Living Waters

On Tuesday, October 11, 2016 6:01 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

This week was pretty dang awesome. We had some great lessons, good progression, and some good times, of course. On Tuesday, we had, what I would call, another great district meeting. I love the chance for us missionaries to come together and have a very spiritually uplifting meeting. After said meeting, we traveled up to North Adelanto and taught the Enos family and Sister Ingram. Those are both visits where I leave just feeling happy. They each have very little, but for them it is quite enough. And what adds to their happiness is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They really do feel the spirit when we visit each of them. It is quite the humbling experience. After those two great visits, we saw our recent convert, Levi. He is just amazing, and he did a great job at remembering the 10 commandments. Later in the evening, we met up with Brother Sagapolu and visited Mike and Justina over at their little RV. We shared a message which they both really liked.

On Wednesday, I am happy to report we passed our housing inspections!!!! Normally not a huge deal, but one of the amazing Elder who lives in our house is a bit of a slob. We have talked, and he is now quite neat. Anyone can change- just throw a little love their way, you'll bring out their best. (if anyone can catch those song lyrics from a movie I will be very impressed :). Then we tried out a Bible referral we received, and it went quite well. We shared a thought about apostles and prophets, and she invited us back. Then in the evening we stopped by the Salanoas, and they ended up feeding us dinner which was awesome of them so last minute.

Thursday was, well, long and full of nothingness. We got a call from our vehicle coordinator that our car was due for an oil change. So, we obeyed orders and went to good ole pep-boys. We were told with the crowded nature of their day it would take about and hour and a half. That was fine with us as there is a really good sushi place right across the street. We ate our fill, and returned to the land of car fixing. Upon our return, we noticed our car had not yet begun it's service. We sat for a bit longer, and after a long bit longer, we got the car back. Total time to get an oil change.... 3.5 hours. By the time we got the car back, we had time to visit one person (not even home) and then go to dinner. That was Thursday... It takes a bad day to appreciate the good ones.

Friday was one of those good days. We got together with Brother Sagapolu again in the morning and transported a gizmo he created and a 55 gal water barrel over to Mike and Justina's place. We got it placed, filled with water and working. He inserted a valve thing to allow for easier water access. Most of this can be explained better in a picture, which I am including, so just look at that. While we were there, I had this thought that will stick with me for a long time. For those two people, we provided them a necessity of life, water. This water will quench their thirst, wash the dishes, and do the laundry among other things, but it will not last forever. What will last forever is the gospel we are teaching them, that living water as described in the scriptures by Jesus Christ to the woman of Samaria. Coming unto Christ is that way- the way to obtain living water that you will never thirst again.

On Saturday, I was on an exchange with Elder Cloud of my district, and we had a great day together in my area. We saw a creepy old lady named Sister Beard. She is harmless but still a bit creepy nonetheless. The day was actually really slow, and we ended up walking around a lot just talking to people. A lot of good came from it, but it dragged on a little bit. It sped up a ton in the late afternoon when we went out with our ward mission leader, Brother Hill, to see Mike and Justina. They were at different locations, but we saw them both and had lessons with them.

Sunday was a great fast day and I felt really close to the Savior. We then had the task of pretty much last minute setting up a baptism form Brother Sagapolu's daughter. We had to get to the building early, figure out how to open everything, fill up the fount, and then set up the chairs. All this on an empty stomach. The good part- the baptism went great, and we got some insanely good Samoan food afterward.

Monday was awesome as well. We played some really good basketball with the Samoan ward. For them, the winning team stays and the next 4 have to shoot for their team. My team just kept winning, so I played a lot of games. Then after that immense amount of exercise, we went with our Bishop and Brother Mau'u to play a round of golf. A member of the ward let me use their clubs, and we had a blast. The front nine for me went pretty dang well. I don't wish to speak much of the back nine. Bishop and I beat Mau'u and Elder Pooley in some best ball on the back. It was a great day. Today we had a great meeting as a zone, and now I am here. Love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week!!!

Scripture of the day is from Moroni chapter 7, verse 41, "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."

Love,

Elder Thelander