Week 28 & 29 - Miracles Really Do Happen!!

January 01, 2018

This week was a week full of miracles! I don't even know which miracle to start with. So we have this investigator named William. He took the missionary lessons about 2 years ago but then he stopped. Then 3 weeks ago he showed up at church with his family, so of course we went over and talked to him and introduced ourselves. One thing leads to another and we are talking about his experience with the missionaries and wondering why he didn't get baptized. My companion, Elder Harrison, asked him why he hasn't been baptized yet and he answered and said it is because him and his wife are not yet married. So then I asked why they weren't married. He replies and says that his wife doesn't want to get married yet, then in the background she comes up and says no they aren't married because he doesn't want to get married. So it was a total misunderstanding between the two of them! So then I was like, ok well why don't you get married? And then Elder Harrison says, yeah and you should do it before the end of the year. They talked and ended up agreeing. We continued talking and then got back on the topic of baptism and engaged him to be baptized the day after his wedding ... and HE ACCEPTED! So for the last 3 weeks we have been teaching him and his family! Last Friday they got married and on Saturday he was baptized. 3 WEEKS! And now his wife and son want to get baptized in January! The gospel is such a beautiful thing!

Second miracle ... About 3 weeks ago Elder Harrison and I called the mission office and asked for a washer and dryer ... like a real one, and they told us that they would get back to us later that week. Well, they never got back to us, so we thought that it was just a no. Then on Saturday morning a member who was at the boat dock called us up and told us there was a washer and dryer on the boat for us! So right now we have a working washer and dryer in our house! All is well!

The third thing ... not really a miracle but SUPER awesome. So, on Christmas after we skipped home and talked to everyone we went over to a members house to eat dinner. It was still early in the afternoon, so we knew that the food wouldn't be ready yet, but we wanted to hang out and see if we could help them. Well we helped them alright! We went to the back pig pen and proceeded to hog tie this pig. Then we put it in a wheelbarrow and walked it to the front. We then proceeded to KILL the pig. Yes I killed a pig on my mission. We killed it, then skinned it, then slaughtered it and got all the meat out. we then took the meat inside and cooked it and had fresh pig meat for our Christmas dinner. it was honestly insane!

Let's see, also in this last week I shot a harpoon gun! Those things are pretty powerful! All is well in Tubuai. I love it here and I don't want to leave. The people here are so awesome and fun to be around! I hope you all have a great week and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Elder Van Lindt