Tex/Don't Give Up

Today I think about an impressionable person that I met while serving in Hurricane, UT.

Now, for those of you who are not from Utah or have never heard of this town let me educate you on how to say this town name. If you ever head out that way, do so! It's a really nice town about 30 minutes outside of St. George. But remember, this the way the locals pronounce it "Hurricun" with a soft "A" at the end. Now, you'll be prepared if you ever decide to go there.

Anyway, Hurricane has a special place in my heart. Well, each of my areas do, but Hurricane is extremely special to me. My companions and I had tons of fun while we were there.

We got a referral for Carl Thompson, but most people called him "Tex" because he was from Texas. My companion and I went to go visit Tex and see if he was interested in learning more about the church. We met him and found out a couple of things. First of all, he had been going to church for almost 50 years on and off. Wow, and you're still not a member?! I was impressed. Second, he told us he had cancer. We expressed our sympathy for him and he told us his story about learning about the church but never feeling the need to join it. We stopped by a couple times again and extended the invitation to be baptized. I'll never forget what he said. "Many people have asked me to be baptized. Back then, I didn't really see the need for it. But with this new sickness I have, I care about my family. I think it's time to do it."

Wow, everyone! After 50 years of on and off going to church Tex decided it was time to join! Awesome!

Now I want to speak to RM's or missionaries still on missions who feel like they haven't had any success or people don't want to listen to them.

First of all, I know exactly how you feel. You may be a little confused because I served in a part of the world where it seems like everybody is already a member of the church. Shouldn't missionary work be easy? Doesn't everyone want to hear the Gospel? Definitely not. I wish it were that way. But we experience the same exact things that other people experience in their missions. Disappointment. 0 lesson days. Nothing works out the way you plan. There were times in my mission where I felt like I wasn't making a big impact on anybody. But I go back to my friend Tex, who ended up getting baptized. Think about how those missionaries felt that tried to visit him for the past 50 years. They probably felt like they weren't making a difference in his life. But you do. Just the way you act, how you look; people recognize the LDS missionaries. And it may take time and it may not happen in this life, but God promises us that all of His children will hear the Gospel.

So I say to all of you who worked and are working hard, don't give up! Remember, Heavenly Father does not let any effort go to waste.

Aiden Larsen Part 2

Eventually, we started preparing for Aiden's baptism. I knew that this had been in the making for a very long time. The Bishop was very heavily involved with us as well as the Primary President and other people who knew the Larsen family well.

Here's a picture from that happy day:

It makes me happy remembering how I was involved with  the process of getting Aiden baptized.

The next day was Sunday, and that was a Sunday I will never forget.

Usually, as missionaries whenever we have a baptism, there's a second part which we call the confirmation; which is where the person being baptized receives the gift of the Holy Ghost.

So we went to go pick up Aiden and his dad for church on that Sunday and we went to go see him. It had seemed that he had turned back into his normal bratty self. He refused to go to church with us. I was getting super frustrated with this kid being a brat again. He had made so much progress, why is he acting like this again? As I sat down, tired of trying to persuade him, I began to observe him. First of all, I noticed there was a physical darkness around him. He seemed to be darker than usual. Second, I noticed he was saying certain things like "I hate God!" or "I hate Jesus!" A voice in my head told me that wasn't him speaking

Now, I had heard about bad spirits before but I had never had an experience with any of them before. I felt helpless at first not knowing what to do. That same voice came into my head saying that I needed to do something. My companion and his dad had taken a break from persuading him and so, I said to them,"We need to say a prayer. I feel inspired to say a prayer." Aiden's dad agreed, and so did my companion. All three of us knelt down and I poured my heart out to my Heavenly Father. Aiden tried to talk over me throughout the whole prayer but I refused to listen to him. After I finished the prayer we stood up. It was slightly brighter in the room, but there was still a bad feeling in the room. Everybody sat down and my companion tried to talk to him. This time he didn't speak to us. By that, time I had texted the Bishop and our Ward Mission Leader to come over and help us out.

The Holy Ghost whispered in my head again, We need something else. A blessing.

I suggested to everyone about giving Aiden a blessing to get rid of this bad spirit and everybody agreed.

After the blessing, I was spiritually drained. I needed to sit down. The Bishop and Ward Mission Leader walked in. The room around Aiden was light again and the Spirit filled that home. He still wasn't speaking but I felt like we had done all that we could. Well, to make a long story short, Aiden came to church that day and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I have thought a lot about that experience. Satan was working really hard on this convert of ours trying to not have him receive that important gift. I gained a stronger testimony of the power of Satan and how we need to be extremely careful of his temptations. I also gained a deeper understanding of the importance of the Holy Ghost. As baptized members of the Church, we literally have a member of The Godhead with us as log as we remain worthy of it. He's out there to protect us from danger, inspire, guide, and help us throughout our lives. I want all of you baptized members of the Church to remember that. You have a member of the Godhead with you. Live worthy of it. I know of a surety that my convert Aiden Larsen is going to be a great missionary one day. He's going to bring many people to the knowledge of the Gospel.

Aiden Larsen Part 1

Moroni, Utah.

This place brings back so many memories: the dust that Sanpete County is famous for, the 4th of July Celebrations, wonderful happy people, the hot sun.

And, of course, the turkeys.

Here's a picture of a sign outside one of the turkey farms where my companion and I got to do service:

You can see part of what Sanpete County looks like.

If you ever lived in Utah and have ever gotten turkey, more likely than not it probably came from Sanpete. And it was probably processed in Moroni. Check the label next time you're in Utah.

Anyway, Moroni holds a special place in my heart. I was there during the summer of 2017. My companion had already been there for a little bit of time and had already had a ton of success. I came during a slightly dry period.

So, you can imagine that it was a little difficult for me. My last area had been fairly busy and so, coming to Moroni was a little disheartening for me.

Until I met Aiden Larsen.

He was an 11 year old boy in Moroni who my companion had been working with for a very long time. He wasn't baptized and had a hard time paying attention to us boring guys in white shirts and ties. I didn't really have a lot of faith in him. Nevertheless, we continued to visit him. One particular visit we had with him I was about to give in. He wasn't making any progress. Why should we spend time with somebody who could care less if we were with him? My companion asked him if he wanted to get baptized. He shot back, (he was kind of a brat sometimes), "Is my dad baptized?" What does that have to do with anything? I wondered. His dad happened to be in the room and answered "Yes." His dad told him about his experience being baptized and how good it made him feel. After hearing all of that, Aiden said, "I want to be baptized too!"

I was pleasantly surprised.

In my surprise, he also wanted to get baptized that very weekend. My companion and I both knew that that wasn't possible, so we set a new baptismal date for mid-August. Aiden agreed to it and we began to teach him for real.

The method we did our teaching was pretty interesting. I'm sure this wouldn't have worked for other missionaries or other investigators but it worked for us. We played Uno with Aiden while teaching him the Gospel.

For the rest of my mission and to this day, that was the most interesting way that I've taught somebody.

He began to remember what we taught him and he wanted us to come over more often. The parents were happy with the way he was acting and everything. He made incredible progress.

Next week, I'll continue my story with Aiden. Stay tuned!