Operation: Baptism

Hey folks!

This week has been good!  Operation: Baptism has been underway and we are on course for this Saturday. It is fun to see him progressing up to baptism, even though we just picked up teaching for the last little leg of the process. We got told by two separate investigators this week that they no longer had interest in meeting, which was a bummer, but we intend to move on by finding twice the new investigators. The branch is good, weather has been better (rainy), and the zone is coming along well out of the start of the transfer.

I don't actually have a whole lot of updates.  This email is going to be lame.

However, I have been studying this week!  What is new, you ask?  I was able to finish Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage.  I have enjoyed reading it greatly!  The final chapters of the book, combined with the corresponding records of scripture, bear powerful testimony of the reality of the Savior's Atonement.  I don't know if we will ever fully be able to grasp the true and full gravity of the Savior's Atonement, but I can say more than ever that we can surely develop our faith in it and realize the true power it can have in our life.  It is in vain to pursue eternal, lasting happiness and security if we seek to circumvent the only true way to it, which is Jesus Christ Himself. The First Presidency declared in 2000 that "His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son." (The Living Christ).  I know that He stands at the head of this church and He will come again.  I know we can be ready for that day where we will be able to stand before Him, and I know that through the power of Him and our obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel as He established before, during, and after His Earthly ministry we can all be cleansed by Him.  For that, I am eternally grateful and will continue focusing my study on coming closer to him and helping others do so as well.

I love you all, and I ask that you as well seek today to know what you can do to help yourself and others come closer to Christ, whether or not they already believe!

Love,
Elder Wallentine