Hello Sun!

     Hello Everyone! I have only a short time to write today because of the Holiday mix up! WE HAD THREE SUNNY DAYS IN A ROW THIS WEEK!  It was honestly amazing! It was beautiful here, it felt like home! Sunny days here are just beautiful.  It was such a blessing! 

Love Confetti Cupcakes!

Valentine's care package!

     This past week has been a lot of hard work! Thanks for all of the Valentines cards and letters and gifts! I love you all! I got 12 of my favorite cupcakes sent from the best place in town, Confetti Cupcakes. I wish I could send you all one! They are to die for, great start to the week! On Valentines day, Alfred was on the list to have us over for dinner! 

My good friend Alfred!

     He is the man I have talked about before, he is from Uganda! He has become one of my best friends in the whole world! He is truly a man of God and someone that I will miss dearly. He has a son back in Uganda that lives with his parents.  He is turning 18 in a little while and is saving to have him move here to attend BYU.  He is renting out his bed room in his apartment and sleeping in the living room to save money on rent! He says that all he wants is for his son to have a good life and to save up money to go back to Uganda and help those in need. He truly does nothing for himself, it's always  for everyone else! 

     On Valentines day he made us a traditional African meal! It was amazing.  Down side of the week…elder Workman got bit by a dog!  On the way back to the car we couldn’t think of anything else that could go wrong that day! Just one of those days. 
     All of our investigators are doing well.  Rob had to start his jail sentence last night. That was really hard to see him go.  He had to serve time for a fight that happened awhile back.  He was sad to have to go but they let him take his Book of Mormon!  I can't wait until he gets out so he can continue to progress in the gospel! The Atonement is amazing isn't it?  No matter what we do Christ will always have his hand stretched out to fulfill the laws of justice for us.  He will never turn his back on us even when we turn ours on him! 

     This week we went with Ray to look at one of the rivers in our ward that he is thinking about getting baptized in! He is moving so much closer to the gospel (Ray is the one that has been learning about the church for a little over two years).  Ray is one of the most amazing men that I have ever met!  He helped us feed the homeless a few weeks back and has asked if he can take over the responsibility for the next few months! He's a good man. Well I've gotta go! I love you all and have an amazing week! Smile for me!  Love, Elder Aiken.

Happy Valentines Day!

     Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I hope that you all have a really great day!  I want you all to know that I love you so much!  I have been so blessed in this life with great friends and family!  I am so thankful for it and it means so much to me! So this Valentines Day know how much I love you all!  You have all blessed my life! 

     This past week has been crazy and its all a blur. We were in and out of our area most of the week because of training but this week is back to normal which should be nice!  Three days of the week I was doing exchanges with Elder Jin from Korea!  He has been out for 2 weeks!  He is an amazing person so full of faith.  His english is amazing for his short time in America.  One morning as we were preparing a lesson for a family we were going to teach about faith, he shared a great story that touched me so much.  I still am amazed as I think about his experience! In Korea as a male, you have to serve a mandatory 2 years in the Army.  Elder Jin went to a famous art school there and is very proficient in playing the Violin so he was called to be a leader in the orchestra for the army.  The army is very intense there, as it is here. If you do anything to offend an officer or the president you are sent to jail. You are taught to never say no, because if you do you are sent to jail!  It's very strict and he feels so blessed to be finished. But as a leader in the Orchestra he was in good standing with the Vice President of the Army.  One particular day he was assigned to play at a meeting with the United Nations.  At the meeting the Vice President of the Army came around to pour wine for those that were leaders there.  Elder Jin was one of them.  He came up to Elder Jin and asked him if he would like a glass of wine.  Elder Jin said “No thank you Sir.” And the commanding Officer stormed off.  As they left the meeting Elder Jin was bullyed and told by everyone that he was going to be headed off to Jail.  In the barracks he got on his knees and pleaded with Heavenly Father for help.  Pleaded that he would have faith. Three days later he was called to the commanding officers office.  He began to yell at him and tell him that he had embarassed him in front of so many countries and presidents!  And that if he didn’t have a good explanation for it he was off to jail and a trial.  He said a silent prayer in his heart.  He boldy told him that he was Mormon and that in his religion he doesn’t drink alcohol.  He then handed him a Book of Mormon and explained that the knowledge that the Book of Mormon was true was the reason that he has chosen not to drink alcohol.  Elder Jin exercised faith.  He knew that if he stood up for his beliefs that Heavenly Father would be on his side!  Elder Jin didn’t have to serve a jail sentence and left the mans office with a warm handshake.  The spirit that must have been in that room is the reason that Elder Jin was freed that day! 

     A man that we have been working with for the past while is named Rob - I wrote about him last week.  Rob has had a long struggle and addiction to alcohol and cigarettes to help him cope with severe drepession and post tramautic stress.  Rob has changed over the past few weeks of learning about the gospel!  He rides into the church parking lot every day with a bigger smile!  It's amazing to watch him change! This week Rob began living the word of wisdom because he had enough faith in God.  And that our Father in Heaven will bless him in obeying the things that God would have him do.  On Wednesday he committed to start living it and on Thursday we went over to see how he was doing. He walked out of the door and I knew right then that he had stopped.  He was different!  He said that he finally has a clear mind and energy! As we live the gospel we are blessed and our lives change forever!  I have learned so much about faith this week. When we have Faith in Christ, we can accomplish anything.  Have a great week!  Love, Elder Aiken.

The Power of Prayer!

     This week has been a really special week here in Issaquah! I have loved every minute of it. It seems that every week I am learning so much and growing more than I can believe. It's such a blessing to be here. 
     This past week I have become even more grateful for prayer and just amazed by the power of it. I have also realized how blessed I am. A few weeks ago a man and his friend kind of stumbled out of their door. They were both drunk and we shared a brief message with them and told them we would return later in the week. We went over on Monday night and began to share the restoration with Rob. The lesson was less than spectacular, with all of the bottles and kegs around the room, it wasn’t a place where the Spirit could be.  A few minutes into the lesson we realized that we better reschedule a meeting at the church because he was never going to be touched by the spirit in that environment. So the next day we met Rob at the church and took him on a tour of the Church. As we walked into the Chapel we were all overwhelmed by the spirit that was there. It was amazing to take a moment of silence and really feel the presence of the Lord in the room. We both felt prompted to ask Rob what he was feeling, and he looked at us and said, I feel at peace. Rob struggles with depression and post-tramatic stress syndrome. He's also only able to eat one meal a day at the firehouse down the street because he has been out of a job for months. To look at a man with this many struggles and to hear that he feels at peace brought me to tears. The Spirit in that church building as we shared the restorations was unbelievable. Everyday we met him this week he would ride up to the church with a different look on his face.  Everyday his smile was bigger and his face was brighter. Literally everyday he looked totally different as he continues to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ!  He wants to be baptized at the end of the month! This could be a challenge with some of the court struggles he is going through but to see a man that has been so lost and unsure, change to someone with hope is amazing. The gospel is true. As I watch and meet with Rob, he can't wait to be at the church. Because he finally feels at peace there! I know that through the gospel, we can be changed, changed in a good way. Brought closer to God. 
     Another amazing story this week was with one of our investigators, her name is Natalie. We met Natalie a few weeks ago and have been struggling to get back in touch. Last week we taught her a short lesson, and this week we watched the Restoration dvd with her. We called her in the morning to double check at the time we said we would come over because we weren't sure if we said 1 or 2.  She goes “Well you can just come teach me at 1 and then come back over again at 2!”  Haha she also loves the Spirit that the message brings to her home. On Friday when we met she began to tell us why she loves learning about the Mormon church so much. The past few months she has been getting pressure from her mom to have her son baptized into the Catholic church but it just didn’t feel right to her. She began to pray and ask God where she should have her son baptized. That week we knocked on her door. She said, ya know what, I just don’t believe in coincidences! The power of prayer is amazing!                This week I was reading in the bible dictionary and was again amazed at the definition of prayer, you all probablly have read this but I just want to share it with you. Prayer: …. “As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondance with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointer means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.” Isn't that just amazing! It helped me realize how important prayer is. And not only that but that prayer is a power! And it’s a gift that I think is often not used enough. Prayers are always answered, not in our time but in God's!  As Natalie speaks about prayer she knows that through sincere prayer she can come to know that our message is true! There is no greater way that our faith will grow than through prayer! 
     I love you all! Every week when I type this blog email to send home, I pray that I will be inspired to say something that will help someone, as I have been blessed enough to go through these experiences. I hope that I am able to share things over these next two years that can inspire in some way. Be safe and God Bless you!  Elder Aiken.