20 March 2012

Hello family!

I hope you're all doing well

Anthony [edit] was baptized on Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday, and received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday.  Elder Rupp baptized him, a member of the YSA ward confirmed him, and I was honored to give him the Priesthood.  It was the first time I've given anyone the Priesthood.  It was an amazing experience, and there was a strong spirit in the room.  Anthony is doing really well and is really excited to be a Church member.  Last night at the YSA FHE, the person giving the lesson asked if there were any non-members there, and Anthony about raised his hand, then quickly brought it down and said "nope, not anymore!!"  He is already looking for opportunities to share the Gospel and lift up less-active members.  He is doing great.  Pictures to come... eventually...

West [edit] just emailed me, the first time I've heard from him since he was deployed last July.  He told me how he is doing out in Afghanistan.  He was able to take 2 weeks off and visit Ceyda in Florida, where they re-took their wedding vows, and went on a cruise.  He misses his family a lot but gets to talk to them.  He said the family goes to church every week that work permits (which is almost every week) and they still can't wait to be baptized when he gets back.  He again thanked me for teaching them the Gospel and helping them find God.  That made me feel good!

Alex and Angie didn't accept a baptism date this week but want to go to church and specifically Primary this week.  They probably don't know what baptism really is, despite us trying to explain it.  They want to go to a baptism service, and I imagine they'll want to be baptized after they see one.  We had our lesson at the Kehoe's house, who are and will be great fellowshippers for Sister Morales and the girls.

We had dinner last night with the Byrnes, and Bro Byrne had a euphonium (baritone) that he wanted me to play.  I got to play a euphonium on my mission!  And I wasn't quite as rusty as I thought I'd be, which was nice.

Noah [edit] is still doing well.  He's gotten a couple call-backs for interviews, so he should be able to move out within a month or two!  It's been hard to teach him consistently because he doesn't have a phone, but he showed up to the Institute on Friday when we were in another lesson.  Bro Greiner, the Ins. director, called us and said he came for a lesson.  We got the message about 45 min later, and zoomed to the Institute.  Bro G said Noah had stayed for about 40 min and talked to him, and had just barely left to go home.  We parked the car and sprinted down the street (really heavy traffic street so everyone could see) after him and eventually caught him.  We walked back to the Institute building and had a great lesson.  He loves the Church and the Book of Mormon.  He's trying really hard to get his "girlfriend" to go to church with him and take lessons, but she's a hard case.

Jolie cancelled our church tour this week, and wants to wait until after spring break to meet with us again.  We're still trying to figure out when spring break for them is!  They go to a private school so it's hard to figure out.

We've had a bunch of meetings this week.  We went to all 3 district meetings, had interviews with all 3 district leaders (about an hour long each), and had a meeting with the stake presidency, the high councilor over missionary work (Bro Valdivia) and all the bishops and ward mission leaders from the stake.  Elder Rupp gets really stressed out over meeting with "the big guns" as he calls it, so it was almost funny to watch him during the meeting.  The stake leadership thinks very highly of all their missionaries (especially the Spanish ward, for good reason) and things continue to move upward.  There have been 15 baptisms in the stake so far this year, ahead of last year, and right on track for the goal.

I hope you all have a great week!  Things are going great here. We're happy, healthy, and very busy.

Love

Elder La Follette