Letter from 7-17-13

So over here in Braksa, things went pretty well this week...

WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM! :D

Meet Ryan Wolf, the newest member of the church and future bishop/stake
president/maybe even general authority. Sister Harrison and Sister Rassmussen
found him last transfer, and it was a huge miracle. They were just walking down
the street, they needed to leave in 10 minutes, and Ryan was outside for only 5
minutes, but the timing worked out perfectly and they found him. They set him
for baptism the week before I arrived, so I got to help Sister Harrison finish
teaching him. My first lesson with him was going to be about the Word of Wisdom,
but before that I met him on my first day at church with the Cottonwood ward.
Before we could catch him, he went to Gospel Doctrine instead of Gospel
Principles, where they taught about the W.O.W. and went into great detail. We
were pretty worried, but when we talked to him later, he was like "yeah, that
all makes sense! So I just stopped drinking coffee." Just like that! We didn't
have to commit him to do it or anything! He just stopped coffee cold turkey! And
oh my gosh, he has the most crazy amazing testimony. Like, on our last lesson
before his baptism, he said the closing prayer and it was just, wow, this guy
has a stronger testimony than most members. It's just nuts!

Another incredible miracle that happened was that he has this good friend since
middle school, her name is Shelby, who is a member. She's been living in Utah
for a while, but she ended up coming back to Nebraska earlier than she had
planned...on the same day they found Ryan. So she went to church with him and
everything and helped answer his questions, and it was just awesome!

Hehe, by the way, I never told you we were teaching him 'cause I was so afraid I
would jinx it. He just always seemed too good to be true. But he did it! He was
baptized this last Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Haha, funny story, so
apparently the church forgot to provide towels. So after the baptism, Sis.
Harrison and I are bearing our testimonies, and behind us we hear all this water
splashing and all this commotion. They ended up having to use extra jump suits
to dry off. Lol!

Eek! Okay, I gotta type really fast. So other things this week. Last p-day after
I e-mailed you, we went to this place called Old Market, which is in downtown
Omaha. So in the gallery you see all those pictures of me and Sis. Schrader
eating Burty Botts Every Flavor Beans, that's at this really neat candy store
down there. It was pretty fun. I think I'll move a scene from my book to there.
:) Then today for p-day we went to the zoo! No offense to the hogle zoo, but the
one here is way better. :) So if you see all those pictures of gorillas and
butterflies, that's what that is. :) They have this really cool butterfly room,
and a giant blue monarch butterfly landed on my back. It was pretty neat. :)

Then funny story time: So we were knocking on a random door, and this guy
answers. We talked to him for a bit, and Sister Harrison was like "here, take a
pamphlet." She has this Restoration pamphlet in side a copy of the BoM, but when
she tried to pull it out, it was stuck! We both tried, and it was just really
stuck. So I was like "oh, oh well. Here, just take the book too!" It was pretty
funny. :)

And then, oh I'm out of time. No! There's another absolutely amazing experience
I want to tell you about, but it's going to take more than a few minutes to
write it. Remind me to tell you! It was just, whoa, I'm still having a hard time
believing it.