March 7, 2011

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe it is Monday again and here I am writing about what has happened this week.

The work seems to be picking up since this week we were able to set 2 baptism dates and tonight we're going to set another. The first was an awesome experience for a guy that is going to be leaving for England to serve a mission next month. We challenged him to memorize the baptism invitation and told him that for this lesson we were going to be inviting Brother House to be baptized and when he felt the Spirit tell him to extend the invitation to go ahead and do it. Austin was way nervous but he did invite when he was directed and invited Brother House to be baptized. Brother House accepted and will be baptized on the 26th. I think this experience did more for Austin than any mission prep class or study of baptism. It's neat to see the lives of even active members change as they are involved with the Spirit and act on His promptings in regards to missionary work.

Do you remember Travis Stevens? He's the one who had the tragic experience of his 13 year old son passing away. Because of this experience his life became chaos and he wasn't baptized on his first scheduled day in January. We finally met with him after several weeks last night. In the lesson I felt impressed to ask him if the Book of Mormon is true and to my surprise he said that he knew it was. I then went to the introduction and pointed out that if he knew the Book of Mormon is true then he would also know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. I believe this expanded his understanding and his testimony because then that led right to him setting another date to be baptized for April 2nd. He told us that his only concern at his point is that he isn't quite sure of what all the commandments are that he commits to live when he is baptized. That is an easy concern to overcome in the amount of time we have to teach him. I'm so happy for him and his decision to become a member of the Lord's kingdom. I learned that although we weren't meeting with him for several weeks the Spirit was still working on him and still teaching him truth. Our Heavenly Father never lets us alone. He really loves us and will continue to do His part.

All is well here in Idaho Falls. We might be moving houses again this week due to some location and contract issues so please send letters to the mission office first then next week I'll send out my new address. Thanks for all the prayers and support. The Church is true and the standard of truth has been erected!

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Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker