Week 20 - The End of an Era

Hello All!

    Well, it seems my time here in Raymond, Alberta has come to an end.  I just received an email from the

Assistants that I will be transferred somewhere in the southern part of the mission, which could be anywhere from British Columbia to Lethbridge to Medicine Hat (or they could even stick three of us together in Raymond. I guess it's happened before.) but we'll see tomorrow!  This does mean that it's very likely that myself and my trainee will "whitewash/purge" into an area, which means there will be no overlap of missionaries, so that'll be fun! haha, I'm actually quite nervous, but also very excited!  I know that this will be a time of some serious growth and learning, and I also know that "whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." (President Monson)  How comforting is that!

    Anyway, the work of salvation is going wonderfully!  The members in Raymond are really starting to get involved in and excited about missionary work, and it's wonderful!  We're doing splits most nights of the week with all five of our wards, and the fifth Sunday program for the stake will be entirely centered on missionary work in the family.  Good things are coming!

   

We lost an investigator this week....because he was baptized!  Ryan's baptism was this past Friday, and was awesome.  He's a crazy kid, but he has such a sweet spirit, and the baptism went without a hitch.  The talks were really appropriate for Ryan, and the sister missionaries even had an investigator there, who I think really had a great experience.

    Our other investigators are doing well, though I didn't really get to see them this week.  Elder Lauzon did have a lesson with Caelin and Sam while we were on splits one evening, and Caelin actually wanted to say the closing prayer! (Something that's pretty rare for her.)  I wish I had more to report on all of them, but I have high hopes for them, and I'll be keeping my eye on them for a long time yet.  We also started teaching another investigator on Saturday, Bryan, who's married to a less-active member, but really doesn't know much at all about the church.  He was pretty receptive, though, and I hope we can help him gain a desire to learn more and apply the things we teach.

    This week we also had the opportunity as a mission to hear from Elder Schwitzer of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.  It was a really cool opportunity and I learned a lot from him, especially about repentance.  I don't have my notes from it with me, but I remember especially the importance of helping those we teach repent themselves, and really understand what it means.  (We also have to learn ourselves more about what repentance means.)  Overall, I think I really just need to look at repentance more as the positive change that it really is, instead of something to be dreaded.  Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Father in Heaven has given us the opportunity to become completely different people!  Instead of being stuck as the mortal, sinful, very imperfect humans we are, we can become so much more!  We can realize that we are children of the most powerful and wonderful being in the Universe, and he's given us a way to become like Him.  We just need to try our best.

    I love you all so much!  Have a fantastic week!  Be good, have fun, and remember who you are!

Love,

Elder Hafen