Letter #63 . . . Baptisms make all the hard times worth it!

Elder Griffiths and Tan!

Hey hey! 

Hope all is well! Thanks for the email. Miss y'all! It's been a great week! 
 

I read the first 20 or so chapters in the Book of Mormon this week. Man oh man that book is absolutely amazing. I tend to forget that over and over again. Then I start reading again and am so dang humbled. I'm seriously so thankful to have the knowledge and testimony of the restored gospel and Book of Mormon that I have. We can all have that testimony if we just read and pray with an open heart! It is amazing how perfectly worded it is throughout the book. It is so consistent, so simple, so powerful. No man could have ever written it. The Lord's hand is so evident as you read the words of that book. Where would I be without that book? Who knows! :)

Dalton's baptism day, April 28, 2017

Dalton was supposed to have his baptismal interview early on in the week, but everything started going wrong and getting super chaotic. So we ended up having to do his interview Friday night, the day before his baptism. Which isn't ideal, but it worked out fine. He passed easily and was ready to be baptized!! His baptism was awesome. His non member Grandma he lives with even came!! Matt Alonso, the guy who baptized Taylor also baptized him. We didn't do a musical number this time. That pic you saw, I'm still not reading music. ;) but just using the hymn book to read the words to follow along, to make sure I end at the right time. Haha! Baptisms are the best. They make all the hard times worth it. 

Elder G, Dalton, Matt and Tan!

I went on exchanges with our DL Elder Call this week. Mom, he's the Elder who's mom works at the preschool and you've mentioned her before..? Love Elder Call!! He's one of my favorite dudes I've met out here. They have a guy named Zach Mays that's on date. We did a super cool object lesson  with him with a jar of rice and 3 golf balls. The jar represents our time in a day, the three balls represent scripture study, prayer, and coming to church. The rice represents all other things we do to fill our time, everyday things we have to do, and even the things that may distract us from the important things. We showed how if you put the rice into the jar first, the golf balls won't fit in the jar. But if you put the golf balls in first, aka put God and his commandments first, all the rice fits in along with the golf balls. If we put God first, everything else will fall into place. 

Dalton's baptism!

He is a Junior in high school, super solid stud of a guy! It was awesome to see how sensitive and receptive to the spirit Zach was. He was getting all choked up, getting teary as we testified of the Savior's love for him, and as he told us how he feels like everything we're teaching him is true, and feels peaceful. Super awesome. We also visited a drunk guy riding a 3 wheeler w/ a popped tire... that he had no idea was popped. Hahaha I live for stupid moments like that. It was the funniest thing ever. #MeanwhileInMissouri

President Vest is done in July, our new President's name is President Love! They're from Layton! Transfers are this week. Griffiths and I think it may be best to take missionaries out of this ward for a while. So we suggested that to the AP's. Although we were able to baptize a few times in the last few months, to put it simply, ward support is not great, and not much member missionary work is going on. We feel like closing down the area is the only way we see them possibly gaining some motivation to step up and reach out to the 70% inactive members. I guess we'll see if that will happen! 
 

Tanner looks like he is reading the music but he is playing by ear and reading the words!

Love y'all! 

Tan   
 

PS. I'm writing a super cool song with Ukulele and Voice... I'll send it to you soon. :)