Finding the Lost Sheep

Hey everyone!

We have been seeing so many miracles lately when it comes to relocating lost members.  I don't know how, but we keep having experiences similar to the one we had with Gizi a while back (the member lady we found on the street who didn't know where the church was).  She has been coming regularly, and seems to honestly enjoy coming to church, even though it is not in her native language (hey, wait, same for me, too!).

Recently, we met a Columbian member on the street, who said that she would love to come in contact with us!  We haven't been able to meet yet, but we are trying to. We also had a really good  conversation with a less active member we found while going through the lists a while back.  We had tried calling him for the longest time, but it was difficult to reach him. After we got Facebook, though, things simplified and we were able to quickly come in contact with him!  The lesson we subsequently had was great, and we focused on setting goals to progress him to the temple.

Lastly, this past Sunday, a man from Iran walked into the church, and sat down during Sacrament Meeting.  Tears rolled down his face as he listened to talks given and embraced the atmosphere of the church.  We spoke with him after, and he said that he was a member, was baptized as a student in the Philippines into the church, and was again living In Iran prior to coming here. He has only been able to come to church once per year, approximately, and has sacrificed a great deal to make it to Germany, where he intends to stay.  I hope he will find a way to be able to do so. From this man's story, about which there are many unshared details I will not include, I have come to realize just slightly more what it means to have religious freedom.  The amount of tragedies in individual lives that have happened in some of these countries makes me sick to my stomach and can cause my blood to occasionally start to boil.  I don't care if you are religious or not--the right for all men to worship (or not worship) according to their desires is divinely-endorsed and an essential part to our agency and progress as human beings.  Perhaps we can all take some time this week to consider why this is such a crucial right.

But yeah, really cool miracles are taking place.  We have had a lot of cool lessons with investigators and members alike.  I feel like my work is paying off as we continue finding these people--totally
unintentionally on our part lots of times, too--God has truly been placing people in our path.  I feel the parables of Christ apply to many these people, namely the parable of the lost sheep.  These people
never rebelled against the church or willingly and knowingly apostatized from what we have heard and seen, but they simply and slowly lost contact with the church due to circumstance.  Glad to be
on the Lord's errand as we find so many opportunities to locate such people.

I've got nothing else to report!  See you guys later!  Love you all!

Elder Wallentine