Sunday, June 15, 2014

Personal Visit with a General Authority-Great Birthday Present!

6-9-14

Thank you so much for the birthday package!  It was great!  I did take pictures, so I'll have to get them to you!  We didn't do much of a party with the things that you guys sent to me, but it was still a great day!  I did get two letters from Grandma and Grandpa, which was really nice of them!  We had 7 investigators show up to church and we actually set a baptismal date for one of them this week on the 28th of this month.  It is a family of 4 and they absolutely love everything about the church.  They are all excited about baptism and the dad is already asking about getting the priesthood.  After church, later that evening, we went over to one of the member's homes to do a family home evening with the family who has a baptismal date, and we played a Bible/Gospel trivia game.  Everyone got really into it and they enjoyed it!   It was a great day!
     This week was also exhausting, too.  We went on two exchanges in a row.  I stayed in the area for the first one and we had 6 lessons that day.  That was also the day that we set the baptismal date for the family.  The next day, right after district meeting, we went on the second exchange and I went with one of our Zone leaders to their area and it was kind of a slow day, but we actually did some tracting for an hour or so.  That was fun to do again.  That night, one of their investigators took us out to Chili's and he let us order whatever we wanted.  I got some shrimp tacos.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation with a puzzle that I have and he loved it.
     Yesterday, we had a big Zone Conference that lasted 6 hours and there was a General Authority, Elder Clarke, who gave most of the training.  He is actually from Rexburg, Idaho, so when we all got to shake his hand and introduce ourselves, I told him that I was from Sugar City.  He said, "Me too.  Don't you dare misrepresent Idaho!  Don't do it!"  It was funny.  I told him that I wouldn't.  His wife is from Twin Falls.  President and Sister Cusick gave talks as well as Sister Clarke.  Elder Clarke did about 3 hours of the training, and it was hilarious!  He is such a funny guy.  He talked about so many good things and now I have a list of things that I am going to try and do better on in the work.  Towards the very end of the meeting, right before we were going to start the hymn, President Cusick came down to me and told me to stay after the meeting because Elder Clarke wanted to visit with me.  That was all he said, and he was very serious when he said it.  I was so scared and nervous because he didn't tell me why he wanted to meet with me.  When we finished and got out in the hall, President waved me over to him and pointed me to the room where Elder Clarke was waiting.  He still didn't tell me why I was meeting with him and I was pretty much shaking at this point.  When I got int he room Elder Clarke asked me to start our visit with a prayer and I could barely think about what to say.  Once we started talking, I was super relieved because he just was asking me about my mission, how I like it, what I felt was the hardest thing about it, and what I learned in the Zone Conference that day.  Then he asked me about my family and about all of you individually and what Dad did for work and stuff.  Then, we just started talking about Rexburg and he was wondering if I knew certain people there.  Apparently, Lexi Belnap is his granddaughter and he is also related to the Larsen family.  After a few minutes, he asked if I had any questions for him and I couldn't think of any right then.  So I just asked him about where he grew up in Rexburg, but I couldn't think about anything else.  I was frustrated because after I left, I had a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask him.  Who knows, maybe I will get to see him again.  It was really cool.  He is now my favorite General Authority.
I hope that you have a great week.  How is your health doing, Dad?  Love you!

Love,
Elder A. Whaley



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