Week 7 - Best Letter Yet from Elder Rash

Hey Everyone, 

This week has been CRAZY!!!!! And very exciting!!!! First off let me tell all those preparing for a mission one thing. No matter if you go halfway around the world; your mother will STILL tell you what to do!!!! ;) hahahah. I apologize that my letters haven't contained very much stuff about me! But in my defense, a mission isn't about YOU. It’s about those you are serving and inviting them to come unto Christ. But I guess I can talk about me for a little bit ;) hahah  

Well let’s see.... This week I had the chance to take the lead in the missionary work in my area. My companion, who is the leader of my area, has to go on exchanges with all the other missionaries in our area to see how they work. So because I'm his companion, I get stuck with the other half of that companionship. It can be fun at times but it can also stink! So this week my trainer left me in my area and put me in charge of the work, because the other guy had no idea what to do. So here I am, 3 weeks out on my mission, senior companion for the day, and NO CLUE, what do to!!!!! Needless to say I was praying more than usual that day. But it went GREAT!!!! We were on fire!!!! I didn't have a lot of ideas on who to contact, so we did ALOT of tracting! Which I was scared of at first but now I love it!!!! Usually knocking on random houses isn't a very effective tool in missionary work. But surprisingly that day we found 3 people that wanted to hear more, and we set up 5 appointments for next week with them!!! I felt on top of the world!!! Then we came to this one house.... ;) The man opens the door, growls at us, and closes the door. He literally growled like a dog!!! I think he was on drugs or something!!! It didn't affect me though! Because I learned something, those people aren't rejecting me; they are rejecting the message of the Savior that I have to offer. So now I don't feel bad when someone yells at me, or calls me a Satan worshipper, or says I don't know what I'm talking about. Because I do know. And I feel bad for them that they won't even give it a chance, but I tried, and that is all God asks of me. At the end of the day I know I've done my best, regardless of if people listen to me or not.  

So continuing on!!! This week one of our investigators was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) His name is Justin Blackburn. His family is all LDS. He has autism and is scared of water so he never wanted to be baptized. We met with him on occasion to see if we could help him overcome that fear and be baptized. Even though he will always have that childlike mind, baptism isn't requisite, and he decided for himself that because Jesus was baptized (someone who didn't need to be baptized) he would be baptized too. So we taught him a little bit about baptism and he was ready! So last Saturday he entered the waters of baptism and was baptized by his father. He was beaming from ear to ear the whole day!!! The room where the baptism was held was PACKED!!!!! Everyone came to see this wonderful boy be baptized! HE has such an amazing spirit and desire to do good. We even got to take a picture with this stud and I'll post that with this email!  

We also found a new investigator to teach, well more like he found us. His name is Zachari. He is 19 and living with our other investigator Michael. Michael is like a father to him and they have similar pasts. He told us that Zachari was very shy and wary of new people so we were going to just say hi and ease our way into talking to him, well that was the plan anyways. So one night as we were walking I had this strong feeling that we should go see Michael. We had already set up a time to meet with him so there was no need to go over, but I just felt like we should. So we did. We knocked on the door and Zachari answered. We could tell he had been crying and he was upset. We asked if he wanted to talk about what was wrong. Then something miraculous happened. This 19 year old shy kid that we had only met once, for like 2 minutes, completely opened up to us and pretty much told us his life story! About all the trials he's had, all the bad things he's had to go through. We just kind of sat and listened and let him vent some stuff out. And when he had calmed down he told us something even more miraculous. Not 30 seconds before we had knocked, he had prayed to Heavenly Father asking for Him to show Zachari the path he should go, he asked for help to overcome his past, he said Amen, then KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. MORMON MISSIONARIES!!!!!! "We sensed a disturbance in the force; we came as soon as we could!" Hahaha all joking aside! This experience increased my testimony of the importance of the Holy Ghost, and being in tune with it. I had no idea why I needed to go to Michael’s. Just that I needed to go. I know that the Holy Ghost is real. He can guide each of us! That experience was the highlight of my week. It was way cooler than the next thing I'm going to tell you about.  

So... yesterday, Sunday the 3^rd, I met an Apostle of the Lord. I heard him bear his personal testimony. I shook his hand. Got a Picture with him and had some small talk for a couple minutes. D. Todd Christofferson's son, is in one of the wards I am assigned to. I played basketball with him this morning actually. He plays with his shirt off, now how many of you can say you've seen an Apostles son with his shirt off??? Don't answer that! But I digress!!! Anyways, that son was blessing his new born baby yesterday in Church. And guess who shows up, good ol' Grandpa to help bless the baby! I'll post a picture of that too!!!! :)

After Church we had an investigator fireside. This is pretty much an opportunity for missionaries to invite those they are teaching to come to the Temple Visitor Center and have a message and feel the Spirit. So we invited Michael and Zachari. Oh, Zachari also came to church that same day with Michael. But that's beside the point! So, Zachari has large crowd anxiety. Needless to say church and fireside had large crowds, I was worried for him but he was a champ! So during this fireside he turns to me and whispers, I can feel the spirit. Now I as a missionary almost jumped out of my seat with excitement!!!!!!!! Not five minutes after that he turns to me and says, I feel at home here. Dang is this kid trying to make me leap for joy!?!?!?!? And THEN he turns to me and says "I want the Holy Ghost, I want to be baptized".

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D I was over the moon!!! We hadn't even taught him a lesson yet and he already wants to be baptized!!!!! So immediately after the fireside we took him aside with Michael and began to teach him about the Restoration of the Church. He is smiling and nodding. He tells us this is the happiest he's ever been. He looked like he was about to bounce off the walls with happiness!!!!! As we finished up the lesson I felt impressed to ask him to prepare for baptism on March 30. Now Zachari has a smoking problem. Pretty much everyone in Idaho Falls does. But I looked him square in the eyes and said "Zachari, I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ, as you pray to your Heavenly Father, and read the Book of Mormon, you will no longer have a desire to smoke". I have NO idea where those words came from. They weren't from me. But they came out of my lips. I could feel the power of those words rest upon us. It was the most powerful experience I've had on my mission so far! And I know that as he and I are faithful, that promise will be fulfilled. Later, my companion told me how surprised he was when I had said that. As a servant of the Lord I have the privilege of promising blessings to those who will keep the commandments.

This week has DEFINATELY been one of the best weeks on my mission!!! And I know that it will only get better from here :) I love you all and hope everything is going well for you. I pray for all of you each night! :) I apologize if I haven't written you back yet. I plan to! I'm just so dang busy! ;)

Love Always,

Elder Rash

 

 

 

Elder Rash, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Elder Malau'Ulu

 

 

Elder Malau'Ulu, Justen Blackburn, Elder Rash

 

 

Elder Rash has discovered that Idaho Falls is the Happiest Place on Earth