to the people gathered there. It brought me so much joy to see these people's eyes light up with happiness when we sang to them. I'm sure some of them will have a lonely Christmas, so I loved to be able to bring some Christmas spirit to them. And, may I say, we sounded pretty good. This week we had the chance to teach Letty and Arturo a couple of more times. Arturo is really impressive, he has read all of the pamphlets ahead of time and has, with his mother, written down questions to ask us. I haven't seen any adults do that so far. He really wants to learn, and he is just the sweetest eleven year old kid. I literally don't think that Arturo could harm a fly. We now just need to get his father's consent to baptize him, and he will be good to go sooner than later. Letty is a little further out, but in the Lord's time she will be baptized as well. The "kids" are doing much better. Paul has really realized what a great support system the church is and how much peace it can bring to his life. Are his challenges over? No, but he has the support he needs to make life as good as possible for him and his siblings. We finally got back into the home of Pam. She has been feeling much better and is improving by the day. In fact, since our last visit, she and Larry have gone out to eat. The lesson was attended by a ward member as well who is a family history wizard. We got both of them accounts on Familysearch.org and got to work with them. The goal for the visit was to get Pam some names of people who have passed on to bring to the temple. The greatest part of it all was how excited Larry is about family history. His upbringing was horrific, and he only knows limited information about his family. But, with what he had we were able to find his father and his whole family- some he didn't even know existed! This brought him so much happiness, and it may just be the ticket we need to get him back and active in the church. Oh, and in other news, Jim and Stephanie Bowker are going to the temple the 19th and being sealed the 26th in San Diego. There is not a couple out there who have worked harder than them to get there. My joy for them is so great, the blessings of the temple will be fully realized by them very soon. This Friday was the ward Christmas party. It was very well run by the Bowker family and was very well attended. What was great is that Tony Lopez, a recent convert, brought his whole family along, Arturo was there, as well as Juan and Jocelyn. It was great to see all of these people and to have them interact with the ward. Nothing is better than getting these people friends whom they can relate with. I loved the party because I just got to talk with everyone. I love this ward, and the people in it are just super solid. The ward is taking recent converts to the temple the 19th, and we have 7 recent converts in our area. So this week was a huge push to get all of these people ready to do baptisms for the dead in the temple. They are also working on getting people's family history done, so they can take a family name with them. It is amazing how the spirit of the temple can cause people to remain active for their whole lives. So the week was stressful in that way. Then Sunday came and the stress was real, because all of these people need interviews done by the leaders of the ward, so they can enter the temple. So, if they didn't show up, no temple for them. The turnout was fantastic- Bill, Amy and Jheri, Paul, Tony, and Pam. The only ones we missed were Juan and Micalea. All who were interviewed passed and will be doing baptisms for this Saturday!!! We may be able to get Juan there if we can get a ward leader to his house this week- keep your fingers crossed. A little explanation on baptisms for the dead- We believe that Jesus Christ loves all of his children, and he knows that some of them will not have the chance to accept his Gospel in this life (ex: rice farmer in Communist China, never heard the words Jesus Christ). We also know baptism to be one of the covenants needed to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So without baptism the people who didn't accept the gospel won't be able to enter, and that is not what a loving Father in Heaven would have happen. In the spirit world after death, spirits have the chance to learn and accept if they choose to follow the gospel. They just need to be baptized, and they can't do that for themselves in the spirit world. They need us here on earth, in on of God's holy temples to be baptized on behalf of them. That is why we want to get our recent coverts to the temple, to feel of the spirit and joy that the people they are being baptized for feel. I love you all very much, I miss you all as well. Enjoy this Christmas season. My scripture for the week comes from the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma 5:16, "I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth."

Love, Elder Thelander