Happy Father's Day! - week 45

HELLOO

This week was a miraculous week! Our transfer is winding down, only a week until moves calls, and we had really been praying for a few of our investigators to have some big improvements for this transfer and the next, and the Lord truly answered our prayers!

This last week we were able to get out 2 more baptismal dates and have 2 more getting set this week, it was just amazing seeing these people readily accept a goal, and look forward to setting this commitment with God. One of our new investigators is so golden, he is named Tan Yang Yang, when we first met he told me he believes that Christ can help him work through some of his current personal issues. We read the Book of Mormon with him this last week, and when I called him on the phone last night, he asked if we could meet all the time and just read the book together, he told me how it brought a feeling of peace that he had never felt before, and he wants more! It is really so amazing how, even though he didn't understand much of the scripture, he could feel the spirit bearing witness to him of it's truth, and telling him simply that it is something he wants more of in his life. He readily set a date for July, he is prepared!

The other miracle of this week is our investigator Guo Dx. His date was set for this next Sunday, but I had my doubts about the date going through due to his past of a hard time with the Book of Mormon and a few Word of Wisdom issues, I also wasn't able to see him at his last lesson because of exchanges. When we met with him I was shocked with his change, faith, and preparedness. Apparently he had dropped smoking on his own two weeks ago because it felt like the right thing to do, and had no problem committing to the other parts of it. Amazing! He also told us he believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God. He has been studying and praying over the book diligently since we met him, and the converting power of the Book of Mormon is real. The promise of the book is real. I know that because he read and prayed with real intent he felt the truth of it. We met with him again on Sunday and he is just cruising through the last of the lessons with no problems, the change is amazing. He will be able to make his date this Sunday! I am so excited for him, he is so very earnest and sincere. He is always asking how he can prepare better, and how he can increase faith. So humble. He will be an amazing member!

Happy Father's day to all! I think about my own father, and how much I learned from him, I sometimes feel like a father for my investigators haha especially the younger ones, and I think of my Heavenly Father. The basis of my own faith, and what must be the basis of everyone's faith, is our relationship with Heavenly Father. I love the hymn O My Father, here are the lyrics: 

• 1. O my Father, thou that dwellest
  In the high and glorious place,
  When shall I regain thy presence
  And again behold thy face?
  In thy holy habitation,
  Did my spirit once reside?
  In my first primeval childhood
  Was I nurtured near thy side?
• 2. For a wise and glorious purpose
  Thou hast placed me here on earth
  And withheld the recollection
  Of my former friends and birth;
  Yet ofttimes a secret something
  Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"
  And I felt that I had wandered
  From a more exalted sphere.
• 3. I had learned to call thee Father,
  Thru thy Spirit from on high,
  But, until the key of knowledge
  Was restored, I knew not why.
  In the heav'ns are parents single?
  No, the thought makes reason stare!
  Truth is reason; truth eternal
  Tells me I've a mother there.
• 4. When I leave this frail existence,
  When I lay this mortal by,
  Father, Mother, may I meet you
  In your royal courts on high?
  Then, at length, when I've completed
  All you sent me forth to do,
  With your mutual approbation
  Let me come and dwell with you.

The foundation of my own testimony came when I was thinking about these questions, is there a Father, did I dwell with him before, will I feel the Spirit tell me, am I a stranger here, does He love me? With all these questions in mind I read Mosiah 4:9 which is on my plaque, "believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom , and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. "

I felt deeply moved by the verse, and with a believing heart full of desire I knelt and prayed. I remember feeling an overwhelming feeling of the Spirit, unbelievably strong, and unmistakably real. I felt the feeling of a Father, talking to a son, saying, I am here, I am real, I do know who you are, and I do love you. I'm grateful for a Father in heaven. The knowledge is precious to me, and I want to share it with everybody possible, so that they can know they have a Father in heaven, we dwelt with Him before, our life has purpose and direction, and if we so choose we may qualify to be with him again. What a wonderful message of love and hope. "Of all the names given to  deity, He asks us to call Him Father." I know He is real, and that He loves us. I invite everyone to humbly ask Him in prayer to remind you of His love, I promise He will answer you through the Comforter. 

I love this mission! I love the change that comes over people as they realize their divine identity and potential, and as they feel God's love in their lives. It is a privilege.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers especially my own!

Love,

Elder Woolley

View from their apartment - They live in the temple building!