Return of the King

A Happy Reunion with Brother Heinige.

One of the great weeks of a missionary has been this week.  Much reminiscing in an old area and much success in the current area.  Was challenged by a recent convert to slack off on the caffeine consumption & I couldn't resist his unquenchable spirit.  I have been committed to only two drinks a week.  To make matters worse... A member of the ward went out of town, left the key to his house with us and filled his fridge with two 12 packs of diet Mountain Dew?  How rude?!  Okay so how about some god stuff that happened this week.  I traveled back to an old area for an exchange this past week.  It was my second area where I trained a new Elder upon the ways of getting rich & famous spiritually / physically.  Some of the most elect souls of God were found in the Parker's Landing area.  Three of which I was able to visit!  One of the greatest of all time is brother Heinige.  When I arrived in Parker's Landing he was a recent convert of a little under a year and was working towards getting the priesthood.  Honestly, he didn't really have the desire to receive it at the time.  When my companion &  I knocked on the door he said, "Lord, thank you these Elders look like they can catch a football". Ever since that opening line we have been great pals.  I called him first thing when I arrived in the area for the exchange and we had dinner together that evening. Since my leaving he has received the Melchizedek priesthood to give blessings and help others.  However, he had not yet given a blessing!  THE STARS ALIGNED!  A recent convert in the ward (who happens to be great friends with Bro Heinige) texted him asking for a blessing.  We went and gave his first priesthood blessing to heal the sick together. A very spiritual moment for me and I know for him too.  The last lesson I had with brother Heinige before I left was to invite he and his wife to work towards being sealed in the temple.  On that same day, the elder that baptized him a year before happened to be visiting him :). The stars continue to align with this elect soul.  Alright, how about a late night Sunday night before the week ends miracle?  After the church meetings in the Fisher's Landing Ward, we embarked for the day.  It was hot, but as President Hinckley says, “Every day is a great day in my life. I hope every day is a great day in your lives--every one of you. I hope you can get ready to go in the morning and shake the hand of your companion and say, ‘Brother (Sister), life is good. Let’s go out and have a good day.’ And when you come in at night, I hope you can say to one another, ‘It’s been a good day.  We’ve had a good time. We’ve helped somebody along the way.… We’ll follow up with them and pray and hope that they will come into the Church.’ Every day ought to be a good day in the mission field.”  It is always a good day in the WVM.  We found the elect yesterday!  We tried all we could think of until we saw a man unlocking his door and we sorta ran over to him yelling at him.  He stopped and talked to us for about 20 minutes to tell us his cousin was on a mission.  We knew why we ran over to talk to him at that moment, and he decided to meet with us on Tuesday.  Later in the evening, at 8:55 p.m., we knocked on a door and someone came out just a little too friendly.  We thought she was luring us in to bash our religion and our freedom!  We were ready to stand as stripling warriors on guard with bashing scriptures (actually we probably just would have left) but she was sincere.  She had no desire to lure us away but she said, and I quote, "I am always looking for truth.  I love hearing about new things to search for truth".  She definitely heard some truth and doctrine after that sentence.  She texted us later that very night after we left.  (That never happens, so it's exciting ok?!)  The work is great.  The only thing that ever gets stopped or frustrated at times is me.  Not the work!  Friday we prayed that by Sunday we could double our lessons and new investigators... and by Sunday it happened!  We simply asked for a little help in achieving a goal and by Sunday we had a delivery request to reach some of the elect of God.  Life is good.  Went on exchanges with another blonde kid and we were accused of being blood - line brothers all day.  This young man has only been on his mission 4 weeks and seems like a 50 year minister of the word.  Maybe it's the hair?  He did ask me at least 3 different times for tips on hair - care.  I delivered.