My third week in the Washington, Vancouver Mission has been great! Can't believe I'm already halfway through a transfer.
On Wednesday, we had a multi-zone conference here in Portland. We heard some amazing talks from President and Sister McAteer and the local stake president, President Dickie, and his wife. The Spirit was so strong and it made me even more motivated to keep working hard. Then we received some trainings from the APs, Portland zone leaders, and President and Sister Gamett of the mission presidency. I learned about being obedient and using the Book of Mormon more with my investigators. Then we had a testimony meeting where we heard from all of the missionaries going home at the end of this transfer. I had never been to a zone conference like that before, but I loved it.
Then, as if the Spirit couldn't get any stronger, we got to go to the Portland Temple on Thursday! It was special because, since it's just outside the mission, we're only allowed to go twice a year and I got to go! One of the most beautiful temples I've ever been to.
Saturday, we had ward mission correlation meeting and all of the members present were impressed by the work Elder Valentine and I have been doing with our ward mission leader. How we're able to communicate and record everything with our devices and have a more spear-headed, organized effort It motivated them to be more involved in the mission effort which, in turn, motivated us even more. One of the best principles that has come from Preach My Gospel is that, as missionaries, we teach people instead of lessons. Meaning that we work with people's individual needs and help them to progress towards conversion instead of just giving them a robotic lesson.
Yesterday, we had stake conference. We were really hoping our investigator, Michelle, would be able to attend, but when we went to pick her up from the care facility she lives at, it turned out that she was still sick from pneumonia and wasn't able to go. Fortunately, she told us this with a Book of Mormon on her lap with a bookmark in Alma chapter 4! We just got her to start reading on Thursday and she's a quarter of the way through! "This is a lot more interesting than I thought" she said. So we have high hopes for Michelle. Her health just needs to improve for her to be able to be baptized so keep her in your prayers.
Lastly, after a long afternoon of failing to be able to visit people on our ward focus list yesterday, we received a referral from a temple visitor's center sister. His name was Justin and he had just been to the visitor's center that day. We looked for his address which was perfectly between us and our dinner appointment so we contacted him a few minutes later and he is Golden. 50 year old, buddhist, vietnamese man who was mesmerized by the organization of the Church and our focus on The Family. He said he has a bunch of festivities and traditions to do for Chinese New Year at the beginning of February, but he says after that, he'd love for us to visit him! What a miracle to have found him and so conveniently. The Lord really doesn't do random.
Well it's been great and I'm ready for another hardworking week here in Portland. Thank you for the emails and love and support. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Tucker
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