Dust Storm

On Monday, September 26, 2016 1:42 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Where do I start? This week was pretty darn amazing. After our really fun pday last week, we had a great dinner at bishop's home and then had a good lesson with Va'a. He is still on track to be baptized soon. Just need the whole family to be on board.

Tuesday, we had our district meeting which was fine, but afterward we had some fun with the departing missionaries. We posed them as deceased persons, and we stood around and mourned their loss. Elder Wilding, Elder Guerra and Sister Everette are now currently sitting on a plane heading home. I'll miss Elder Wilding like crazy. We really connected well and had a lot of fun together. We played catch together at least 3 times a week. Oh, and by the way, he was a stud missionary. Stinks when good buddies go home, but I can't help but to feel really happy for them. We had good success with lessons on Tuesday as well. We taught Lance again out of the Book of Mormon. He is beginning to understand more and more without our help. I really believe the Holy Ghost is coming more readily into his life now that he is giving the effort to come closer to the Lord. We also saw Shanay, and the report is that she is moving. She was supposed to go Saturday, but I think it will take her a bit longer than that. Then, one of our best lessons came in the late evening. We taught a lady named Danique in the North Adelanto area. She has a 9 yr old daughter as well who we are teaching. The lesson was on the restoration, and she received it really well. We invited her to baptism, and she accepted that invitation. We now just need to set a firm date for that to occur.

Wednesday, we had another amazing day. We spent the morning in the North area and taught our friends Sis Ingram and the Enos family. They are both doing pretty well. Sister Ingram and her husband have had some good luck getting a car and finding a new place to live, and it is great how she attests all of that to her Heavenly Father. She know He hears our prayers and answers in His own time. In the evening, we taught the Tuataga family and then made a trip to the new family we met. They live in the small RV in really humble circumstances. We had a lesson with the wife, Justina. We had the restoration lesson with her, and she just loved the history to the story and how the Lord could answer the humble prayer of a young boy. She has committed to be baptized the first weekend in November. We pray and know that the gospel can help them in their situation. We have also in the house been saving our water bottles for the last three months, and we cashed them in for 26 whole dollars. Yay for recycling! awe bought this family dinner with the recycling money.

Thursday was, yes, another great day. The only weird part was the wind. The morning was really windy. And as there was a massive fire in the area not too long ago, there was nothing to keep the dust down. So by noon, there was a massive dust storm occurring in the whole high desert. Did this stop us? No! We had great lessons with Brother Roe, the Rosales family, Levi, and the Tupais. I just want to talk about Levi for a little here. He is amazing. Both of his parents have passed away, he is living in a new place, and he is only 11. How does he respond? He takes the missionary lessons, gets baptized, and helps that whole family come to church each week when they didn't before. The Lord works in mysterious ways. We also saw a massive tumble weed as well- I got some cool pictures with it.

Friday and Saturday were pretty similar. To recap, I organized a service project with all the missionaries in the High Desert, and Friday was day one. We got up to the staging area and after a while we had 30+ missionaries there. It was awesome. We did work at a burned sight and the owner, a Hispanic lady, was there and was so grateful. We did shoveling of burned material and wheel barreled them away into a big trash dumpster. It was hard work, but the group we had there busted tail and to the astonishment of the Team Rubicon leaders, we finished the whole sight. The same was the case in the other group. The afternoon shift was well attended as well. After service on this day, we got back home and realized our house key was in Rancho Cucamonga. Elder Wilding had his departing Temple trip, and he took the truck down. So Elder Pooley and I ate some Panda Express looking like a couple of beat up miners. We finally got inside and got on with the evening. Saturday was much of the same. This time we took the afternoon shift. The morning shift looked like it had 30+ missionaries as well and our afternoon shift had about 15. This sight was the same as most- burnt to a crisp. The owner was there, and he had a tractor and helped out along side us. He was beyond grateful for the help. A local newspaper showed up as well, and we will be on the front page! They want to get word out that even though the fire is out, the disaster is not over. It was amazing to see how much the Team Rubicon people appreciated us and how much each home owner did as well. They won't forget the Mormon missionaries anytime soon.

Sunday was church and a pretty heartfelt goodbye said to Elder Wilding. Again, sad to see him go, he is a good buddy. Love you all so much!!!

Scripture of the week is from 3 Nephi, chapter 18, verses 18-21, "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; and whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed."

Love,

Elder Thelander

photos- fire service project and me with Elder Wilding who is now home!