I went downstairs to visit with Courtney on Sunday afternoon and I mentioned to her that I had received an email from Sister Hendershot from Utah. Elder Winters is living at their home. I mentioned about a wonderful picture of Elder Brannock and Elder Winters and a beautiful letter that helped me know their family better. Courtney looked over at me and said, "You miss him a lot don't you mom?" My heart skipped a beat and time stood still for a minute. It seems like a long time since he left and I do really miss his ray of sunshine each day. Would I trade where he is to have him here with me.....NO WAY. This is what all mothers want for their sons. How could I ever teach him to rely on the Spirit the way that he is learning now? Could I teach him to love people the way he is learning now? NO! Could I teach him to care for his companion the way he is now? NO! Could I teach him life lessons that he is learning now? NO! He is being trained by his Heavenly Father for this season of time and I am perfectly ok with that. Doesn't mean I don't really miss him though.

This weeks letter is full of exciting, joyful, wonderful experiences. It is so cool to have Elder Winters look so forward to a baptism. I can't wait for him to witness the sealing of this family. There is no better experience in this life than to see children all in white kneeling with their parents around an alter in a beautiful temple for this sacred sealing. This will be seared into his memory as one of his most amazing experiences.


08-23-10

Hey there,

So another week in alpine has come and gone and things are just awesome here still. Elder Brannock and I are still keeping ourselves very busy and the time is flying because of it. I'll jump right in to some of the cool things that happened to us this week. So in our lessons with Reggie this week we set an official baptism for him and it is this upcoming Saturday on the 28th! We are so excited for him. I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before but He comes from a family full of adopted kids from all over the world and he is their last one to be baptized. And so this last week in our lesson his parents also let us know that they had set up a date after the baptism for the last two kids (Reggie and his birth sister who they also adopted but is already baptized) to get sealed to them in the Timpanogos Temple, and they invited Elder Brannock and I to go! We are so excited! I think it is going to be one of the highlights of my entire mission. We are going sometime in mid September but yeah, it is just going to be so cool to watch this family become complete and to know that we helped in a small way.

This little family is in my prayers a lot. Oh how I hope they will continue on in changing their lives. Such joy awaits them.
As for Ashley we had another great lesson with her and her husband last night. Sundays are getting to be my favorite day in this area because we just have the best lessons with some of my favorite investigators. Anyways we taught about the law of chastity and modesty and stuff like that and the spirit was just so strong as usual. She has been doing awesome with giving up drinking, but Jason, her husband still (he is only less active) struggles with chewing tobacco. But in the close of our lesson last night we were talking about a date for Ashley to be baptized and Jason mentioned that he had been meeting with the bishop and that he might be able to do it. Our faces must have lit up brighter than the sun when he said this! We were so excited! And we just told him that he had to! It would be so cool! And so we were going to have the baptism in a couple weeks but we pushed it back to the end of September so he could start preparing himself. Afterwards we went and talked with his bishop and he told us that Jason could definitely be ready by the end of September! So we are so excited for him and Ashley! We know he can do it and that he will do it! He has felt and recognized the spirit so strong since we have been meeting with him and not to mention Ashley told him "I dare you" which I guess is a pretty big deal in their relationship. He doesn’t take lightly to the dares of his wife... So I know he will be able to make it happen!

Edith is doing well and we had some great lessons with her this week as well! She has been down in St George with her dad this weekend and so we haven’t seen her for a couple days but I will give you the update next week as to how that went with her. We have had some really great lessons with The Wang family (the ones from china, if you couldn’t figure that out for yourselves) but they are coming along as well. They already have a basic belief in Christianity so that is a blessing that we don’t have to start from scratch, but yeah they are very receptive and notice that there is something missing in their lives right now. Luckily We know exactly what that is and we are helping them to find it.

Just a reminder, Elder Williams became a good friend to Elder Winters. They are both swimmers and enjoy music. He will be missed!

Also Elder Williams went home last week so the mission is now a bit more gloomy, but he said that he should be visiting soon! So that is a plus!