Priesthood Power!

     Good morning I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I hear many complaints about the rains in Utah! I think the Lord is trying to show you all what rain is about. I am glad about that.     

     This week has been one of the most touching weeks of my life! The spirit of the Lord has been so strong and so present.  I know that God is at the helm of this work!  Laly, JJ and Lorenzo will be baptized this Saturday. I am so excited!  I love them with all of my heart! They are so excited for the baptism.  They truly see all of the blessings that have come into their lives and how it has changed them. On Wednesday we had a great lesson with her! That truly touched my life forever. As we talked about the Book of Mormon I felt really impressed that I should share my testimony of that book to her. As I bore my testimony, the spirit just flooded the room of the truthfulness of that book.  To all of us.  She began to cry as the spirit came in the room.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is truly what makes me happy on a down day.  I love that book with all of my heart!  

     The past month or so I have been trying to better understand what faith in Jesus Christ means.  I have always thought that Faith in Jesus Christ just meant to believe and know that he lives. This week as I was truly trying to better understand that and the Atonement, I was deeply touched by the spirit.  As we sat in a leadership training, President Larkin said “faith in Jesus Christ isn't merely that he lives, Faith in Jesus Christ is having faith that He died to heal us from our sins and sicknesses.”  That is the truth.  I have never understood that.  We have to have faith that when we make mistakes, as we all will, that God can and will forgive us!  If we will only but turn to him and ask for forgiveness.  I know that Jesus Christ died for all of us, if we will turn to him in faith!  As we do that, He can and will heal us. 

     One more thing that touched me this week, was the reality of the priesthood.  Our bold message to the world is that the priesthood of the Lord, the same authority that Christ gives his apostles in the New Testament, has been restored to the earth!  That through that power God leads and guides His church!  That authority must exist on the earth, without it everything would be in disarray. The past few weeks I have had many oppurtunities to give priesthood blessings.  I have been overwhelmed by the love of the Lord for each and everyone of us and the blessings he is willing to freely give us.  As we take time, to really think about our lives, really ponder and recognize the blessings of the Lord in our lives, it truly fills your soul.  At that moment we can come to recognize that God does live and his Son did die for us. They bless us daily, if we will just count our blessings.   

     I know without a doubt in my mind that this is Christ's church on the earth, the exact same church he came here to establish before He died. The priesthood authority of God is on the earth.  It has blessed my life deeply.  I love you all.  Have a blessed week!

Love, Elder Aiken.

Temple Day - No letter.

     Monday was Temple Day - no letter this week.  So I thought I'd add a recent letter from a member of his ward:

     "Just a note to let you know how much we are enjoying your son.  He is such a spark in our ward and we love to have him in our home.  He has given us a 12 week challenge and so he and his companion are coming by once a week and giving us different challenges.  We love it.  He bares such a strong testimony and is very enthusiastic, we are so blessed every time they come to our home.

My son was just called to Brazil, he reports to Brazil on June 8^th so he has been spending some time with your son on splits and teaching a women in the other ward.  I am so glad he is getting some good training from a missionary who is energetic, obedient, loving and a hard work.  I couldn’t ask for a better young man to be exposing my son to mission life.

Consider this one of those mommy paydays because you did a great job with your son and we are feeling very blessed by your hard work. Thank you!

We love him!!!!"

Carole Noel

Oh Baby! A Blessed Week in Issaquah!

     Another great week in the City of Issaquah!  I hope that all is well.  I have had a very touching and special week.  I have so much to say and I hope that I can express it all. 

One of my favorite families - the Noel's

      I have been so spiritually blessed this week.  My heart is full and my faith built.  On Wednesday we had a lesson with Laly and her two sons.  They are just the most amazing family, I love them with all of my heart.  As we sat with Laly and the boys watching the Restoration DVD, the spirit was so tender!  For all of you who haven't seen it, it’s a video portraying the events that lead up to having a modern day prophet on the earth.  As we watched this special message my heart was so full!  I just knew that they had all felt something special.  I turn to JJ and I asked him what he felt!  He said, “ I felt like the Holy Ghost was watching it with me!”  It was so special to here such a young boy be so touched by the spirit. That is the spirit of truth.  As we then talked about baptism I asked him how learning about baptism has touched him, he said, “ I want everyone to know about this!”  They are the cutest kids! Their baptism will be really special!  We are working with four people who have chosen a baptismal date! A very exciting and blessed week.  

     The following experience touched me and will bless me all my life!  Elder Berry and I go down to a nature trail every morning behind our apartment for our morning work out!  As we walked down the path I saw my mission.  The fence far down at the end of path was the end of my mission.  And each succeeding step I took was a day in my mission.  As I walked down the path I envisioned people walking down from the hills on both sides and joining me along my way.  When I reached the end of the path I was with this great family!  A family that had become as my own, people that had entered the waters of baptism.  As we walk along our missions we are blessed to find and teach people that become family.  They feel like home.  And by the end we all leave with a bigger family than when we arrived!  Such is the path of life.  Our lives will all come to an end and we have the blessing of bringing a “Gospel family” along with us.  It's our choice to follow the promptings of the spirit and share the gospel with others, and gain a bigger “family”.  

     On Sunday I was blessed with a really rare oppurtunity!  I was able to bless a baby!  I didn’t think I would be doing that for a few years! A lady in the ward just had a baby a month back and her husband left while she was pregnant!  Shalmay asked me a few weeks ago if I could bless the baby!  It was amazing.  As Elder Berry, the bishop, and I held the baby in our arms in sacrament meeting my heart was filled with joy.  To stare into the eyes of this beautiful baby that is blessed to experience this great life.  The power of the Priesthood is real!  I loved that day and will treasure it forever!  I love you all!  This has been a great week.  All is well in Washington!  Love, Elder Aiken.

This from former awesome companion, Elder Workman:

"Transfers took a lot of lazy missionaries out.  We have 2 brand new District Leaders who are just excited as ever to be in leadership and willing to magnify their callings.  There are going to be some amazing things happening this transfer.  And we still have Elder Aiken who is dabomb.com.  That is where all the magic is happening!"