Great Lessons Learned!

     This week was a week that I will never forget as long as I live.  I have so many experiences that I want to share, so many things that will shape me for the rest of my life.  I will do my best to share them with you and I hope that the spirit will guide me in how best to share them.

     Two weeks ago we got a referral from the Zone Leaders in Bellevue.  A man named “Mr. Loud” found a pass-a-long card on the side of the road.  He called the number and got ahold of the missionaries in Bellevue and said that the card really intrigued him and he wanted to join our church.  They passed the referral on to us and then we passed it on to the Elders in Hylebos.  For the past week they have been stopping by the address that Mr. Loud said he lived at but they were never able to find him at home.  Day after day they weren't able to find him at home. 

     Rewind to last week when the Hylebos Elders felt prompted to knock on a man's door.  A man answered the door named Sunny and he had just been evicted that morning and was down on life and needed help.  They had an amazing lesson with him and Sunny came to church the following day and loved it.  That whole week they had no clue where he moved!  "Mr. Loud" was gone with no way to get ahold of him.  So on Friday I went over there for exchanges!  We felt prompted to go knock on "Mr. Loud's" door one more time!  We knocked on the door and Sunny opened!!  So I said “are you Mr. Loud??”  He said no I am Sunny!  I had no clue who he was but the Elders were so excited!  Elder Hilton said “What are you doing here!?”  He said I just moved in today!  We walked in and had a very moving lesson!  He said “I am so happy you found me!  I love your church, its my home!!”  We taught Sunny about our message and he began to tear up and said that he wanted to be baptized!!  He then said that his family of seven will join him in that!  It was amazing. S imply amazing.  God, by the miracles of Heaven, placed Sunny in our path through a referral that we still have never been able to find.  God knows us!  He knows Sunnny and wants his family to be blessed by the joy of his church!  A Mighty Miracle.

Sassy misses Brock!

     Earlier in the week while Elder Bunton and I were having a training session with the District Leaders, our companion Elder Livingston went knocking doors around the church with Elder Oh.  He and Elder Oh met a man named Stan who came up to them and wanted to learn more!  They could only talk for a minute so they told Stan they would come back.  For the following three days we went back to Stan's, everyday we knocked, there was no answer!  The Third day we knocked.  Then knocked again.  There was no reply.  We had a feeling that we should wait for a minute.  Finally Stan answered the door.  For three minutes he stared at us, looking each of us in the eye.  He said “for three days you have come and knocked on my door. Why? Why do you keep coming here? Why do you keep on coming back!  I havent answered once.”  I looked him in the eye and said “because we know this message is the key to happiness and it can bless your life.”  He fell to his knees and wept.  I went down on the cement and sat by him and put my arm on his shoulder.  I asked him what was wrong.  He wept for what seemed like an hour.  He looked up at us and said “My wife just left me.  I have lost my job.  My mom is dying of pancreatic cancer, and my Dad was just diagnosed with skin cancer.  My children are gone.  I am broken.  I have nothing.”  He again began to cry.  In all my life I have never met a man with such sorrow.  He had lost all hope at that point.  My heart ached for him!  I just wanted to pick him up and fix his life!  We sat for some time talking to him.  Read scriptures and talked with him about Christ.  He said “What time is church?”  We told him when it was and he said can I come??  Haha, we said of course! He said “ You guys are saving my life.  You have saved me.  Thanks for coming back and not giving up on me!”  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to happiness.  In the depths of sadness, Christ can heal us and save us from our woes.  I know that Stan will be happy again!  The ward is so excited to help him!  We have a big service project lined up to clean his yard and house.  As he walked us to the car that night he kept asking if we were real!  It was sad to see a man that for so long hadn't felt loved and like he was worth anything.  Through the atonement of Christ Stan is beginning to feel loved.  It was heart breaking to see a man who felt that he had lost it all.  I am so blessed to have met this man!  He has taught me so much already.  Through him I have again gained the assurance…that God knows us!  He lives and loves us!

     The final experience happened yesterday!  This too touched my life forever!  It was the last day of the month and we hadn't baptized anyone!  We had been praying with all our souls that God would lead us to someone who had already been prepared to be baptized!  It was the last day of the month and still we had found no one.  For a moment my faith was shaken.  As we left church to go visit a potential, I took a wrong turn.  I know that’s weird, I would never do something like that, right?!  So we decided to just continue down the road and go to another person that was previously interested.  As we walked down the street we saw Robin!!  Robin has been coming to church with us for a few weeks and has gone to church for a while down in Auburn!  The past few weeks we haven't seen her!  She had previously told us that she was already a member!  So we asked her again, are you sure you were baptized?  She said "well when I was sixteen I was going to be baptized but I got too scared!”  So we said, “There is a baptism in thirty minutes would you like to come?” She said, "yes I would love to"!!  She ran inside and grabbed a change of clothes and we waited for her ride to get there to follow us to the church!  She said “for the past few weeks I have been going to different churches to find out which church is right!  This is my home.  This is my church!”  The baptism was amazing!  She was so happy and so overjoyed!

     This past week has been truly amazing!  I have learned and realized so many things.  I know that God is at the helm of this work!  Nothing we do can bring miracles to pass as we are humble and realize our own nothingness and rely on His hand, He places miracles in our lives.  As such is the path of life!  We are here to prepare to meet God.  While on this journey we will face times of heartache and trial!  But as we rely on the Lord and turn to him, He will never lead us astray!  I love you all.  Thanks for all of your love and support!  I humbly declare that this is Christ's church once again restored again to the earth, in all of its Glory! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Aiken