Hello Everyone!!
Well, the baptism went super well! We ended up meeting with the girl who got baptized 2 times before the
baptism and it was super cool to see how excited she really was to get baptized.
I think that it relates perfectly to what was happening at Temple Square. She
was so ready to hear the gospel, and she was truly searching for it. Even if
those protesters at the Manti Pageant did end up getting baptized just because
they felt like it, if the spirit wasn't there to teach and testify to them
it doesn't really do much good for them. It is really sad to think that there
are really people out here that are just here to manipulate, and break people
down on their beliefs. I think that it is a huge waste of time for people to do
that. Oh well! ;) If you have a firm foundation, and know what you believe, then
it is best to share what we believe with all of the other people around them.
Tyler is super brave to go up and talk with those people in my opinion. I have
come across people like that several times now, and it is really never a very
positive experience unless you take a good laugh out of it. :D
Well, this was a super cool week for
Elder Bono and myself! We had set a goal that I definitely believed to be a
faith-filled goal to teach some people this week. We met our goal! I was so happy to have finally
really accomplished this huge goal that we had set before in my previous areas
and finally meet it! This area had very little work in it before I came here and
was placed with Elder Bono, and now the work is BOOMING! It is a great time to
be a missionary! One really cool experience that we were able to have this week
in a teaching opportunity is when we went and talked about the restoration of
the gospel with some teenage kids who are looking into the church. We brought
some of the young men from the ward over with us so that they had some friends
in the church! It was such a powerful lesson, and they are on date to be
baptized on July 19th! I am so excited for them!
One of the boys asked a really good
question to me this week though! He said, "Why do I need to be baptized again,
if I was already baptized?" Meaning that he had been baptized in another church
when he was younger. I always love it when people ask that because it just shows
that they are so willing to ACT on what they believe! They have already taken
such a great step of faith in the other church to know that baptism really does
cleanse us. Then we talked a lot about Jesus Christ and the Priesthood that He
and the Apostles held. We explained that if that power was in the old church, it
would make sense that it would be back now in the restored church. It totally
makes sense! I love it how we can trace our authority straight back to Jesus
Christ. It is a huge testimony builder to me that this CHURCH IS TRUE!!! I love
this gospel and I love you guys so much for helping me do the things that I
needed to do to get out here on a mission. I know that as I keep a smile on my
face that it will not only help me, but everybody around me. I have had so many
people so far say to me, "ARE YOU EVER NOT SMILING?" It still puts me in shock
when I hear that. I just say, "Well I can’t really think of a specific time that
I don't smile for sure!"
Love,
Elder Wallentine
Oh P.S. we went bowling last Monday
and the pictures of the lizard is because we caught a lizard the other day! ;)
#ARIZONASWAG
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