this week has been pretty rough

So you all have a lot of questions, and I don't remember them all.  so... yeah.

Haha this week was pretty rough, all (8) of our investigators stopped progressing, and not a lot is happening.  We've met a few new people though!  The ward is almost useless in helping with the missionary effort, but we're getting along pretty well.  The neighboring ward is the highest baptizing ward in the mission, and the missionaries are hardly doing half of the work!  Members are really the most important part of missionary work.  Don't get me wrong, I love it out here and we're working our butts off, but sometimes things are harder than they should be...

I don't have any crazy stories from this last week, but things are starting to get better!  The members just need a wake up call and get off of their butts.  My teaching is starting to get a lot better, and I always seem to have the right answers to even the most vague of questions.  All of the missionaries ask me questions about things, and I seem to know where to find them in the scriptures!  It's a really cool feeling.  I honestly don't feel like I know anything, but I know enough!  I'm learning tons every study in the morning, and it never seems to stop!  Joseph Fielding Smith is the man!  I've read two of his books so far now!  I am dying to find Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 1&2.  I have vol. 3, and I love it!

Never stop your reading, that knowledge is a blessing, and even a gift of the spirit!  Knowledge is numbered among the Christlike attributes, and is a result of the Melchizedek Priesthood!  I've definitely seen the promise in Ether 12:27 come to pass when he tells us that our weak things can become our strengths!  Now I need patience, because I want all of this progression right now!  Haha I'm loving it though!

Love you all, I'll see you all soon!

Elder Lukens

Excuse the cheezy smiles and the untucked shirt, but this guy is Jericho Tanuvasa.  He just left off to Aussie to play semi professional rugby for the Panthers!  Remember this guy when he hits it big!

New House!

So we just moved out of our flat, and this new one is nice!  We have a deck in the back, we have a long driveway, and quite a bit of space in the house!  We have a cool secret door that leads to our garage too!  It feels like you go to Narnia every time you use the door!  

The land here is beautiful, and we went to get my camera back, and it wasnt there!  they sent it to the wrong place, so they just gave me a new one!  So I have pictures now!

The baptism was pretty crazy.  We show up to the Chapel around 3:30 to 4:00 to fill up the font, because it takes a good 45 minutes, and we had a dinner appointment at 5.  We figured it out, filled it up, ran to go eat dinner, the members decided to drop it off 30 minutes late, we scarfed it down, and my companion's bike broke at the front axle, and it's ten minutes until the wedding!  So we are in our suits and everything and we start running to the chapel, and a member finally finds us while we are just a few hundred yards away from the chapel, give us a ride the rest of the way, and we barely make it on time.  We go through the Marriage just fine, and when it comes to the baptism, we all go and change into the baptismal clothes.  While we were there, we checked on the font and everything to make sure it was alright, and it was just perfect.  We get changed, and go to start the program in the Chapel.  It takes about 25 to 30 minutes to get back to the Font.  Everyone is moving over, and little kids are running ahead of us then coming back yelling "THERE'S NO WATER!!!".  I wouldn't be fooled though!  So I kept walking not believing them saying "Of course there's water, we checked twent-OHMYGOSHTHERE'SNOWATERINTHERE!!!".  Somebody who thought they were doing (satan) a service decided to empty the font right after we left.

We started filling it back up, and in the meantime, everyone went to start eating instead.  It took a good 45 minutes to fill it again, and at this time it's around 8:30 at night.  We try to get everyone back into the room with the font, but they were all hooked on their food.  So we just decided to go ahead with it with the 8 people in the room.  We had the baptism, it was great, and it was very cold.  This one was a special baptism though, because Satan has tried so hard to stop this couple.  We just know that they will accomplish great things if they just keep their covenants with Heavenly Father.  

This week has been pretty great, and I've had other great experiences, but I think that's it for now.  I love you all!  I'll hear from you next week!

baptism!

Deck in our back yard!

This is why you ask for the "toilet" instead of the bathroom.  They're separate!

Farewell for a member!

Secret entrance in a closet to the garage!

Things are going good

Hey, things are going good!  I'm still with my companion, and we're still kicking butt!  This area is finally starting to wake up!  Those three baptisms are as strong as ever, and it's going to happen!  Two we are sure are going to stay forever, but one we're working a bit more with.  I love them all, and we're keeping daily contact with them.  One of them has had some attacks from Satan trying hard to stop her.  I see it as something against his cause for someone who has any bit of logic.  Why would you give up on something if the exact person we are telling them is going to try to stop them is doing exactly that?  We know there's more to it, and she has a renewed vitality towards the baptism.  We're all excited for their date!  They're getting married and baptized one after the other, on valentines day!  We're expecting at least two more people to set a date too!  We keep seeing miracles every day, and we're looking forward to another week!

I love you all, thanks for everything!

Elder Lukens