"This gospel changes lives. Not the least of which is my own. I'm ever-grateful for the Atonement and I'm so happy to be a part of this work!"

Dear Family and Friends,
    This week was insane! I was doing baptism interviews all week. Overall I did 10. I love doing interviews, though.  It's really sweet to hear people's testimonies. I went on splits with another companionship in my apartment on Thursday to do 5 of theirs for the upcoming Saturday. Meanwhile, E. Cowan got sick that day. Then on Friday I had to take a 1 1/2 hour tro ride to do an interview in Asikuma, since E. Cowan wasn't well to travel, I split and took E. Jensen while E. Ike and E. Cowan cleaned the baptism font all day.
    So we linked up with the Odoben guys, and while we waited for another tro, it started raining like mad. Not cats and dogs, mind you, it was raining goats and pigs! So we ducked into a little chop bar and waited. A car came and I called out to the mate that we had four and he said to come. There were already like 20 people mashed in the tro, haha. E. Jensen and Lee are bigger guys and E. Collins is like a telephone pole. So we all piled in and bounced along through the jungle in a monsoon. It was quite memorable.
    We arrived and I started the interview. The baptismal candidate was powerful; I had met her before on splits. E. Lee made me aware that she had a problem, though now she is 54, in her youth she had some [serious transgressions]. The missionaries explained to her that it may be an obstacle for her baptism. I was told to call President Shulz when it came up. When we started the interview, I could see she was pretty nervous and tense. She knew the question was coming. Before I even asked her the direct question, she came out with it when we were discussing repentance. She had a pretty guilty conscience, but I suppose it's because she understood the severity of her sin in God's eyes.
    I called President and he asked her some questions through me, and he said it was ok to go ahead with baptism, as the incidents had happened over 30 years ago in ignorance. When I relayed that to her, I could see the burden being lifted away from her--- there was a physical difference. She seemed brighter. As we finished, she was ecstatic, she said, "I can't wait to be baptised so I can be an angel". On Sunday, after her confirmation, she was called as the Relief Society President.
    That interview has had a big impact on me. It was something so amazing to see this woman embrace the gospel and watch the Atonement of Jesus Christ take action in her life (Heb 11:1/Alma 32:21) We all make mistakes. An individual without a past is like a tree without roots. Being out here, teaching and learning the gospel has shown me how many roots I have of my own. But I guess that's why the gospel is there; it's about progression. In His own due time, the Lord prunes us like olive trees in his vineyard, (Jacob 5) and step by step, we move toward perfection, (2 Pet 1:3-8) until eventually we become joint-heirs with Christ. (Rom 8:15-17/Rev 3:21)
    This gospel changes lives. Not the least of which is my own. I'm ever-grateful for the Atonement and I'm so happy to be a part of this work!
    Oh yeah, we also went to visit the village where about 100 people came to church. We just sat down and had an informal chat with 5 people, then people just kept joining until there were almost 40, haha. We're going there next Saturday with the Ivie's to show them the Restoration film. Most people were kind of disinterested, but 7 or 8 were really picking things up, which is about what I expected, so we'll see how that goes. The only problem I see in the future, is the distance. The village is really BUSH, pretty far out of the way.
    Hey, it's my 13 month mark today! I just noticed.
Love, Elder Doggett

Zone activity at the Ivies

P.S.  Dad, we don't have any American sisters here, and I don't think we ever will. No American girl I know could handle the living conditions here, haha. And it's not necessarily safe.  Zeke's hair is getting long and he totally looks like Link from the Legend of Zelda games. He should be Link for Halloween!!

 

Elder LeLea, Elder Doggett