Elder Renlund Dapped me up!

 (Elder Putnam)

OK, we had several things happen this past week the crowning jewel of which was Elder Renlund's visit to Rīga and the Baltics in general.

At the beginning of the week we were told to avoid all sorts of activities at the church, but we had a ton of lessons planned so we did them all outdoors. Our most progressing friend Edžus came and we talked about the yoke of Christ with him. He really liked the message. Then he came to Elder Renlund's devotional and had to leave 3 minutes in to his talk. that was such an L. But he came to church and hit it off with the members which is so great.

We invited the ends of Latvia to come to Elder Renlund's devotional and there were a ton of people that came. It was awesome.

Before the actual devotional though, we had our own discussion with him as a body of missionaries. He encouraged us to stay focused on the sacrament which was the thing that stuck out to me the most. When greeting us he shook all of our hands and asked us our name and where we are from. Of course I had to be interesting and said I was from Saudi Arabia. When he heard that he turned the handshake to a bro grip, said "good to have you here" and thus I dapped up an Apostle.

Then in the general session, I went with our investigator to shake hands with him again and Elder Renlund, cause of course you want all of your friends to have the chance to shake an apostle's hand. When I went up this time Elder Renlund told me "thank you". I was like, "for what?" and he was like "you have a countenance." I was like what??? I’ve never been told that before and to hear it from an apostle was just out of this world.

As for later events of the week, I went to get my new visa. We also had transfers. To my great surprise, I got transferred again. This time to my old companions Elder Beebe and Elder Leonard. It'll be a fun companionship and I hope they can teach me how to do Facebook work more effectively.

In summary, We had a week that felt like two. It will be very difficult to forget it.

For a spiritual thought, I will leave behind my most favorite thoughts from this past week. First: Satan doesn’t have any power unless we give him power. This goes along well with one of my favorite scriptures: D&C 93:39 " And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience..." Similarly to how our faith and testimonies can be strengthened through obedience, through disobedience, Satan chips at and wears down our testimonies, our light and our truth.

On Saturday night, ponder and consider what you will think about during the sacrament. I think this one is so good. It brings to mind the temple. Often when we have questions or when we are seeking revelation or peace, we go to the temple. And we plan what we are seeking to find in the temple. The same can go for the sacrament. I tried that this week and realized that I have a lot more to improve upon. I can definitely get better at making my sacrament meetings more meaningful, which he encouraged us to do as we prepare to return home. For me, that’s in 2 transfers.

I guess I'll have to see you all then!