Coolest Day at Church Ever

Yesterday was the coolest day at church ever. I hope I can explain it well...

Story:

About 2 weeks ago the Spanish Elders in the area tracked into Matt Lindberg. He is 20 years old and white so they didn't worry about teaching him. They did tell him that the Young Single Adults meet at the church on Tuedsay nights (it was tuesday) at the church to play volleyball. They told him it was at 7:00 and didn't really expect him to show up. He did though. But the Young Single Adults don't show up until 8 so when he got there the stake offices happened to be opened and he talked to some people there. They quickly called the us and let us know he was there. We were in a lesson but the Spanish missionaries were able to make it there while he waited for volleyball to start. We went by after our lesson but volleyball had already started and we didn't recognize anyone new. We thought that it was cool that someone showed up like that out of the blue. We were just planning on showing up to his house in a few days. But then he came to church the next Sunday too. And FHE on monday. It was pretty cool. We met with him on Thursday and he accepted a baptismal date of May 25th. We're working towards that now. He just moved from Georgia about a month ago and we were really the first group of friends that he was able to find. It worked out perfectly.

So yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and there are a lot of people that have come back from school for the summer so attendance has increased in the YSA branch. David Snell went up and bore his testimony about family and his purpose in life. He had talked about why he believes he has been blessed with the wonderful family that he has and so on. It was a good testimony. Then Matt stands up to bear his testimony ha ha. We were kinda nervous. You don't usually see and investigator stand up to bear his testimony. But he got up there and started by saying "for those of you who don't know me, I'm Matt Lindberg and I've only been a member of this church for 2 weeks now." he hasn't even been baptized yet! He also talked about how David's testimony helped him to know what his purpose was in life and why he grew up in a dysfunctional family. He did a little bit of testifying and closed by saying "I've only been here for a few weeks but I don't plan on leaving any time soon. I say this in Jesus' name. Amen." It was such a sweet testimony.

Also, There was a family baptized last week in Umatilla ward. One of the family is Matt Epperson. When he heard that the YSA existed he wanted to come. So he has been a member for a week and he decided to get up and bear his testimony too! And it was in a completely new place too! He hadn't ever been to the YSA branch. But he gave a wonderful testimony. I wish you could have been there... It was amazing.

Best Sacrament meeting ever.

After church we were setting a return appointment with Matt and he said "we cant do friday because we're all going up to the temple to do baptisms for the dead". So we had to explain that you have to be baptized for yourself before you can be baptized for other people ha ha. We promised he could go next month though if everything works out right. He jumped right in to everything. Super cool guy. He sounds like a Georgia Hick. He reminds me of Frances Woods in Cathlamet for that reason :). Do any of you remember me talking about Frances Woods? Granny Franny? That was a long time ago... Man.

So. For many many years now there has been a monthly meeting in most missions called ZLC. But for the first time ever this week there was no longer ZLC but MLC. ZLC was Zone Leader Council. But now it's Missionary Leadership Council because sisters were invited to attend. They will be calling sister leadership in all missions pretty soon. It's crazy to see all the changes! So many sisters! I heard (From Grandma Cable) that a few weeks ago, for the first time ever there were more sisters entering the MTC than Elders. That's something else. Exciting times to be a member of the church. MLC was good. As usual. I love that meeting. And of course, MLC is exactly the same as ZLC just with sisters there. So I'm still happy. Here's a picture!

In other news. We took Deanna Badgely on a church tour. It was really good for her. Really good. She plans on coming next week. She had other obligations this week but will make it next week. Her big hold up in the priesthood and she doesn't understand why she needs to be baptized again. We're confident that that will work itself out as she attends church and she has committed to coming on mother's day. Perfect! We brought Sister Drinkwater with us for the church tour and we brought the Relief Society President, Sister Hartsteen for one of our lessons. So she has some friends. It's really good. We're excited.

Jeremy came to church (Teonna Raymond's brother). We weren't able to meet with Joe down in Heppner this week... He cancelled. Cameron Meade came to church like usual. Mary Lum went to stake conference in Walla Walla... so she kinda went to church. Chuck Hall came to church! That was a good one. Chuck will get baptized soon. He's the one getting married to Aunt Lillie's Niece, Sister Pearson. Just has been smoking for a long long time now but has almost quit and when he does he will be baptized. Things are so good right now.

We had lots of meetings last week. It went Monday- p-day, Tuesday-district meeting, Wednesday-another district meeting, Thursday- MLC, Friday- DLC, Saturday- Zone Meeting, Sunday- Church. Lots of meetings last week. This week will be less busy as far as meetings go. So hopefully we can teach more! I'll probably be transferred in a few weeks to my last area so I'm trying to finish strong in Hermiston. I hate transfer time. I always miss the people so bad... Only two more of these. Sad.

I love you all. Can't wait to talk to some of you on Sunday :)

Elder Paxman