It's been another great week. Erana Moka-Vaega got baptized on Saturday. It was miracle. It's always a miracle. Elders have been teaching her for months so it's about time. She has had so many doubts because her brother is a member of another church and unfortunately he is rather fond of filling her head with anti-mormon stuff. Luckily our member fellowship saved the day by always following the Spirit and being there to comfort Erana whenever she needed it. The fellowship, Latitia, is a convert as well. Members are so ridiculously important. The most successful wards I've seen are the ones where the members are very friendly and warm to any visitors, including people visiting from other wards, less actives, and nonmembers. Ponder that.... Anyway, Erana is great and is going to be an awesome member.
We had this other crazy miracle the other day when we were driving. We forgot to call the members we were supposed to be having a kai (meal) with, so we were in the process of driving over there to see if they were still expecting us. Then we got this phone call from a fella with a really goofy high voice, almost whining, saying that we missed our appointment we set up with him and that he's been waiting. So we told him we'd come right then. We thought it was kind of weird, because NO ONE does that. If someone calls you as a missionary, they're practically already in the water. So we drove over to the address that Michael Jackson said he stayed at and... the address didn't exist! Good one, eh? So we thought, and I quote, "Yup." Sounds about right. So Elder White, inspired elder that he is, decided that we ought to knock the last house just before the non-existent prank address (by the way, they say "crank call" here, not "prank call"). As we neared the door, a lady came out and asked if we were looking for Steve. Very smoothly, we looked at each other and said, "Is he here?" she went and got him, and he invited us in. He said he was taught by some other missionaries a few months ago and told us about how he thought there shouldn't just be heaven and hell, but places where we get rewarded according to our actions and desires. He also said that he didn't think that heaven should be a place where angels fly around singing and playing harps -- heaven should be a place where you are with your family forever, whereas hell should be living without your family and being regretful. Ha. Can you say Plan of Salvation? We sure could. Anyway, I wonder how those "crank callers" would feel about being the means of the Lord bringing about the salvation of men?
I write slowly, so I need to write less today. So just a few more stories:
We were exactly on time for a lesson we had set up last week, which doesn't happen very often, and the person wasn't there, but something else that was pretty neat happened (are you sensing a pattern here? The Lord works in mysterious ways). As we walked back to the car, a man leaned out the window of a nearby house and beckoned us. We thought about leaving him hanging, then decided to go. Nah, we were really excited to go. So he told us about how he was supposed to meet some other missionaries later that night but he wasn't going to make it and it was just a miracle that we were walking by. So we set him for baptism! It was real swell. What a miracle! His name is Eddy.
Sister kneebone is this interested as lady who came to church for the first time and loved it and is set to baptized at the end of the month! There are so many great miracles here but I'm tired of typing and I still have to write our mission president. So thanks for listening. Happy birthday Mum! That's what these people would say.
I'm loving this area. Any area is the best. If there's any advice I'd give to the young men thinking about serving missions, it would be this: be worthy now, not tomorrow or next week, and keep in mind that soon you will represent the Lord and every decision you make now will determine how many people you can help and how great of an effect you can have on them in a few years' or months' time.
Love you guys. Have a great week. Thanks for the emails family! Heavenly Father hears your prayers. It is one of the greatest tools we have been given in this life.
Love,
Elder Jensen
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