During
the week we have a hard time getting the work moving, especially
because all of our investigators are busy taking tests, but we had an
amazing weekend to finish up the week!
One of our investigators, 김수엽
(Soo-Yup Kim), is originally from Seoul but is in Gwangju for school, so
he is heading back up home for the summer vacation that begins this
week. He is a referral from our recent convert who was baptized just a
month or so ago and he's really come a long way. He used to smoke about
20 cigarettes a day a few weeks ago and he has cut down probably faster
and more confidently than any other investigator I have ever seen. He is
a stud. We originally had a baptismal date for this next weekend, but
when we heard he was leaving sooner than expected back to home, we
prayed and discussed it with President Shin and decided that it would be
better for him to be baptized here and then be passed to the
missionaries and ward members up in Seoul. So we had a bit of an
unexpected baptism this week and it went really well!! It is so amazing
to see the difference that the gospel makes in the lives of those who
accept it.
We also had a stake conference
with Elder Whiting and another member of the seventy this past weekend
and it was amazing. When Elder Whiting stood up to speak, he said
something to the effect of "I have had a strong prompting to talk about
something different than I have ever spoke about before and different
than what I had planned." We all knew it was going to be good. He talked
about the First Vision and taught some basic principles of receiving
revelation, then explained that because he had received assignment from
the First Presidency, becuase he is a special witness of Christ, because
we exercised our agency to be in that meeting, and so on, that we were
in an environment to receive revelation. He then said that he was going
to play a video and that if the members were prepared, as they watched
the video with an "I-will-go-and-do" attitude, that a mind or a face
would appear in their minds of someone they out to reach out to. He
played one of the videos from The Work of Salvation world-wide training,
and the spirit was so strong.
It was so amazing to me the reality revelation and how it can work
through us and our leaders. I know that God lives and that He speaks.
I don't have much time, so
I'll have to try to write more about our fun/funny experiences and such
next time, but I just want to express gratitude for my family, for the
opportunity to serve as a missionary, and for a loving Father in Heaven
who truly love and knows each one of us. I'm so grateful for the
opportunity to often be humbled as I realize how little I know and how
much I have to improve and to, at the same time, realize how merciful
God is for giving us those opportunities to learn and to grow. I am so
grateful for His Son, Jesus Christ, who not only died for us but lives
again as a witness that regardless of the imperfect world we live in,
there is a way prepared for us to have joy, for us to change, for us to
forgive and be forgiven, and ulitimately for us to live again. I am so
grateful that those truths have been restored and that we have the Book
of Mormon as an undeniable witness of that. I am grateful to be His
servant, however young and imperfect, to testify of Him and participate
in this, the work of Salvation. I love it!!
Be grateful! Be an example! Be happy! ^^
Have a wonderful week! I love you all!
Love, Elder Tolman
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