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| Elder Ward and Elder Taylor last night at the mission devotional. |
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| It was hard to say goodbye to the Skyway Van, Mohanna, for the last time. |
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A 3d printed model of the Seattle Temple (in Bellevue) given to me by Brother Lyman. |
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| If anyone ever asks me how my mission was.... |
Howdy and Hello friends and family! I write to you all now from Enumclaw Washington.
I love this place along with all of the other places I have served. That is the great miracle of a mission. When you truly give your heart, you get more back than you gave. I feel so much love for my companions, Mission Presidents, people, investigators, the area, and much more. I was blessed with the tender mercy this morning of seeing Brother Gustin whose family fellow-shipped and brought in Tatiana and Andrei over a year ago into the gospel. We were playing basketball in the Enumclaw Stake Center and he walked in because he was doing some maintenance stuff on it. I was grateful to hear that both Tatiana and Andrea are still firm in the faith and progressing. The experience of helping the come unto the gospel has been one of the great blessings of my mission.
Its tough to hear and think about all of this "going home stuff" with still a week left to give my heart. I desire to say as Paul did that "I have fought a good fight" and that "I have finished my course." (2 Tim 4:6-7). I could have chosen to be bummed about spending a 3rd Thanksgiving on my mission, but I cant think of a better way to thank the Lord for all that He has done for me. This week will be amazing and I am excited for the miracles and experiences that will follow.
Yesterday at church was filled with many tender mercies!
-Brother and Sister Lyman came to church together. Since last time he has been filled with a great desire to come back for good and he wants to be done with smoking by January 1st. We visited him and followed up on his Book of Mormon reading and he shared that he is already started Alma! He has had some trouble reading because of the small print and so we showed him the gospel library app on his tablet. He wasnt aware of it and he seemed just as happy as a kid in a candy store when we showed him all of the features of the app. We didnt get much teaching done in the visit, but we feel helping him have better access to the Book of Mormon along with his wife will help them both come closer to Christ. The Book of Mormon is the tool given by the Lord to us to convert people to Christ. It is literal evidence of the Prophet Joseph Smith divine calling. They both came to church and said we could come by this week. At the end of the lesson he gave us both a 3D printed Seattle Temple. Its amazing!
-Sister Martelle came to church! We did not have a lesson during the week due to a annual windstorm that was happening, but she did come to church. She enjoyed it a lot! to the point where when we asked her how she liked it, she told us "I am going to come next week." She also wants to help the Relief Society and the ward in the upcoming parties. We are meeting with them this week and expect great miracles and progress.
-Kaitlyn is one of the granddaughters of the Feery's in the ward. We had a lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation during the week. She really understood it well and liked it! She is making great progress too in accepting the gospel. She lives in Covington so she wont be able to be baptized here, but she is progressing to where we can connect her with the ward there. She came to church with her Grandma and she enjoyed it.
We had a lot of good experiences with having these investigators and less-actives at church this week!
Elder Gay of the 70 came and visited the mission and he shared a great statistic. Every .24 investigators (about 25%) who attend church end up getting baptized in the North West region. The reasons include powerful experiences at church and great friendship. In some parts of the U.S.A. though its .5 (50%) of investigators who attend sacrament meeting get baptized. The experiences that non-members and less-actives can have at church greatly affect their likelihood of feeling Gods love for them at church. We can all help them have better experiences by going up and introducing ourselves to those we don't recognize, sitting with them, and offer a friendly hand. Help all of Gods children feel welcome and loved here in Christs church.
I love the mission. I love the experience and I cant ever thank all of those who helped me financially stay out here enough. Thank you so very much for your sacrifices because it has changed my life and eternity! A question people can filter their choices through is "Will it matter in 1000 years?" What you have done has definitely done that and more. This experience will forever ground me in Christs foundation and the gospel throughout the rest of my life.
Thanks for all of your prayers and other sacrifices on my behalf. God is aware of them and I have felt them. I love you all. If there is 1 thing that the mission as taught me (among many other lessons) it is that I love my family and friends so much! I pray that the words and invitations I have given you throughout these 2 years have helped you come unto Christ. I testify of Christs love and power to make us at one with the Father. Because of that Atonement, we can overcome literally any mistake and missed mark in our past. I have felt His love and change and I know that you will to when you accept it into your life. No one can drag you to heaven, but you sure will have a lot of people inviting you there because they love you. I invite you to come closer to Christ and start now! Don't procrastinate because as soon as you make steps towards Him, you will feel that support. "Come unto Christ and find in Him Eternal Life." I know the Book of Mormon to be Gods word. I have read it several times, but that doesn't qualify me to bear testimony of its truthfulness. I know it because I received a sure witness from the Holy Ghost that it is Gods word. Anyone and everyone will receive a witness that it is true when they follow the formula given in the book (Moroni 10:3-5). Joseph Smith is the instrument God used to restore Christs perfect and pure gospel. He is a prophet and a testimony of his instrumentality in Gods hands will come when you receive your witness of The Book of Mormon. Read the Book of Mormon and pray daily. Come and participate in church weekly. From my experience on my mission, no single person who is faithfully doing these things will ever loose their testimony and be overcome by doubts. If you are struggling, start to do those things faithfully and you will recognize the difference in your life soon. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love,
Elder Sumsion
"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost."
-Elder Kevin W. Pearson "Stay by the Tree"
For friends at home 'round where I live feel free to come visit and chat. From about 8-9:30pm on Monday the 28th I will be available (and of course the days following as well). It will be at my home in Provo. If you need the address email jennsumsion@hotmail.com for it.
