Countdown to Mother's Day- T-minus 6 Days

On Monday, May 2, 2016 12:57 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

On Monday after our amazing hike, we had a great time playing volleyball with the members of the zone. Following that we had a great dinner with the Felix family. They have two little girls that are literally the cutest. It was pouring down rain after dinner, so we got dropped off at our place and prepared for Tuesday. We had a great district meeting, and may I say that I love my district. It is so fun, spiritual, and hard working. Elder Parry gave, at the end, a great training on prayer. Prayer is such a comfort to me. I know that in any situation and at any time I can pray to my Father in Heaven and he will hear and answer my prayer. He is a loving father and will always do and tell us what is best for us. We then did some service at the thrift shop. We helped them prep for their big event which I shall discuss later herein. Our dinner on Tuesday had to cancel on us, so we used some money a member gave us and went to Ihop. Visits after that dinner proved futile as no one was home.

Wednesday was pretty great. I was on exchanges with Elder Hancock (not to be confused with elder Babcock). We had a great day in his area. We visited an older man named Richard, and he told us some pretty cool stories about history. He is half Mexican and half Native American. Our lesson was on family history. He has a lot of information on his family, and we explained to him that through our church those people could choose to accept baptism in heaven. It is really cool- our doctrine provides a way for those who never had the chance to accept the gospel on earth to accept it after this life is over. We then got in with two less-active families who they haven't been able to meet with before. Meanwhile, in our area, Elder Parry and Gomez (Hancock's companion) dominated. They met with less-active members Grimaldo and Flavio. After them, they met with Romero and taught him a lesson, so he is our newest investigator. Miracle of this day is that we ran into another set of missionaries. One of them happened to be my former companion, Elder Infanger. It was literally amazing to see him. He is doing very well serving in Rancho Cucamonga. Thursday, we only had the chance to meet with some less active members, and had a great dinner with Japhet, who we found out is moving as soon as he can. He tells us he will be out in a week (we think it will be more like 3-4).

Friday we said a good-bye to Kevin. Even though we hadn't taught him in a while, we still met with and saw him pretty often. He came to like us and on occasion would call us up and feed us lunch. He leaves tomorrow for Georgia to take a new job driving trucks. Then amazing, cute, old Brother Reed fed us dinner at Chili's. Oh man, was it great to have a little skillet queso with the amazing Chili's chips. So back to the thrift shop- Saturday was their big one year celebration event. As part of that as well was a food drive for the Family Foothill shelter. So we helped out there all day. We moved food around, cleaned, helped people as needed, and listened to the music that was blaring throughout the store. They also had some free hot dogs and popcorn for the people who showed up. I belted out the classic baseball vendor "get your hot dogs here" and they loved it. So from that point on, for any announcement that had to be made a blow horn was in my hand and I was speaking to the people! I loved it, as I'm sure you all know. Before dinner, we also enjoyed some frozen yogurt from a place that a member of our ward owns, it was good, but no Yumz... They tried. Then church Sunday was fantastic. People really did a great job of sharing powerful and simple testimonies. It was great to focus on this day on the Holy Ghost and the essential role He plays in our lives. So, this week was amazing. And by the way it is 6 day's until Mother's day, and for us missionaries that means a skype call home!!!!!!! I cannot wait, and a quick shout out to my amazing mother. She is literally the greatest mother of all time. She perfectly displays the love that the Savior would have for me and my whole family. She does so much, and I love her so much.

Scripture of the week is in Moroni chapter 9 verse 6, "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

But wait there's more, I read this this week and loved it. From Doctrine and Covenants section 50 verse 41, "Fear not little children, you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me."

I love you all very much, and happy mother's day to all you amazing mothers out there.

Love,

Elder Thelander

photos- more pictures from the amazing hike- first me with Elder Parry and then me on the steep path.