A GOOD WEEK

Helo - wow, I just typed that and almost didn't recognize that it was wrong...


WOW lots of news from the outside today! Baby boom! Congratulations to the Follmers!  I think Michael's response was very appropriate. Haha.  New babies always need plants watered. Congratulations to all the Thelin cousin babies as well!  Makayla is a cool name. So is Kakeo. I wanna go to Hawaii - there are several Elders from there here and are always singing the coolest chillaxed songs with their ukeleles (sp?) - Jeffrey, learn to play the Uke. Congrats to all!

That's hilarious, Mom, the tile home improvement project - so typical. Funny, we went to an appointment last week and they opened the door... and there was no furniture. This family has the strangest ways of not being able to have us teach there, they said people were coming to clean the carpets and were late. The whole family was sprawled out on the floor eating food - which was hard to get, because all their furniture was stuffed in the bathroom and apartment kitchen. A smaller child had to crawl in and fetch the food and an older sister could just reach the cups and plates. I assured them that this really actually made me feel more at home, but they wanted us to come back another day when the couch wasnt blocking the fridge. Ridiculous. I tried hard to explain about boxes and truckloads of stuff always being shipped to our house and putting us in similar situations and such, harder to explain in Spanish..

Heidi good luck with the play!

Sounds like Sacrament Meeting was good there! I recently found a scripture I liked in John I think where Jesus says something like "Fear not, for I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." Humbling thought, yes, to think He has taken time to pray for each of us, to make it through, to pray for our weaknesses.


Hm, so this week was a LOT better than the previous ones. Started out slow - I've never felt quite so much outside opposition from people before, but we began to try to be more positive and faithful, and the Lord blessed us. We were blessed to find a woman who said at the door "So many of you knock my door - from many churches. How can I know which one is right?"... She is getting baptized the 6th of February.

Then we had a day of absolute miracles on Thursday. One of the best days of my mission. Something just clicked in the companionship, in the attitudes, and things flowed. At dinner, we shared a scripture. I was thinking of one in my mind, and my companion pulled out the same one, without consulting me. It was the right one, because we asked the family to think of someone the Spirit would indicate who needs the gospel. There is a sister of the family in Honduras who will be receiving a knock on her door any day now. Then we taught a man later - he came to the US a year ago and felt down and lonely. Two  missionaries ran into him and talked for a few minutes. I guess it changed his life - he began to see things differently and happily, and listened, but lost contact. When we asked him how he felt as we taught, he told us we wouldn't believe him. He is also being baptized the 6th of Febraury. And finally that night we went to another appointment but they werent home. We decided to go to another house - and found another guy, who just came from Vera Cruz Mexico. Walked to the nearest church last sunday, in Ingles, and didn't understand ANYTHING because of the language barrier, but FELT amazing. He is ALSO preparing to be baptized. He told us as we left that he had prayed that morning, because he felt lonely, with his wife and kids still in Mexico; he asked God to send an angel or messenger to him. He told us that we were the answer, and he would do what we taught. Amazing!  Miracles are being poured out here. I've felt the Spirit stronger, guiding us to say things, or supporting our invitations. Very sweet. The trick is keeping it rolling. The Lord provides the miracles, and we need to do our part now, ...

Pray for these people to follow through. We baptized over 2000 people in this mission in 2009. It is a record! We need to be faithful and trust in miracles, and follow the Savior. I know He lives. I have felt His peace. I have seen miracles. I know He is the Savior, He is the light, and He is the way. If we only look to Him and follow His example, we wont go astray. If we focus on the Savior and His role in our lives, we will never go astray. And I know simply because I've prayed and asked and felt it! A man tried to tell us this week "you don't KNOW, you just 'believe' young man." I am grateful we were able to say "I'm sorry, but we do KNOW." Follow the Savior!

Take care everyone, be good, and try not to destroy the house, and I love you all!

-Elder Thelin

PS (what does chuttering mean? I like it) Hundreds of little guinea pigs surrounded him. "What the...?" They began to chutter to themselves - something about their leader - then lifted him on all their backs and began to carry him further down the tunnels. From above, the group began to follow him further into the caves. "What's happening?" asked Amy as they carefully moved down the slope. "Wait, I hear something!" cried Holly. They all paused and listened carefully... and heard a faint song... "Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets...."