¡¡¡Una Semana Hasta Bendito México!!!

Hola Familia!

Woohooo, life couldn't be better right now! So many amazing things are happening here in the Cherry Park Ward AND I'm returning to Cuernavaca next week!! Kind of a bittersweet feeling actually, even though I've wanted to go back to Mexico so bad.

Wednesday, Elder Zeller from the Mt. Scott Ward, worked with me in Cherry Park for exchanges and we had another wonderful lesson with Daniel. He said he enjoyed church last Sunday. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized on April 21st and he humbly accepted! He said "I know it's gonna be hard and I'm gonna have to leave some things behind, but I'll do it." Then we taught him how to pray using one of our pamphlets. I love how prayer is as simple as addressing our Father in Heaven, pouring our hearts out to Him usually through gratitude and asking for blessings, and closing in the name of Jesus Christ. Daniel said his first prayer out loud, in front of us that day. It was so humble and sincere. I've come to realize that teaching someone to earnestly pray for the first time is my favorite part of being a missionary because you get to help them be able to communicate themselves to a loving God who has been waiting so long to hear from them. You also get to witness the person's leap of faith and sincere desire to learn and grow by tentatively uttering those words out loud for the first time. It's so amazing to be there for that. Heavenly Father really listens to our prayers. On Sunday at the ward's linger longer, Daniel actually came up to me to tell me that he's been enjoying praying everyday and that he's even been starting to read in the Book of Mormon, and then he actually set up our next appointment with him on Wednesday! Wow, this man is golden!! I love him so much. He walked hinself to church!

Thursday night, I visited Tony with a member from our Ward, Brother Magleby. We had beautiful discussion with him that I'm sure was directed by the Spirit. We explained the importance of baptism and coming to church and honestly trying to follow the Savior. His own words were finally "let's do this baptism thing." He even said his first prayer in front of us with the help of Brother Magleby to close the visit. Tony still has some things to get over regarding the Word of Wisdom, but he's made tremendous progress. Some members told me that the first time they met Tony, they thought he would never be able to come to church, but this Sunday made it Tony's fourth tine attending with us!

On Saturday, Larry passed his baptismal interview with our zone leader, Elder Holloway! He's so great and was so prepared by his fellowshipper before we even met him. He really wants to follow the Lord and he will do whatever it takes. We'll continue to meet with him frequently to help him be ready for his baptism on the 7th and make sure he doesn't forget anything because he's kinda old. At church on Sunday, he told us to start visiting with his wife as well whenever we come see him because he wants her to start taking the lessons and hopefully become a member of the Church too. So we are stoked for that this week!

Sister Fuapau has continued communicating with us every once in a while asking us about some church support groups and telling us that her husband has moved back in with their family and everything, but it wasn't until this week where she told us that her family unit is finally ready to start receiving visits from us!!! One dad and 4 sons!! They've been struggling for a while now, but it looks like the Gospel is going to unite them fully as a family and heal all wounds. So many of us have been praying for them. Sister Fuapau's father is the second counselor in the Bishopric. And it looks like this is their time! They'll be having the missionaries over for dinner next Tuesday.

Probably the most miracle, blessing-filled week of my mission so far. All of these wonderful children of God coming unto Him. The Lord really blesses us ten-fold for all of our efforts.

I love being a missionary. This is why I'm out here. This message is so true and it can bless all families for eternity.

Have a great week, everyone!

Love,

Elder Tucker

¡Dos semanas hasta México!

Hola Familia!

I swear I sent an email last week, but somehow it didn't go through. Sorry about that! Well it's been another good couple weeks here in Portland regardless. The weather has been wonderful and sunny and I'm loving it!

Thursday, our dinner appointment called and said they were inviting a non-member friend to join us that night and that he was interested in learning more about the Gospel! So that night we met Daniel who said he recently had an epileptic seizure and that during, he also had a vision of being judged by God. He said it felt so real and that he felt so guilty. Hearing this for the first time made me think of Alma the younger and the vision he had in Alma chapter 36 of the Book of Mormon, so we decided to read it with Daniel and explain to him that like Alma, Daniel can turn to Jesus Christ and feel complete relief and forgiveness from that guilt. It was a very powerful first visit.

Saturday, we went to the Portland Temple Visitor's Center with a long time investigator, Tony. We talked about eternal marriage and he seemed to really enjoy it. We identified some concerns of his which is good, because hopefully We'll be able to work through them now and help him get baptized.

Sunday was great because it was ward conference and Tony and Daniel both attended! The President of the Portland Stake, President Dickey, talked to us in ward counsel and then gave an amazing talk in sacrament meeting. Bishop King also gave a great talk. Church was packed! Bunch of less actives and people I hadn't met before hahaha. The best though was that Brother Pickell finally came because we had made a deal with him a couple weeks ago that if we beat him in chess, he would come to church!

Elder Valentine and I have been getting along really well and forming some good habits together! I'm excited to make the most of these last two weeks here before returning to Cuernavaca!!

Hope everyone has a good week! Love you all.


Love,
Elder Tucker

Pics-

Aprendizaje Misional

Hola Familia!

It was another good week here in Portland!

Tuesday, we had a sweet district meeting where we talked about the importance of receiving revelation in order to be converted, effective missionaries. One of the most converting factors in my mission has been being able to find the answers to my own questions through prayer and personal scripture study. I'm so thankful for the Guide to the Scriptures at the back of every Spanish Book of Mormon and I encourage everyone to use it and the many other resources we have to find answers to your questions and receive revelation.

We had a couple more lessons with Doug this week before he flew to Oklahoma on Friday. He had gotten into a lot of antagonistic material against the Church, and he thought he would be able to catch us off guard with some of the controversial history of the Church, but luckily, Elder Valentine were able to have the Spirit with us and calmly answer his questions. Then I was able to make a connection between him and Thomas, one of Jesus Christ's original apostles. Thomas didn't believe the stories of Jesus rising again after the crucifixion because he hadn't seen the resurrected Lord with his own eyes. When Christ did finally appear to him, Thomas fell to his knees and wept. Jesus said "blessed art thou, Thomas, because you have seen and believed. But how much more blessed are those that believe without seeing." This really resonated with Doug and it really resonates with me too because we are here on this earth to develop faith. We're never going to have a perfect knowledge of Gospel, but if we have faith, we will find peace in this life and eternal joy in the life to come.

Friday, we had interviews with President McAteer. I had a couple questions for him about priorities and the best way to correct my companion when I know we can be doing something more effective. I asked him this because I had been struggling to agree with Elder Valentine on a lot of things because I had seen him do things incorrectly. President McAteer told me that although it is important to keep your priorities straight, it is even more important to have companionship unity. You could be doing all the right things, but if you're not on the same page as your companion, it's not going to be as effective. What President McAteer told me taught me a ton.

4 investigators attended church on Sunday! James, Larry, Tony, and Tamara. Elder Valentine and I have been doing some good work and it was nice to see some more fruits. Larry, Tony, and Tamara are working towards baptism.

Anyway, hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tucker

Riding bikes with Elder Nieman