Staying!

Dear Friends and Family:

I'm staying with Elder Van Wagenen for a third transfer! This means that I will have had only two companions in about 7.5 months in-field, as compared with 4 companions in 7 weeks in the MTC.

Also, we just found out today, but we will have a surprise mission conference this Saturday. We will hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook, and we will see Bishop Gary E. Stevens, Elder Erich W. Kopischke, and Elder Stephen E. Thomson. It is going to be awesome!

We're very excited for all of the amazing things that will be happening in the next few weeks. First the mission conference this Saturday; then the cultural celebration and dedication on the 3rd and 4th of May; then my birthday and Mother's Day; and on and on. We're very excited to work and help many people come to church and prepare to be baptized, and we're planning to do our best and grow this transfer.

On Friday, we had an amazing experience. We left our apartment, a little disappointed because a member had cancelled on our temple trip later that evening. While biking to the area we were going to be working, we stopped to talk to a man who was walking to work. One of the first things he asked us was "can I go to your church?" As we continued to talk, he started to cry. He repeated several times, "I just want to go to church." He committed to be baptized on the 20th. We are not sure what happened exactly to him, but as far as we can tell there were several deaths in his immediate family. We changed our schedule and organized a church tour with him later that evening. At church, he prayed in the chapel for a while, and he said he felt safe. As it turns out, he doesn't live in our area, so we had to pass him, but it was still an amazing miracle that we found him.

We went on a split this Saturday. It was probably one of my most stressful days on my mission so far. The purpose of the split was so that one of us could go to the temple with some investigators while the other stayed home to prepare for Patchouco's baptism. After praying, we determined that I needed to stay home, while Elder Van Wagenen left for the temple. But after we had already left, we realized that I had forgotten to grab the keys to the church and the font from him. As the afternoon continued, more and more things blew up, and it was a miracle that Patchouco still had desires and was able to be baptized that night. The service was nearly an hour late, and it wasn't as smooth as it should have been, but I was still grateful for the learning experience, and that despite the problems the baptism still went forward. He was confirmed the next day and given the priesthood, so he can go on the ward's temple trip this Friday.

A nice video that you can all watch: http://www.mormon.org/becauseofhim.

Thanks,

Elder Slade