I am sorry that I wasn’t able to email last week! We were in meetings here in Bellevue all day and didn’t have time to email before we headed out teaching! My heart is burning, my testimony yearns to be spoken! I truly wish that I could run from person to person, and share this glad message! The miracles that I have seen this week have humbled me forever. I feel as though God has been walking side by side with us.
This week has been another crazy week! I slept in my own apartment twice this past week, and have just been across town the entire mission. It’s been truly exhausting, but I have felt the hand of the Lord give me strength when I have been weak! I just wish to shout to the world the goodness of God! For I bear witness that I know that He lives! He is a God of miracles who truly knows us all perfectly! His only wish is for each of us to enter into His presence again one day! He yearns as the Father of our spirits to embrace us once again! Oh the goodness of God! I love Him with all of my soul!
On Tuesday, I was on an exchange with the Bellevue Zone leaders, and I spent the day with Elder Kasenberg. We began running through the streets of downtown Bellevue among the high-rise buildings. The first thirty minutes seemed to be of no avail. So we decided to stop and pray. We plead with God that He would lead us to one of His children. As soon as we ended the prayer, I looked around the corner to see a woman sitting at the bottom of a huge set of stairs. The spirit burned within my soul and I knew that she was the one that we needed to talk with. Jenell sheepishly looked up as I introduced myself. It seemed as if she had no self-confidence at all. I told her that we had just prayed at that God told us to come and speak with her, and tears immediately began to fill her eyes. We began with a hymn and a prayer. I then looked at her and asked, "Jenell, why has God sent us here today?" With tears in her eyes she told part of her life story that led to her being in Bellevue. She grew up in Montana with no mother and her father was in prison. She grew up hopeless with no one fending for her future. For years she never felt accepted and she seemed to have lost all hope. She then decided one day to hitchhike to Seattle to come live with a close friend that had recently moved out here! That friend soon become caught up in drugs and prostitution and was taken to jail. This day when we found her she sat broken hearted. She had come that day for a job interview but couldn’t find the building. She had just moved from a small town to a huge city. She sat wondering what she should do with her life. I will never forget as I sat next to her and sung a hymn, the spirit that filled my soul! How I just wanted to take this broken hearted woman, and help her find her way in this troubled world! I soon realized that God wanted to do that. And that was why He sent us. She needed freedom from the feelings of guilt, shame, and pain! She cried as we talked of the Atonement and the ability she had to be free from that pain! Oh what joy feels my heart as I recall the smile that we left her with! She was happy as one could be, she somehow knew for once that all would be alright! She is on date for baptism next month, and will be taught by the Elders in Seattle!
The next day, I went on an exchange with the Zone leaders in Bellevue South. Back to my old wards Issaquah 1st and Tiger Mountain! What a blessing it was to return to such a great place. I plead all that day that God would lead us to a miracle. The past month has changed my life forever. I have simply gained an unshakeable faith in God and in my Savior Jesus Christ! I am not here for me. Not here for my pleasures or good times. I am here for my God! Here to rescue His children and bring them home unto Him! I marvel and stand in awe daily at the blessings that have been afforded me in this life! I am blessed beyond measure. I will give Him my all for He has truly given me all that I could ever ask for. It's easy as missionaries to become caught up in ourselves. In times of miracles it becomes easy to rely more on yourself than on God. I have learned that each moment we begin to rely on ourselves, we fail! We will never succeed. For we will become caught up in pride and self-destruct! God won’t allow that to happen, so He must withhold the blessings! I have come to learn that if we will just rely on Christ we can be taught and lead in all things! I know that GOD LIVES‼ I will rely on Him for all of my life. I am so inadequate in many ways. In those moments I just simply put my hands in the Lord's. He never ceases to guide us!
As I entered the Zone that day, my heart was heavy! I wanted this missionary to have experiences that would mold and shape the rest of his life. I just knew that I alone couldn’t do it. The Zone was beginning to struggle, and the Elders were struggling finding new people to teach. As we drove from Bellevue I plead with God that He would lead us and grant unto us success in finding His children. I humbly testify that God lead us in every step. A light entered our souls that seemed to beam miles in the sky. As Elder Gilbert and I got together, we began our night headed to a street to tract. As we drove down the street, the face of a man named Zach we had taught last year came in my mind, followed by the face of a woman we were teaching as I left the area a few months back! I wondered where on earth we would find Zach! I had no clue where he would be, knowing that he had moved. I followed that prompting to go see the woman that came to my mind! Sure enough, as we knocked on her door Zach answered! I was humbled beyond measure. We had a powerful lesson with them. They have many changes to make in their lives, but I know that God is mindful of them and preparing a way for them to change and become new.
Later that night as we drove to an apartment complex we parked on very south side of the complex. As we prayed before we left the car, another prompting came into my soul! To go see an excommunicated member we had met once, clear on the north end of the complex. I thought it odd, but knew that as we followed, God would provide! As we ran across the complex we saw a man sitting against his car! His name is Juan! He had just moved to the area, and was looking for a home church! We had such a powerful lesson with him and he is now preparing for baptism next month. I felt so weak that day, and wondered how we could do all that God needed us to do their in one day. The Lord is merciful and mindful of us all. He leads and guides this work.
There's one final experience I wish to share from our night there in Issaquah. They just happened to have scheduled a meeting with Bishop Brown of the Issaquah 1st Ward that night. The meeting was the most spiritual and tender meeting I have ever experienced. As I sat across from Bishop Brown, he excitedly began to talk about our converts and how they were doing. Tears filled my eyes as he shared the miracles in their lives! Nearly every single convert and their familes are fully active! Jordan, who we baptized a few months back, is engaged to a girl he met in the Young Single Adults Ward! They are preparing to be married in the temple! Laly was able to find a great man to marry who will be a wonderful father to her two boys! She was married in the Bishop's home last month and they just had a beautiful ceremony! He just kept talking about each one and their growth in the gospel. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL! FOR IT IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE! I testify with every fiber of my soul that I know its true! As we ended in prayer tears filled the room. I will never forget looking at Bishop Brown with tears in our eyes, pondering the miracles we saw as a ward last year! What a tender mercy of the Lord! Ray Kent will also be preparing to go through the temple this next month.
Two days later we were back in our own area. That night we felt prompted to go to Kent to find a Marshallese family that had been taught before. We weren’t able to find them. As we left the parking lot a truck drove past us that looked just like a family that I taught back in Federal Way! I had the strongest impression upon my heart to follow the car. As we did, the next light they pulled into a gas station! As we parked I ran up to the window (praying that it was actually them), and knocked on the window! Joanne rolled down the window! The whole family was in the car. She had just come to Kent to drop her son off at a bus stop. As she looked at me she immediately began to cry. She said, “Elder Aiken, I just found out that my husband has been cheating on me with another woman.” She began to weap. Humbled and in awe, we testified that our Lord and Savior knew her perfectly! That in her moments of greatest need God had sent us to comfort her through His glad message! I will never soon forget the sweet spirit that was there as we sang together and ended in prayer. Joanne said she will continue to prepare for her baptism at the end of this month despite the opposition! What a blessing to see God in His majesty, seek to bless His children in their time of need. As Elisha the Prophet of old, during a fearful time against their powerful enemies, assured his servant, "And he answered, Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." (2 Kings 6:16) Elisha then asked the Lord that his servant could see the forces that were with them. "And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6:17) I testify that this is true! The very angels of heaven guide us and comfort us! God is with us! His forces are stronger than any force that may be against us.
I wish to end with three amazing miracles that happened this weekend. At the beginning of the week we had no one on date for baptism for that weekend, but we felt that God had prepared people, we just needed to find them. On Thursday night we went on an exchange with the Seattle Zone Leaders. Elder Brown went to Seattle, and I stayed here in the Olympic Branch with Elder Moala. I was really worried. I needed to get permission from two mothers for their children to be baptized. With all of the exchanges I had only spent a few days in our area, and with the masses of Marshallese scattered across the city I truly had no clue how to get from place to place. That night we spent much night in humble prayer pleading that God would grant unto us a portion of His spirit to lead us to those whom He had prepared and wanted to be baptized that weekend. As we knelt in prayer a name came to mind of a girl named Beauty. The Elders had tried many times to get permission from her mom with no luck. The next morning we pulled in front of her house, and we just humbly plead that God would guide our words. I can hardly remember the words that were uttered, but she simply looked at us and said, “Yes that would be great for her to be baptized!” As she signed the baptismal record and we walked down the stairs I will never forget that feeling! It was as if God had uttered the words that she needed to hear that day. Next we went to find Hope's mother. For months the Elders had tried to find her, and everytime they talked to her she would say, “no, she is not ready yet!” After much prayer and the guidance of the spirit we found her house! She literally opened the door right up. Again it was as if the spirit was beaming from our souls. “Susan, we are the Elders! We have been amazed by your daughters desire to draw nearer to Christ! Her friend Racey is being baptized tomorrow and….” She then interrupts us, “I know and I would like her to be baptized with her!” Nothing shy of the hand of God could have performed that miracle! We were also able to get permission from Racey's family who has been inactive for sometime! Elder Moala and I looked at each other and simply smiled as we drove away. The Spirit burned in our hearts, for God was with us and His power was performing mighty miracles.
Hope, Racey, and Beauty were all baptized together yesterday! All of their families came to the service. These three girls are just amazing. They have been coming to church for sometime now, and have begged to be a part of this great gospel! At the beginning of this month we felt an impression of the spirit that God would have us baptize ten of his children in August. I testify that God truly does prepare His children to return unto him.
My dear brothers and sisters, I love you all. I urge you all from the depths of my soul to cleave unto Christ! Although the way may be tough at times, God is with us! Truly those that are with us are greater than those that be against us. As we rely on God in our lives, we will be lead through every valley, and every hill.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
