Letter #68 . . . Bible class and Ashlee's baptism!

Hey fam! 

Love you all and miss you lots. Claire is so dang cute, it's been killing me. She's so big. Spen, Brit, Josh, love that y'all have been riding at the skatepark! Haha you guys are way cooler than I ever was. All three of you! Britt, how's SBO stuff been going? Have you started filming the vid yet? Gimme all the deets of what you're up to! Josh and Pen, I loved your recital stuff. Those are two of the sickest songs ever! Keep singin' and playin' you three!

Last zone conference with President and Sister Vest!

This week was President and Sister Vest's last Zone conference. They're the most awesome people. They told us the story of when they got their call here. They were called in to meet with Elder Christofferson, and were eventually given the priesthood keys by Elder Holland who gave him a blessing. Super cool! 

Tanner's district

We teach a Bible Study class every 1st and 3rd Tuesday! The class has doubled every week! This week we had 22 people there. It's been awesome. 

Tanner and Elder Reber

Got to go on exchanges with my District Leader and past companion, Elder Reber! I flippin love that guy. We have so much fun together. He's a lifelong pal for sure. He also has the greatest District Meetings ever. Last week we did a Spiritual Scavenger Hunt, and next week, our district will be doing a Crockpot Cookoff afterward hahahah! We had a lesson with one of their progressing investigators and we put her on date to be baptized. She's awesome!

Ashlee was baptized! Her future hubby baptized her and is now coming back to church! It was amazing. She looked so happy. After she was baptized, she said she felt so peaceful and clean, and that her face hurt because she'd been smiling so much. Me, Anderson, and Arthur, that country singer dude in our ward, were asked to sing "I Need Thee Every Hour" for the musical number! 

Elder Anderson, Ashlee, her future hubby, and Tanner!

Teaching Ashlee has been a mission highlight for sure. She was truly prepared to accept the gospel at the very moment we started teaching her. It clicked so fast.  It's cool to see how the Lord truly prepares people. I feel so grateful and lucky I was able to be part of her conversion! Sunday was a pretty special day. Ashlee asked me to confirm her the next day in sacrament meeting. That was pretty special as I was not expecting her to ask me. I don't remember a thing I said in the blessing. I hope she did haha! She was so smiley all day. :) 

Musical number at the baptism!

Later that day, some members talked to us and told us their non member neighbors would be open to a blessing. The Gordon's is their name! Bob, the father, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and was told he has maybe 8 months to live. "We're desperate for a miracle" they said. They told us about how they've given up looking for a church because the ones they've been to in the past could never agree on any doctrine, preachers would be there just for the money, etc... All the beliefs they've had all along go right with what we believe. We taught about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and how similar their story was to Joseph's. They were blown away. They asked question after question that they had never been able to get answers to in their other churches. They were pretty choked up. We were all feeling a pretty awesome spirit. I gave him a blessing and promised him that with God, nothing is impossible, and that he could be restored to full health, if it be the Lord's will. They are the most humble, faithful people ever. We're going to start teaching them and helping them out on the farm. That was one of the coolest experiences of my whole mission. Words are not adequately explaining how cool this moment was haha. I'll remember it forever! 

Much luv, till next week!

Elder Townsend

Tanner's district

Ashlee's baptism day!