Staying put - companion #4!

Last day with Elder Lindeman

    Good Morning!!!  Well I have killed another companion off! Elder Lindman has been transferred!  I will miss him so much!  I have had the best companions and he is just amazing!  He will do great things for the mission! 

Companion #4 - Elder Berry

  

   Elder Berry is my new companion! From Las Vegas!  He is such a great Elder.  He was actually Elder Lindeman's MTC companion!  This will be another blessed transfer!  We are now covering the Tiger Mountain ward only.  The Issaquah first ward has its own elders now!  I will truly miss that ward and area.  I grew to love our investigators so much!  

    This past week has been amazing! (Other than crashing my bike!)  Words can't describe!  It felt as though everything that I have been working for the past transfer has all wrapped up.  After the many struggles and hard work we were able to leave that area with a full heart.  They have three people that are on date and a few more to come!  I will truly miss serving there!  Natalie and Josh have my heart! The gospel was blessing their lives so richly!!  Natalie and Josh attended their first service last week. We met this week and we asked Josh about his class.  He named every thing they talked about and just loved it!  He said “I felt warm inside there, I felt comforted!” It was the most humbling thing to talk to a 10 year old so in tune with the spirit to feel the difference between that building and any other. 

    We had six investigators at church this Sunday! Three in each ward!  The Lord sent down his richest blessings.  Dallas and Kam came in the Tiger Mountain ward - people I taught my first week here.  And we just barely got back in.  They came to the ward party on Saturday night and just loved it!!!  Dallas tied in the Oreo eating contest.  Haha it was so funny!  The spirit in our lives this week was very touching!  So many people began to progress and move forward with the gospel!  Truly amazing!  I learned much this past week.  I learned a lot about the heavenly virtue of patience:  “To accept the Lord's will and timing.” 

    Yesterday we ran into yet another man struggling without the knowledge of life after this one.  As we walked down the driveway I saw an older man working on his old 1940’s dodge pickup.  He had some beautiful antique cars that I was just amazed by.  After a bit of chatting about his cars I asked him about religion.  As tears began to form in his eyes he said, “That’s not for me, never has been.  Not since I had my son.  We just lost him last month, he was handicapped and struggled for 40 years.  If that’s part of the plan I want none of it.”  My heart sank.  To see a loving father struggle so deeply.  He said he doesn’t know where his son is but he hopes that he is where he wants to be.  As we walked back down the driveway my mind began thinking for the next hour or so about life, and what I know it to be.  How has this life blessed me?  And why am I here?  God has an amazing plan.  A plan that does, at times, involve suffering and pains, if not for us, watching those around us suffer.  I know that God does live and that His plan is for us to grow and become better.  So that we can enjoy the richest blessing we can receive, returning to live in His presence.  We hope and pray that our testimonies touched that man!  I know that God lives and loves us all!  If we will just lean on him. HAPPY EASTER! 

Love, Elder Aiken.

(Elder Lindeman's letter)


Well... i got transferred again.  Transfer calls came on Sunday night. we were both positive Elder Aiken was leaving. We knew he was. He has been in his first area for 6 months. He started saying goodbye to people in the ward cause he thought he was leaving. Elder Aiken and i worked really really hard together. the last week we were together we found a couple new investigators, one of which looked like a bishop. We got Natalie, Josh, and Kim on date for baptism. It was like we had been suffering for 5 weeks and then God blessed us with miracles. that last week things picked up and we were blessed for our hard work and sacrifice, and then i got transferred before i saw the end result of our labors.

 My last day with Elder Aiken we spent 9 Hours tracting. 4 of them were on bike on the muddy, gravel, mountainous roads of Tiger Mountain. It was a fun experience. :)  elder Aiken was joking that we could take on lance.

This transfer really hurt me. i still really can't believe i have been transferred. after six weeks you finally start to get to know people in the ward, and you begin to love your investigators, and then your ripped away from it... Oh well, that's my sad story. I'M Done Feeling Sorry For Myself.