Families are Forever

On Monday, January 23, 2017 2:44 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

What is up everyone? Hope you have had a great week. I will tell you right now, Cali has gone crazy. It has literally rained for the past week straight. I have been told that 75% of an over 10 year drought has been done away in 2 weeks. So that has been fun! After we emailed on Tuesday last week, we went out with a couple of members of our ward to visit people. I was with a Brother Oaks, who for the record, can talk for eternity, and we visited Brother Morgan. He is returning to activity and has been doing very well. He quite enjoyed our visit with him. On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Kleinman (future college roommate- whoop whoop!), and we had a great day. We taught this guy named Troy. He is an older African American man who is quite the character. We taught him the restoration lesson which he enjoyed, he wants to really study it out so he said he could later address the baptismal question. We got a good laugh from Troy- he seemed to come right off the Fresh Prince of Bell Air. Then I got to finally meet the all famous Harley Hall. He is a Korean, less active member who is famous among missionaries. I was new to him, so he was on his best behavior. I did, though, at one point convince him he had a bird in his house using my small bird mimic whistle :). Dinner was great then we ended up at a less active member's house, Brother Marquardts. The lesson was amazing. We started just by talking about simple things about life then we asked about his family. There was a picture of his son on the wall, and it was clear that he had passed away. As the lesson progressed, we talked about eternal or forever families. Both Elder Kleinman and I have experienced loss- his father and my brother, Cody. We all felt the spirit tell us that our family members are experiencing peace, that they are ok.

Thursday was fantastic. We had our big Zone Conference in Rancho. It was all centered on Jesus Christ. We watched videos, sang, and read scripture all about Christ. I felt an overwhelming feeling of His love for me. After that we went to our lesson with our new investigator, Veronica. Let me tell you a little about her. Her name came up in a referral from Utah, a friend up there apparently referred her. We visited on Tuesday, and there was no man in the home (two elders cannot visit a woman alone- the rules), so we scheduled to come back. We just asked her to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. Fast forward back to Thursday. Right before our lesson she texts us and asked if it was alright if she also read the first 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon. Ummm, yeah big problem, right? Holy cow, that was awesome! Our lesson went so well. She asked her friend in Utah what some of our guidelines are in the church, and she proceeded to eliminate all the tea, coffee, and liquor from the home. So cool!!! More to come on her. Friday was nothing crazy. We weekly planned and stuffed ourselves at Snowy Village, our favorite place (picture follows).

Saturday both Elder Ludwig and I went to Rancho Cucamonga for exchanges. I spent the day with Elder Badoni. We talked a lot about the power to become. See, the purpose of life is to prepare to meet our Heavenly Father. A testimony of Him and His Son Jesus Christ is a great place to start. But, what can further that and make us even more ready is to become. Become like our Heavenly Father. It was cool to talk about that and apply it during the day. We taught this guy, Phillip. It was rough, we would ask a question and he would go off for 5-10 minutes at least. After that struggle we went to dinner, and then after that to Mynor's home. I didn't know anything about him before our visit, but after we got into the door, I quickly realized he had lost his infant daughter to a horrible accident just months ago. Elder Badoni and I explained the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how that brings to pass the doctrine of eternal families. I witnessed this man's heart soften, I saw his countenance change, and I saw the Holy Ghost testify to him of where is daughter is. I love this church, and I love being a missionary that gets to bring hope to others.

Sunday was great as well. Veronica was at church, and she loved it. The YSA ward just surrounded her and made her feel loved. She learned a lot and told us she felt completely comfortable there. Later in the night we got a text from her asking about the process to be baptized. We explained it a little bit and then said we would talk about it in our lesson on Tuesday. Amazing, she is so ready. The Lord has prepared her for this time of her life.

Scripture of the week is from Moroni, chapter 8, verse 8, "Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me." I know that this is true, and that families can be forever.

Love,

Elder Thelander

photos- top-Eating dessert at Snowy Village and below- throwing rocks off a cliff...