Hello everyone! This week has been an inspiring week here in Firebaugh. I will be staying here in the Fresno West stake. My new companion will be Elder Sanhuesa who is from Chile and I am looking forward to serving with him. Elder Castaneda and I had an awesome time together, some of the best times on my mission.
This week, I was on exchange with a hmong Elder. For those who don't know what hmong is, it's a Chinese like language I would say. We went out to one of our areas in San Joaquin and began to knock some doors, With having some doors opened to us they lead to little or no potential at all. After knocking for about an hour, we were about to leave and head to another appointment. We decided to knock this last door. The door opened to a lady who was a little surprised to see us. We told her who we were, and asked if we could pray with her. She reluctantly said yes! I asked her what were some things that she needed from God in her life. All she could say was that she just needed a lot of things. I began to offer the prayer. There were certain words in that prayer that came out like they would in a priesthood blessing. As I ended the prayer and opened my eyes, the woman was standing there in tears. She said that she had so many missionaries from different churches come over, but had never before felt that spirit before. She also had never heard of our church before. We began to testify that we were sent there by God, that He knew her situation. She began to tell us that her husband had just barely left her with four kids, and she didn't know what her next step would be. I simply told her that "you need to listen to our message." We talked about the Book of Mormon, and asked her to read what we left her. She said she would. We set up a return appointment for 2 days later, and we returned. As we came back and followed up with her on her reading she had read the Introduction all the way to Chapter 3 in just 2 days. She told us that she didn't know what we taught or who we really were but the spririt that she felt during that prayer was something that changed her. We talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and shared our personal testimonies of it. We invited her to be baptized on the 23rd of February. She accepted! That was such a great experience to see how the spirit can literally change people.
This week I also had the opportunity to go back to my old area in Reedley and see the baptism of Jossy one of the girls Elder Pazmino and I had taught! It was such a great experience. The best was seeing the members and converts I served with. I felt so much love for them! It was a feeling that I will never forget, almost felt as if I was home! You really come to love the people you serve with, and memories will be with me forever of those people I served! I love these people here the Valley! I love this work so much, I am motivated by our Savior Jesus Christ to become better each and everyday! I hope you all have a great week! Love you!
Elder Tanner Aiken
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