This work will never be stopped!

     This week we were tracting an area in Firebaugh. We were looking for a former investigator's home, but we couldn't find it. As time passed by we both thought that the day would never end. No doors were opening and no one was home. It's hard to find anyone because a lot of people work in the fields! As we knocked this last house, this woman came to the door and she looked happy to see us. As we we began to share with her who we were, she told us she had met with missionaries over in Kerman. We asked her about some things she remembered. She told us she remembers the good feelings that she felt as they talked with her. As we asked if we could share a message with her she was very willing and nearly ran outside to sit down with us. We began to talk about what we do as missionaries and a little about our purpose here in this life. While I was speaking, she interrupted me mid-sentence and said, "My mom goes to the Catholic church, my brother to a Christian church, how can I be a part of the true church"? She began to tell us that she was praying for guidance from God to know where this true church was. She said that as she prayed she heard a voice tell her that she would receive guidance soon. As weeks passed by she hadn't received an answer. We told her that we were sent there by God to deliver this message to her. As we began to tell the story of Joseph Smith, she told us she felt chills throughout her whole body. We testified of the spirit that was there. It was a powerful lesson and we invited her to be baptized on the 20th of July and she accepted! 
     The Lord has blessed us during this time of the year with many people working in the fields, making it hard to find people to teach. This ward here in Kerman has had tremendous growth over the past year!  We have stepped up our efforts, but the adversary has worked strong to counteract our efforts! This work will never be stopped, it is such a blessing to see the hand of the Lord in this work everyday!! 
     Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Tanner Aiken

Staying put!

     Hello everyone! What another great week here in Firebaugh. We got our transfer calls this week and I will be staying in Firebaugh for another transfer with Elder Sanhueza, making this my 7th transfer here in this area. I am very excited and grateful that the Lord has given me this time to serve here. In this area I have drawn nearer to my Heavenly Father than I have at any point in my life and have learned to trust and rely on Him. 

     This week we had the baptism of B---- who is from my previous mission in Guanajuato, Mexico. She has made some miraculous changes and the gospel has brought a new found hope into her life. The part that is the best about being a missionary is inviting people to make changes in their lives and then to see them put those changes into action and see them slowly make those changes. This gospel truly does shape people into what God sees them becoming. 
     I have a strong testimony of this gospel I know with out a shadow of a doubt that this church is true. I have been changed myself from the principles of the gospel. I have also found that true happiness comes from obedience to those principles, there is no other way to be truly happy. 
     This week I had the opportunity to really focus my studies on prayer and making them more sincere and more of a prayer of faith. I have really fought hard on my mission to know how the Lord answers my prayers and those of our investigators and I have been taught by the Holy Ghost. I have come to learn from Richard G. Scott that the Lord answers come really in three ways: 1. yes, 2. no, and 3. not answering us at all. I have seen that many times on my mission that God does not answer our prayers, not becuase he doesn't love us or wants us to suffer, but He leaves it to us to figure it out. One of our purposes in this life is to learn, grow, experience happiness and sorrow. How we learn is by acting on the gift of agency. God asks us in the moments that he doesn't answer our prayer to act on principles of righteousness. We must do our part and the Lord will do the rest. I really like this saying, "Pray like everything depends on the Lord, and then act like everything depends on you." I am grateful for the times that He has withheld an answer in order to help me grow. The gospel is all about growth and I am grateful for the growth and experience I have gained on my mission. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve Him everyday, it has been a great blessing to see the lives of those we have taught change. God lives, this is His church! I hope you all have a great week!! Love you all!

Elder Tanner Aiken

Planting seeds!

     Hello Everyone! I am so grateful for this week in which I've had! Over the past couple of months our area has struggled, even though we have been working very hard, the baptisms had just stopped! We had been teaching great people but it just wasn't their time to accept the gospel yet. Seeds have been planted and I'm sure the harvest here in our area may come months or years down the road. I have been so blessed to see the hand of the Lord in His work. I have been blessed to see how much He truly wants to be a part of our lives. He gives us exactly what we need at the right moment so that we may grow and learn. 
     I think the greatest lesson I have been learning over the past couple of weeks has been patience. I have prayed hard and sincerely at night for the answer to come of a prepared person to show up right in our path that would accept the invitation of baptism! Someone that would be so excited they would want to go fill the font that very instant and be baptized by proper authority and immersion! The answer didn't come that way.  The Lord has helped us to see that we must rely on Him at all times, and that His purposes are higher than ours. The Lord pushed us through it and has helped us to grow spiritually.  
     This week, after having seen another baptism fall through, we prayed that the Lord would help us know who it was that we could help more fully accept our Savior Jesus Christ into their lives. We have been teaching a group of five girls ranging from the ages of 9-18. As we have taught them they have made some great changes in their lives. They have really enjoyed church but their parents have been holding them back from being baptized. As we went over this past week we had a distinct impression that Brenda the 18 year old was ready to be baptized! We told her how we felt and she was a bit surprised! She said she wasn't sure. We promised her that evening if she came to church on Sunday and watched a baptism that she could catch the spirit of it and that she would know for herself that her Heavenly Father wanted her to be baptized. Sunday came and Brenda came to one of the 'child of record' baptisms in the ward. As she watched, the spirit entered the room and you could literally see something change in her face! There was a light that  wasn't there before. As we left the baptism, she was very happy with what she had felt. We had to leave right after church to head to a meeting in Fresno, so we told her to text us about how she felt. As we got into our meeting, we received a text from her telling us that she had made up her mind and wants to be baptized this upcoming Sunday! 
     I am so grateful to represent Our Savior Jesus Christ. 
I am grateful that the Lord has answered our prayers and has helped us to find one of his daughters prepared to receive the gospel! I love this work! I hope that each of you trust in the promises that the Lord has given you! He will follow through! Love you all, have a great week!! 

Elder Tanner Aiken

Another great day!

     Hello Everyone! As President Gelwix always says, "It's a great day to be a Mormon missionary!" It truly is! 
     Today we had our temple trip, which will be my last until my departure day! I can't believe how fast time goes, there have been so many things that I have learned here in this area in Firebaugh! There was a really strong spirit at the temple. I was able to feel my Heavenly Father's love, and His acceptance of me. What a blessing it is as well to do temple work and have that opportunity to bless those who have passed on! 

Bowling on P-day!

     A thought that kept coming to me this week was the importance of my purpose as a missionary. I thought about the Atonement and that those who are not baptized unto repentance and by the proper authority not not see all the blessings that the Atonement brings. Elder Sanhueza and I thought about this a lot and were thinking about who out of our teaching pool was really increasing their faith in Jesus Christ and keeping their commitments. As we prayed and thought about why our church attendance was down and what we needed to get people to church, we received three specific game plans about what we needed to do and as we applied those things the Lord blessed us. We were able to have 5 of our investigators at church this Sunday. We worked well with the ward on getting these girls to church. As we followed what the Lord told us to do, they had a wonderful experience and are all hoping to get baptized!  
     I love how as we use the Lord's guidance that he has given us, He blesses us with more. I have learned on my mission to put full trust in our Father in Heaven and rely on Him.  I am grateful for the time in which I have had serving Him. 
     As I sat in the temple I was able to think about the great change that I have seen in myself even at times when I couldn't notice the change. The Atonement of Jesus Christ and my faith in Him has changed me! I know that God lives, I know that this is His work, I have seen it many times, and the spirit has born witness to me of that! I love you all. Have a great week! 

Elder Tanner Aiken

Choose to be changed!

Working on a "day of service"!

     Hello Everyone! things have been going really well here in Firebaugh this past week! Things are starting to catch fire  almost literally. It's getting hot!  The hot summer temperatures of the San Joaquin Valley are just around the corner! 
     This week has been a great week of seeing the Lord push us through trials and helping us put our trust in Him. One quote I heard this week that I really like is from Ezra Taft Benson that says, "when you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed." That is so true! I have seen how the Lord has changed me and molded me as I have chosen to follow Christ! 
     It's not always the most glamorous life to follow, with rejection, being mocked, and there are even those who are spit upon from time to time. Living a life like that may have some wonder why we do it? We do it because we are forever indebted to Him!  We do it because we love Him! 
     This past week we have been working very hard and praying very hard to see progress in our investigators. This week a mother of five, who is without her husband and lives in a 2 bedroom trailer, was able to make the 45 minute drive to church on Sunday. Such a sacrifice, but yet she has noticed a difference as she has put into practice the principles of the gospel. She really enjoyed church on Sunday and apologized to us for missing her baptismal date.  She was wondering when the next day that she could be baptized on? We will be working with her to be baptized on the 18th of this month. 
     I have been reading in 2 Nephi this past week and I love the 2nd chapter as it talks about Christ coming and bringing us redemption. I love verse 8 which says, "wherefore how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth." This week we had our Mission Leadership Conference where President Gelwix had a quote from Elder Cook which said that right now is the most exciting time for missionary work in the history of the earth. Never before has there been this great a number of missionaries! How great it is to let our brothers and sisters know the truthfulness of this gospel, to let them know that Christ the Lord has offered himself in sacrifice for sin for us! It becomes more real when you think that he suffered for you individually! 
     I so love being a missionary! It brings such a good feeling into your life and it is so great to see the change that it brings into the lives of others!! I hope you all have a great week!! 

Love,
Elder Tanner Aiken

Because of Him!

     Hello Everyone! This week my heart has been full of gratitude. I am humbled at the love which I have for my Savior Jesus Christ. 
     This week we had many times to teach our investigators about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we had the opportunity as well to show them the video "Because of Him." What a powerful video! This week, I also heard some very difficult stories from investigators and people on the street about drug abuse, sexual abuse, you name it I heard about it this week! I was overwhelmed at the sadness I felt for these people, that they don't know about the gospel of Jesus Christ that they don't know that the Atonement is free to everyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior! 
     Elder Benites and I were on an exchange this week in Kerman. We had just had a baptismal interview in Madera and were racing back down to get to an appointment in Kerman. We were going to teach a man who I have had the opportunity to meet on a few occasions. As we talked about what our focus would be in the lesson, we decided to center it on Jesus Christ. The story is that 4 Sundays ago he had just walked into church with a Book of Mormon asking what time the services started. We could tell he was not a member. He told us that he had been seeing the missionaries riding bikes past his house for years, and something always impressed him about those crazy guys who ride bikes in white shirts and slacks during the summer in 110 degree heat! He has been taught for the past few weeks and has been praying about baptism, and the Book of Mormon. He has read over 150 pages and has really been progressing. But something has just been holding him back from baptism. As we began to teach that lesson, the spirit guided us as we asked inspired questions to know his needs. We began to ask him questions about the purpose of life, and he opened up to us and told us that he had suffered as a youth being sexually abused, to being exposed to drugs and alcohol at an early age, to eventually living on the streets and living in a homeless shelter in New york City!  This man had truly been through it all! We opened up the scriptures to Alma 13:24 saying that God is sending angels, and angels are preparing the hearts of the people for the coming of Christ! We told him that we as missionaries are the angels sent from the Father to declare repentance unto this people! The Lord has been preparing you for a very long time to accept his gospel! Through Jesus Christ and His Atonement you, yes you, can have a new beginning! We asked him if we could watch a video on his computer "Because of Him." We invited him to pay attention to his feelings as we watched it. As we watched the video there was a different feeling in the room. After we finished watching and testifying of the spirit, we looked at him as he sat and stared at the wall. After 45 seconds of silence, he looked at us, "I believe what you are telling me is true! I want to be baptized, I just don't know when."
     I know that through Jesus Christ we can become changed people. We can have new beginnings! With him there is no end! God has given us the best gift! Eternal life! It's hard to put intp words the feeling that I have as a missionaryl. I love it! It is so great to be able to bring this knowledge that we have to people every day! God bless you all and have a great week!!! 

Love,
Elder Tanner Aiken

Happy Easter!

     Hello everyone! Such a great week to be a Mormon missionary. I went to a baptism last night down in my last area to confirm a woman I taught.  I was so happy that she had made the decision to be baptized!
     I am looking forward to one of the greatest holidays of the year! Easter, a day we dedicate to Our Savior Jesus Christ. I have come to know and love Him over these months as a missionary. He is what motivates me to get up in the morning on time, to do my studies, to talk with everyone, and most important to invite others to repent and be baptized. I think of His example which He left for us. Elder Eyring has talked about it in one of his talks. After Jesus Christ was crucified He went to "the spirit world for three days, his work in mortality was finished, when He deserved a rest He kept going". Elder Eyring said, "when I am tired and my body begs for rest, I give myself this rallying cry 'Remember Him'."
     This Easter there is no need to think of material things. It is a time to reflect on the most perfect life that this world has ever known. When Mary came to the tomb she was told, "He is not here for He has risen"! He has Risen! I know that Christ lives! I know that His mercy is free to anyone who accepts Him and follows his example. What part of the Atonement did not cover our sins, trials and sufferings? He covered everything! We must accept Him and His promises! I know that He has paid the price for our sins so that we can enjoy eternal life! I know that as we fully apply the Atonement into our lives, and internalize it this Easter week we will become changed, motivated, and filled with the Love of God! I have felt this myself, I have felt His love in my life, I have felt the whisperings from the spirit confirming to me the reality of His sacrifice! I hope you all have a great week - and Happy Easter! 

Love,
Elder Tanner Aiken