Call 911!

     What an amazing week!  I am so grateful for this past week it was a very spiritual week and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be serving a mission! 

     There is so much to say so if I don't make any sense im sorry!  So on Tuesday we got a call from our Mission President saying that we had to move out by midnight because the lease was up and there was some confusion on where we should move!  But we had a bunch of appointments so we couldn't go home and move until around 8 p.m. and we still had to move all of the beds and couches and everything. We moved to the other end of the hall and into the Zone Leaders apartment.  So we were all just hurrying and trying to get all of the stuff moved out so we could get to bed somewhat close to on time.  Around ten o'clock we got most of our things moved out and into the new place and then we got a call from the mission president saying that we had until tomorrow to move everything because he worked out some deal with the place. 

     So we just finished unpacking all of the important stuff and decided around 10:30 for some reason to go and turn off the lights in the old apartment and lock it up, which we never do.  When we walked into the old apartment smoke was coming out of the kitchen hood over the stove and so we start freaking out and for a second I thought that maybe someone pulled a prank on us and put a smoke bomb in there or something, but then we got closer we realized it wasn't a prank. 

     So we ran out and down the hall and the apartment down from us at the end of the hall had smoke pouring out of the door frame!  My companion runs down and pulls the fire alarm and I called 911, but I had no clue where we lived so I threw the phone to my companion.  The apartment on the other side of the hall across from the fire is where the Staples live, they happen to be members and are the apartment managers!  They have four little kids and the alarm wasn't waking them up! 

     I start yelling and banging on the door to get them up!  The dad runs out and opens the door to the fire and the smoke and heat just about knock him back so I just start running in their apartment and grab the kids out of bed!  The zone leaders ran from floor to floor to evacuate everyone.  It was the craziest night ever!  I am just shaking writing this, it was straight out of a movie! 

     We got back into the apartments around one in the morning and everyone got out fine.  We are all so blessed to be safe, the story just could have been different on so many levels!  Yesterday Sister Staples and the kids brought us cookies and she goes "thanks for saving our lives".  And we were just like haha whatever.  And she got really serious and she was like "no Elders, we found out today that the sprinkling system was broken and the fire alarms didn't go off until the latch was pulled".  So if we hadn't of moved that night, Elder Twingstrom and I would have been asleep in the room opposite the fire....and if we hadn't been prompted to go down and close the apartment up, the Staples wouldn't have woken up because the apartment that started on fire was vacant and so was ours!  So the whole half of the hall no one lived in so no one would have known until the floor above caught on fire.   

     We are just so grateful for the Spirit!  As missionaries we are promised protection and I can feel it everyday!  I accomplished a few dreams.....calling 911.....pulling a fire alarm, and running out of a burning building!  So it was great!  So after that day the week only got progressively better!  We were able to meet with a bunch of our investigators and find a good handful of new ones!   I just love everyone that we have been able to teach!  I am so grateful for all of them.  We have recently changed from going through areas, to praying where we should go. Every single investigator that we found this week was from streets that we prayed to go. The mission is amazing because of the spirit we feel as we serve. We are so blessed to be serving our Father in Heaven and carry the name of His church on our clothing! 

     On Thursday night we tracted into an amazing family!  We taught them the first lesson and they were all so interested!  They were just the most athletic family, we walk in Mom, Dad, and the two boys all wearing jerseys and watching a football game together!  At first only the mom seemed really interested, but as time went on the Dad kept sitting up straighter and straighter and everything just clicked for him. We hopefully get to teach them again this week! 

     The best experience of the week for me was yesterday.  So a few weeks ago we tracted into this family and they answer the door and go come on in! Hahaha.....ya sure don't ask me twice!  So we come in and just talked for ever and they said they didn't have time for a message but we could come back.  They gave us eggnog and jams and stuff, a really amazing family.  So we finally were able to go back over together.  So the dad had all of his kids sit around the table and have us tell them why we do what we do and what our church means to us.  We basically taught them a lesson and as we were talking we found out that the Dad and Mom grew up Roman Catholic and their upbringing turned them off to the idea of religion, but he really wanted the kids to do what they wanted and they could be Mormons or whatever they wanted.  So I looked at him and asked him if he found out there was one church on the earth if it would mean a lot to him?  And the thirteen year old talked really loudly and said yes!!!  So I look over at him, and I was like wait what?  I was just taken back I guess, and he goes I don't get why there are so many churches, I want to know!  He had the biggest smile and the widest eyes, and we gave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and he ran upstairs to set the book in his room!  He reminded me of Joseph Smith, just so eager to truly find out for himself!  It was so inspiring how much faith he had in us and to truly find out for himself. 

     I love you all!  Thanks for all of your prayers and letters they all mean so much! Don't ever be afraid to share the gospel.  It changes lives!  I am so happy to know that this Church is true and to be able to bear my testimony to these people. Have a great week!  Love, Elder Aiken.