Shortest blog post yet!

Brother and Sister Graves

     Good afternoon everyone!  I am sorry I have to write a very short email home today!  It's been a crazzzy day!  We only have 15 mintues to email! 

     So I think I pulled an all time first....after one transfer I am back in the Tiger Mountain Ward!  The Lord knew I couldn't be away from them very long!!  I prayed and prayed I wouldn't be transferred from the Issaquah 1st ward but I definitely didn't think I would be covering both again! 

     I will hit my 9-month mark here at the end of this transfer in my greenie area!  I love it.  I was so worried I was going to be transferred but i am so blessed to have stayed at least one more!  I feel like Laly and her boys, a family we are teaching, are friends that I have known all my life.  I know that I knew them before we came to earth!  They are amazing.  I love you all.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  As we strive to live it, follow it, and abide by the things it teaches us, we can acheive a great happiness! Happy June.

Love, Elder Aiken.

Rob gets baptized!

     Goood Morning everyone at home! This week has been amazing! THREE DAYS OF COMPLETE…..100% BLUE SKY SUNSHINE!  I was so grateful for it. 

Elder Berry, Rob & Elder Aiken

Sister Young, Rob, Elder Aiken & Elder Berry

     This has been a very blessed week.  Rob was baptized on Friday. Rob means a lot to me!  He is evidence that this gospel is true and that the Holy Ghost is real.  Months back we tracted into him.  He was drunk when we knocked on his door, but he begged us to pray with him and come back the next day!  He was so searching for the gospel and sense of peace.  Over the weeks of teaching him, his life began to change before us.  He was happier and happier everytime we saw him.  For a few weeks we lost contact with him and prayed fervently everyday that we could be able to get back in contact with him!  And at the beginning of the month we found him again!  We have been teaching him in the Sparks home twice a week preparing him for baptism.  He gave up all his addictions and his life then began to change!  The gospel is true and the word of wisdom is real.  Rob's baptism was a wonderful experience.  To see this man walk out of the baptismal font and see his change was unreal. He has become the man that he wanted to become.  I love him with all my heart.  I know that his love for the gospel will now go on to help many enjoy the blessings of the gospel! 

     In the mission we have been talking a lot about the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  Our mission president has quoted it a lot lately and has talked about its importance.  The story of the Prodigal son is easily my favorite in the whole Bible!  His son wasted his life away with riotous living and became so poor that he was eating with the pigs.  His life is in shambles you can only imagine.  Sad would be an understatement.  He wanted to badly to return to his father but was afraid he would never accept him.  I think our Father in Heaven is much the same way.  I can only imagine Him daily looking down the path, staring “A far off” waiting for his children to enter the pathway to baptism so they can be wrapped in the arms of his love and of the Holy Ghost!  I think at time we can feel much like that, we feel so ashamed, so turned away from God that he will never accept us back!  But that is never and will never be the case!  God is love and has created the perfect plan of repentance!  Asking for forgiveness of our sins!  All he wants is for us to turn to him!  He misses us and loves us and is never ashamed of us.  What a blessing that is!  None of us will ever be perfect, he just wants us back!  And as members of the church we have the blessing of helping others enter that path back to our Father in Heaven so they can experience the joy of the gospel!  I love this gospel.  I know that he loves us all!  We must never be ashamed and always turn to him. 

     Last week when we were praying we felt that we should go tract a certain apartment complex and found a nice lady who asked us to come back next week - which was Friday - to teach her and her boys!  We taught Laly, JJ, and Lorenzo.  She has been waiting until they were old enough to decide on a church with her!  They are one of the most amazing yound families I have ever met!  She is an great mom who just gets it.  And she understands the importance of the gospel and is looking for that “glue” that will hold them together.  JJ and Lorenzo are so mature.  As we shared the message of the first vision we asked what the boys felt.  JJ said “ I felt everything! I felt warm!” The greatest response!  The Lord knows each and everyone of us!  I can't wait to watch this family progress in the gospel!   I know that the gospel is the change that we all need.  I love you all.  Thanks for all you do and your prayers and letters.  They mean more to me than you will ever know!
Love, Elder Aiken.

3 days of sunshine!!!

     Hello to everyone in Utah! I love you all and hope that all is well. Everything is just great here! Its been a blessing of a week.  Three days of sun! Three!  It was just about the greatest thing ever!  I was so grateful for it! The weather was so nice we thought we would have our district meeting outside! 

     This week has been a week in my mission that I will never forget.  A time in my life for refining and growth!  So many lessons learned and things that will change me forever.  This past week I came to know the Church is absolutely true!  I always have known that this is Christ's church on the earth!  But now I know for a fact and will never again question it.  

     I am so grateful for it!  We have the greatest news and what a blessing it is in our lives!  This week I cannot wait to run and tell people about this!  

     On Friday we stopped by Natalie's to set up a time to share a message.  It was one of the most touching experiences of my mission.  As we talked to her from the doorway, she stood up and began to walk towards us!  She began to cry as she said “You guys I have been so worried about finding a job and the boys, and school and all I have to do in my life!  I have had the spirit since my baptism!  I am comforted in it all!”  She began to cry and said “ The Book of Mormon is true!  I read it every night and pray often! It's true!  I know it!”  She then asked us how she could have the missionaries sent to her sister and if she could take cookies to the lady next door we are teaching!  It's just amazing.  She is different now, her smile, her demeanor, everything is different!  The Spirit is with her and her life is just amazing. 

Best buddy Alfred!

     As we live our lives correctly and endure to the end, our lives can be changed for ever!  This life is so much easier as we have the spirit in our lives!  As we repent and purify out lives we can be lead by the Holy Spirit of the Lord.  Is there a greater comfort?  On Saturday we had another really neat experience!!  Rob told us he had a job interview! He has been looking for a job for months and months!  He only has one pair of clothes though!  A sister in the ward just stepped in and did amazing things.  She took us to a Nordstrom Rack with Rob down the street and bought him outfits for his interview!!  Rob has come so far.  He has come from a man lost and aquainted with grief to a man with hope and joy!  Every week he changes.  That is the fruit of the spirit!  It brings about a change in us and in our lives!  His baptism is on Friday, and what a blessing that will be!  
     I have been deeply blessed this week!  I know that Jesus Christ, our very Savior and Redeemer lives!!!!!  He loves each and every one of us and knows our pains!  I love you all!  I love this mission and all it has brought me!  This is true!  I know it and I sure know that God knows it!!!!  Love, Elder Aiken.

A beautiful baptism!

     Goood Morning everyone!!!  I hope all of the women had a great Mothers Day.  I just want to take a quick moment to let you all know how much I love you!!  I have been blessed with so many great Mothers in my life who have changed my life forever!  I truly love you all, thank you for being here for me and for your prayers and for all ways being there for me throughout my life. 

Elder Aiken, Natalie, Josh and Elder Berry

     This week I have learned lessons that will shape my life forever.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve this mission!!!  On Friday was Natalie and Josh's baptism.  It was a great evening!  To see this family's life begin to change forever was so touching.  We have worked so hard with this family for months and truly they are just amazing!  I am so grateful for them and that I was able to serve here at this time. They have become family.  Josh will go on to be a great leader in the church someday.  I firmly believe that!  He is a special young man with a tender spirit.  The Lord has blessed me dearly to get to know this family!!  This week I have been blessed with a few other great experiences.  The past week has been a bit tough, struggling with the weather here!  Not seeing the sun for months can be tough!  But I have felt the calming love of the Savior. I found this talk on the floor in the apartmeny by Joseph B. Worthlin. And in it, he talks about leaving the spirit world and in it he says this: “ We must have sorrowed that a veil would cover our eyes and the bright memories of our lives would be cloaked in the forgetfulness of mortality.  How we must have yearned to stay close to our Father in Heaven.  How we must have covenanted to ever reach after Him and commune with Him.  Undoubtedly our separation from our Heavenly Father was softened when He promised that as we sought after Him in prayer,  He would reach toward us.”  How true that is!  What a special knowledge to have that as we pray to our Father in Heaven he WILL reach toward us!!  I have felt that strongly this week. 

     Saturday I wanted to fast for some things and I kept feeling that I should fast for strength. “Fast for Strength!” kept coming into my head.  When I called home on Sunday I learned my dad had been ill.  My emotions were raw as I yearned to be with my family.  But the peace from fasting overcame me!
   This week my life has been deeply touched.  We all go through struggles, things that we feel we can't ever overcome.  But thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ, he has walked our paths before and is ever reaching down to lift us up! We must look to him and turn to him in time of need.  I love this life and this world.  At times our struggles seem to be that hardest thing we can go through, but at the deepest point in our struggles it always seems that the Savior lifts us up!  I am grateful for this church and this life!  And for all the Mothers who have lifted me up over the years.  And for my Mom!  She is my best friend and has helped me greatly throughout my life. What a special lady she is!  I love you all!  Have a wonderful week!!!

Love - Elder Aiken.

Happy Mother's Day!

     Hello everyone!!  Time is flying by almost too fast out here, it doesn’t seem real!!! 
     This week was one of ups and downs but a great one at that!  My testimony has grown so much this week.  My heart has been deeply touched at the blessing it is to see lives change. It gives us time to contemplate our own testimonies and the role they play in our lives. 
     This week was a busy one with a few five hour training days but they were so uplifting!  We have been blessed with an amazing Mission President who has blessed my life dearly.  Natalie was supposed to be baptized on Saturday but it has been moved to this weekend.  On Wednesday while I was at the meeting I got a text from my companion saying that Natalie had texted our phone saying she had decided that she wasn’t going to be baptized.  My heart sank.  I just wanted to run out of the meeting and knock on her door!  I couldn’t get out fast enough.  Once we got home from the meeting we hurried over to her house.  When she answered the door her face was full of sadness and confusion.  As we sat at the dinner table she poured out her concerns and the reasons why she felt she shouldn’t be baptized.  For a moment I lost all hope as her testimony seemed to have taken a 180. We paused for a moment and asked how have you come to know these things are true?  I will never, ever forget the spirit that entered that room. As tears fell from her eyes, we all bore testimony of the truth she already knew.  She said “Satan is doing all he can to stop me.”  It was amazing all of the things that Satan had put into her mind.  He has done all he can to stop this special family from being baptized. We asked Natalie if we could leave that night with a kneeling prayer. As Brandon, Josh, Natalie, our fellowship, Elder Berry, and I knelt, the spirit was just burning.  Natalie said the most hearfelt prayer that I have ever heard, that God would continue guiding and helping her and Josh towards baptism!! As we got back up she said “ I finally am excited!” And we sat and planned the whole baptism! It was amazing to enter her home and see her face as it was filled with sorrow and to watch the spirit change her demeanor to a bright smile.  I will never forget that night as long I live. The Holy Ghost is real, and the light of Christ is given to each of us to know the truth before we enter baptism! 
     On Thursday during our morning studies we got a text from Natalie saying, “I can't be baptized, I just can’t.”  I have never felt that kind of saddness before. We have developed a sincere love for this family, they feel like my own.  She said I need space to decide on my own!  So on Friday after the next set of meetings we felt impressed to stop by her house but there was no answer.  So we biked out to our tracting spot which was 25 minutes away.  As we got to the top of the hill and began to pray where we should go tracting we both looked at each other in the middle of the prayer “Natalie!!!”  We booked it back down the hill and across the valler to her apartment! Again there was no answer.  We walked next to the building and it was Elder Berry’s turn to pray and I said this is weird but pray that God will send her home. When we said "amen", Natalie pulled in.  She was so excited to see us and we just had such an amazing lesson. The night after the amazing lesson we had she had horrible nightmares about joining the church!  So we decided that we were going to start a fast with her!  She was so excited!  Much of the ward fasted with us.  As we were about to start the fast Josh, who will also be baptized walked in the room and asked what we were doing! We explained we were going to fast.  He asked if he could too!! It was amazing! As we fasted with her on Sunday we were in shock.  Every single person bore their testimony on one of her concerns!  My life was touched forever.  The faith of a young boy and his mom was built so deeply this Sunday as they saw the powers of heaven influence the members of the ward. The power in fasting is real.  The Lord knows each and everyone of us and as we are willing to sacrifice for an answer we are struggling with He will touch us! I know this church is true with all of my heart! I know that God lives and answers our prayers.  Every time.  
     Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women who have helped me in my life - especially my mom!  I love you all - Elder Aiken.