Hey Mom! June
12, 2017
This week:
Dam tours, Waterfalls, Apostles and nothing too much
else.
The classes look pretty good to me! But you know I kind of
feel bad, and I guess I'll have the chance to do it when I'm off the mission,
but at the same time I feel guilty for having you do my registration instead of
myself doing it. Then again, I'm out here, and I think it's safe to say that
there won't be anything from here that won't be affected by the lessons I've
learned out here. Still! I'll let you know if I still want to take ROTC by 21
June. Talked to Mckay about it, and despite his gung-ho attitude he did mention
it would be better to be commissioned than get drafted if that happened. But
then there's Dad's council on it. I'll give some thought and prayer, but in the
end I'll let you know!
I guess you've probably been able to learn from my last
emails that Coulee Dam isn't the most exciting area for stories-worth-sharing.
But you know with the past week, suffice to say, I can sum up in a
nicely-lengthened but also brief message. For one, took the first course of My
Plan. That was....nice I guess. Basically a summary of the greatest spiritual
takeaways I've had on the mission so far. I've changed and learned a lot!
The Grand Coulee Dam tour that took place a week ago was
nice, as dam tours go. The post 9/11 world doesn't allow for as much excitement
as it used to, but for what it was it wasn't bad! Us along with Omak and
Oroville showed up on the dot for the tour to meet our member connection/tour
guide himself, Bro. Miller. And his absolutely adorable 5-year old daughter,
Mia. Against better judgment I assumed that this would be a private tour, but
we realized we were joining along with another tour. So we may or may not have
crashed the totally normal scene when 8 Mormon missionaries got in with the
rest of the group at the security checkpoint. We boarded the bus, drove to Pump
plant III, took the elevator down, saw the main turbines, and then went back up
to drive to another view point, and then it was over. Kind of anti-climatic if
I'm honest, no frozen robots, aliens, or super humans hid down there. That we
know of...*insert Twilight zone music
The next highlight of the week occurred when driving up to
Grand Coulee, taking us past the dam itself. Before we had heard the sound of
cascading water, and assumed it was just a few of the flood-ports open.
We were wrong, the entire spill way was flowing! And it had
turned the face of the Dam into a sheer white face! Kind of threw us off guard,
but it was waaaayyyy cool getting to see that. Kind of like a
once-in-a-lifetime thing! Learned from Bro. Miller later told us that about 185
thousand gallons of water come off that every second, and while it may
seem alarming, I did the math. It would still take a little under a week to
lower Lake Roosevelt one foot at full pump. In other words, more water runs out
of that thing than I've ever used in my life. Lot of water folks.
Between tracting and other things, got to meet a lady and
her family who were interested in coming to a church, Jessie passed her interview
for baptism, and on Saturday she and Austin were married in Montana! It's been
really cool meeting with them, you can really see the change that's come over
them because of the Gospel. Austin has opened up a lot ever since then, and
we're looking forward to Friday for them as well!
Chances are the biggest highlight was when Elder Andersen
came to Kennewick for the bi-mission conference. Oh mah golly, the Spirit was
super strong! I wish I could pinpoint or at least summarize what we talked
about, but overall he along with members of the seventy counseled us to really
have faith and effort, we could hit 50 baptisms mission wide if we really dug
down and went for the gold. We need to improve our overall OYM quality, and
more or less have faith that we can do this. He also bore his apostolic
witness, and I'll tell you, the spirit was super charging there! Now I know
more than ever that God has called Apostles and Prophets to lead, guide, and
direct us in these days. Unshakable hope, that's what it is! Because in
the end He sent His son to save us and strengthen us to keep going!
Yeah, it was cut up pretty well this week. I'll be certain
to let you guys know how the baptism on Friday goes! I'll just end with my
testimony, that I know that this church is true, and that God lives and Christ
His son has risen from the dead to help us be raised ourselves. He's called
prophets and brought forth the Book of Mormon along with the Bible to lead us
through life. And no matter how hard it gets to live, it will always be worth
it to endure!
Anyhoo, love you all! Glad to hear that you can feel my love
when I'm away. I can feel yours too! Good luck with whatever project is going
on, I'll be there to help, but for now, I need to help people feel the spirit
so they can change their lives for the better, acting as a representative of
Jesus Christ.
Love you all!
Michael
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