"I love you all so much and invite you to reach out and use the atonement.".....Week 81

Hello everyone! 

This has been an awesome week! We had a storm this Sunday and transfers this week! My new companion is awesome! And he is a good cook:) 

Sarah is doing awesome. Because of the storm trees fell down on the train tracks so most people couldn't get to church. Including Sarah. She texted us about how envious she was that we got to go to church and she had to stay home haha. I figured that was a good sign:) 

Julie was able to go with us to the temple this week to do temple baptisms which was awesome. She loved it and felt the Spirit so strong! We are bringing her to our games night this Friday, She is pretty old like 40ish and the game night is all YSA age investigators and members so it should be pretty funny to see! 

Stephanie and Tavete are doing awesome as far as spiritual things go, as far as temporal.... not too well. She was in the hospital this week feeling pretty sick but is recovering now:) Their little baby is so cute and I'm really struggling with the no holding babies rule right now haha;) 

We have an investigator named Patrick we are working with right now! We just set him on baptism date for July 2nd so we are pumped for that! He is really progressing awesome and soaking in the gospel. It's just hard to meet with a lot of our investigators that are in uni right now because it is exam and finals time so they are all crazy busy! It makes me glad to be a missionary even more haha!  All I have to worry about is people, no test no nothing:) 

All in all its been a great week! Everything's going good and solid. 

Love you all!




Letter to family:

Miraculous Rescue from a Crevasse

Clarence Neslen, Jr. took his family to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. 

They enjoyed exploring the Columbia Ice fields, jumping over crevasses in the famous Athabasca Glacier. It was an exciting experience until eleven-year old Cannon, attempting to jump across a crevasse, missed and fell into the deep chasm. He became wedged between the walls of ice. As his father looked down some thirty feet to where his son was trapped, he was further alarmed as he saw a river of icy water flowing beneath the crevasse.

Several young men were also exploring the glacier. They heard the cries for help and came running. They had a small rope but soon realized that it was not strong enough to pull Cannon to safety. If it broke, Cannon would most assuredly fall into the rushing river of freezing water.

Sister Neslen and others ran to a nearby lodge for help. The nearest park ranger camp was seventy-five miles away. They learned by telephone that two park rangers were near the ice-fields. Located by radio, they rushed to the rescue. Time was short, decisions urgent, and silent prayers were sent heavenward.

Brother Neslen tried to calm his son and soothe his fears. Hypothermia was setting in. Young Cannon's shirt had been pushed up as he fell. His bare skin was now pressed against the cold walls of the glacier. To keep his son from unconsciousness, the father called down to him to keep praying, to wiggle his fingers and toes, and to sing his favourite songs. Over and over Cannon sang. "I am a child of God, and he has sent me here, has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear". All were -strengthened by Cannon's faith and determination. But he was beginning to weaken His father kept assuring him that help would soon arrive and that his Heavenly Father would hear his prayers.

The two rangers arrived. Spikes were driven into the ice, and ropes were attached to a ranger, who was lowered to rescue Cannon. But the walls were too narrow for him. Their only chance was to lower a looped rope and pray he was alert enough to grasp it and then have the strength to hold on as they tried to pull him out.

Brother Neslen offered the most fervent prayer of his life, he said. He pleaded with the Lord to save his son's life. "A feeling of assurance and calm came over me," he said, and I knew that he would be saved."

Cannon had lapsed into unconsciousness. His father called down encouragement, rousing his son sufficiently that Cannon's icy fingers now were able to catch hold of the rope.

"Hold on with all of your might!" his father called down to him. Cannon was carefully pulled up — inch by inch, foot by foot — all thirty feet. When he was finally pulled to safety, he was unconscious. His fingers had miraculously frozen around the rope and had to be pried loose.

He was immediately wrapped in blankets and rushed to a waiting ambulance, but there was not enough warmth to raise his body temperature sufficiently. A paramedic undressed Cannon, then took off his own coat and shirt and held Cannon against his bare chest so that his body heat would radiate to the boy. Cannon slowly responded to the loving care of rescuers. The prayers of all were answered.

We thank our Father Heaven that his life was spared. He spared for a purpose. He told his father, while wedged in the ice, he felt comforting assurance that he would be saved. He knows God loves him that He has a special mission for him to perform in this life.

Spiritual crevasses symbolize temptations and pitfalls that too many … are tragically encountering: alcohol, with its wine and keg parties, drug tampering dependency, and X-rated films and videos, which often culminate in sexual immorality. On the edge of those crevasses are parents and others who, with fervent prayers, cry for help and assistance. Like Cannon's father they, too, pray that their sons or daughters will hold onto the extended lifeline. Their love, and the teachings of scriptures and the assurance of the eternal blessings of the Saviour's atonement, are sure lifelines to safety. ELDER DAVID B. HAIGHT Oct 1986

This story was shared to us by our mission president. It made me think of how happy and grateful I am for all my family in rescuing me from my crevasses. I think of the Savior and His teachings. With the woman taken in adultery He said "Neither do I condemn you, go your way and sin no more", with the woman who had an issue of blood He said "Go to, thy faith hath made the whole", When he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry the first thing he said was "Behold your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me".  Time and time again the Lord Jesus Christ has shown that above all things He is merciful to those who are trapped in their own spiritual crevasses. He said so himself in Doctrine and Covenants 61:2, "I the Lord forgive sins". I know that our Savior's atonement is real and powerful. And just like Elder Holland said, I know that there truly is no way to sink further than the light of Christ's infinite Atonement reaches. His rope will never be too short. He will always be there beckoning to us, asking us to grab the rope and let Him pull us to safety. All He asks is that we hold on, that we hold true. I know that my Redeemer lives. I have felt the strength of His rope, His atonement, pulling me out of whatever crevasse I may be in. I have felt the warmth of His embrace giving my soul the warmth it needed just as that boy in the story received warmth to his body. I know God lives. His plan is sure. His son Jesus Christ is our only true way back to our heavenly home. The world may try to extend us different ropes or ways to escape our problems and they may work for a time. But the day will come that we are too deep in a crevasse for them to reach us. But we will never be too deep for our Savior to reach us. I know that that is true. I love you all so much and invite you to reach out and use the atonement. Be strengthened by it and feel the warmth of our Saviors embrace again. 

Elder White