Memorial Day Weekend 2014
First of all, a bit about Brian:
This last week was great! On Thursday, 7 priests came to our church to "investigate" for a class. My companion and President Lattin's first counselor got to give them a presentation on the Restoration. After the presentation, we had a question/answer session, individually, between them and the missionaries. Then they had a tour of the church, and they all took Book of Mormons as they were leaving. Also, my testimony of the Book of Mormon was really strengthened this week during a spiritual thought with a member. We talked about the strength that we receive when we read the Book of Mormon every day, and I learned a ton. Then, a cool miracle happened at the end of the spiritual thought when I asked the member to read the Book of Mormon every day. She said that she could not, because she can not see so well anymore. Just then, her nephew walked in and gave her some church literature and a reading eye glass! This week, (like last week) was just so focused on the Book of Mormon. Which is great! It seems like every lesson, or spiritual thought, or church lesson is on the Book of Mormon. From all of these reminders, my testimony is strengthened of this testimony of Jesus Christ, and how it helps us to receive guidance from God. I love the scripture that Dad shared about God, how he "will sit as a refiner and purifier". I imagine that God is sitting and attentive and watching our lives so carefully. Also, that he is anticipating to give us blessings as soon as we obey his commandments. I believe in a God who is active in our lives, and immediately restores us blessings when we act on our trust in him. I know that this attribute is just another evidence of a loving Heavenly Father.
Thank you for all of your support! Have a great week!
p.s. I milked a cow, and sythed some weeds!
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Life is just so swell over here! Things are really starting to cool down, so I am SO grateful. I do not think that we will be reassigned anywhere, but there are a lot of missionaries in my mission that think that we will be. In just 3 transfers, we will have 14 Elders, and 27 sisters! So, just because of that, missionaries are thinking that we will have some big changes coming up here pretty soon. Also, all of the missionaries that got their calls to Ukraine have been reassigned, so as of right now, we are not going to have any new missionaries. Very interesting stuff. Also, I have not seen a lot of pickups or other normal American cars, but I do see a mix between super mini expensive European cars, and absolutely ginormous monster trucks and military trucks. I see tractors on the road all the time as well. It is the weirdest combination. That is also super crazy that Joe is having his first transfer! Our mission president transfers missionaries all the time. He only lets missionaries stay in an area for 4 cycles before they are transferred. And that is super great that he is getting a companion that wants to work! I LOVE those transfers so much! Right now I am serving a transfer with a native missionary that was an assistant in a Russian mission just before he was transferred to be my companion!
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Those pictures were amazing! I miss that side of the family so much! I bet you all had a lot of fun. This last week was super great! We saw a lot of changing of hearts, especially from our investigators! One of our investigators, and the end of a lesson, committed himself to come to church on Sunday, also meet at the church for our next meeting, and to sincerely find out if the Book of Mormon is true! For another investigator, after a lesson that we had with him, I remembered that I forgot my pencil at his house, so when we got back to his house, our investigator was reading the Book of Mormon! And he was one of those investigators that said, "don't try to convert me!" So, I have definitely seen the Lord's hand in the missionary work here. I know that the Lord is constantly and carefully preparing ways for His children to receive His blessings. I know that the work that I do would be worthless without his help. I know that God exists because I see the His loving actions in every phase of my work.
Thank you for all of your support! I love you so much!
Love, Elder Stout
The Saturday before Memorial Day, we went up to Hagerman, Idaho to the cemetery where Tim's father is buried:
We met many members of our extended family at a park close to the cemetery and we had a nice picnic and got to visit. Luke climbed the trees:
That night, we drove up to Boise, Idaho and stayed in a hotel near Grandma Shaffer's house. We went swimming until 11:00 pm:
The next morning, we went to church with Grandma Shaffer. Aunt Susan taught the sunday School class so we joined her for her wonderful lesson:
Afterwards, we walked around the beautiful Boise Temple and took pictures:
We had a nice dinner at Uncle Dave & aunt Susan's house. It was fun to catch up with relatives!
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