UPCOMING BAPTISM!

Hello Mother and family!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER! I am sooo sorry about last week. {Mom's note:  The week of November 17th, Elder Strahl attempted to send a bunch of pictures home from Korea and crashed his e-mail because he tried to send too many at once!  So there was no letter that week...} I didn't realize what would happen and then it did, and I didn't get a chance to wish you a happy birthday, I'm so sorry. It looks like you had a lot of fun at Famous Dave's. (I have to tell you something though. I like Korean food better than American food now. I guess it was inevitable. We went to this food court on the 9th floor of the building across from the church which was a world food court (so it had all the different types of food from all around the world) and...I ended up with Korean food.) I am so glad that you went out and had a wonderful time for your birthday. I hope that it was really good and that you enjoyed it a lot. I hope you have a wonderful year!

 

So first, I need to update on last week (again I am so sorry that I was unable to send an email). Last week went well. We continued to meet with Jake (the member referral) and I had tacos for the first time in 5 months (we ate with the family that grew up in America). We met with one new investigator who did not understand our purpose and is not an investigator any more and we worked with the restaurant owners to help prepare them for baptism. I hope there won't be any gaps, tell me if there is.

First, the less good news. Samuel has pretty much stopped his communication with us all together. We still try, but I think he is really busy. There is still hope though, that he will come back. He felt the spirit strong and so there will always be that tie back to the church. Also, this week our investigators decided that they were a little to busy to meet with us. So, we had few investigator appointments, but they were good.

Ok, on to the great news. The restaurant owners had their baptismal interview on Sunday and are planning to be baptized on Saturday!!! They are so wonderful. During our lesson my companion explained to him that he had to stop smoking and drinking for the week in order to be baptized. Then he looked at him directly and said "No, forever." Oh, I cannot tell you the joy in my heart at that moment and also at the beginning when we first followed up. He looked at us with a smile in his eyes and told us that he had thrown away all of his cigarettes. I am so excited for them! They are a wondeful couple and are going to be such wonderful members. I am excited to see them go to the temple, especially with their missionary daughter (who got permission to come back for their baptism!). I am so so so excited!!!

Also, we met with the intellectual investigator and found some of his deeper needs. We are excited to approach those needs in a way that will hopefully help him understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ more in conjunction with agency and accountability. We are excited to help him.

With Jake this week, he said that he was too busy to meet, however he playfully sent us a text one morning saying that he got up, couldn't come to the soccer activity, but that "he had better read the Book of Mormon". I love him. I can see him serving a mission. We hope he has more time to study with us this week so that we can get him on the path to baptism; on the path to peace in this life and eternal happiness in the next!

I had the opportunity last week of giving my very first Priesthood blessing (in English). One of the recently returned missionaries in our ward is really struggling. He had a mighty change of heart on his mission, but never developed patterns of righteous habits in a life setting, such as reading and praying, etc. He asked for a blessing, and I was privileged to give it. The only thing that I can say is that God knows us, personally, individually, and that He is anxious to help us if we will let Him. The blessing was a really cool experience as well because one of our investigators was there to see it. The Spirit was there and he felt it. A wonderful experience.

To answer your questions, yes a soft baptismal commitment is asking the investigator that when they know these things are true will they be baptized. It is soft because there is no date.

Well, things this week were really great. It is pretty cold here (not temperature wise but feeling wise). It isn't below 32 degrees, but it feels soooo cold (humidity?). Anyways, it's great!

I had one really cool experience that I want to share, specifically to you and the family. This Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. Surprisingly the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 decided to do Stake Conference (Sunday session) for Korea. However, the wonderful experience happened on Saturday. The Stake Choir sat not in the front on the stand, but on benches that had been placed sideways in the chapel. The song right before Stake President spoke was I believe in Christ. It was absolutely amazing. Then, the Stake President got up and he expressed his impressions to share a scripture about Christ and then tied that into missionary work. When the meeting ended I stood up and looked around. In that room were all the members from all of Gwangju. There were over 40 missionaries in the room. I looked around and saw all of the members that I loved and all the missionaries that I have come to love and I felt as if I was in the Celestial Kingdom. I loved everyone there and the room was just radiating with the Spirit. I cannot explain the feelings that I received as I looked at all those people who I loved so much. When I reflected on this experience later that night, it hit me who was missing: The people that I am teaching, the people that I will teach. I realized that I am teaching to bring people there. They need to be there, and I realized how much more full my joy would be if they would come and be there as well. I think I understood a little bit more about the next life and what it will be like. Also, as I was reflecting on the deep feelings that I had, I realized that I had felt those feelings there in that situation, how much more would I feel those feelings with those who I loved most. That would be you and the family. I realize now to an even greater depth than ever before how much I truly love you. I want you all to be there, every single one of you. I want you to be as happy and happier than we all were then. I want us to be together, forever and ever. I love you so much. I have the privilege of helping other families come to realize this same happiness and these blessings.

I hope that you have a wonderful week! I love you all so much.