This week we moved apartments. We left our giant basement apartment to go and live in a closet. It took us almost 2 full days to pack up 2 years worth of garbage that missionaries have left behind. There were 11 pillows and a few million ugly ties. That took a big chunk of time out of our week, but the move itself went fairly smoothly because we had all the men in the branch helping out. Our new apartment has 3 rooms: the main room, the bathroom, and the bedroom. To describe the main room--just imagine a little kitchen, and then a pile of furniture squeezed into a tiny space. The water faucets have two settings: water hose and fire hose. But I can't complain. Other missionaries in other countries are living with cockroaches and pouring buckets of water over their heads to shower.
Aside from the move, something spectacular is coming up. Carol is going to be baptized this Saturday! She wants to be baptized in the lake. We've been teaching her for just over a month and now the scheduled baptismal date is here. We just have a little more to teach from lesson 4, then we have the baptismal interview, and then the baptism.
I'm on travels in New Market right now, so I don't have the new address yet. But transfers are coming up right after Carol's confirmation date(the 26th) so perhaps it won't matter.
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we had a really bad Gospel Principles lesson with some of the recent converts. This week we were able to teach one of those recent converts. We were sitting in the classroom, waiting for the ward mission leader to arrive. I decided to go play some hymns on the piano(just with one finger). The recent convert loves singing the classic Christian hymns(Be Still My Soul, Nearer My God To Thee, etc.) so we went through a few of the hymns together. I think the Spirit was stronger at that point than it ever was in any of our past Gospel Principles lessons, although that isn't saying much. It turns out that the ward mission leader was taking the Orrs(older part-member couple) home and never told anyone, haha. We ended up teaching the bulk of the lesson.
When John Taylor was president of the church, he had a similar experience. I'll paraphrase the story. Two men came to him with an issue that needed to be settled. President Taylor said(paraphrased), "Alright, before we address the issue at hand, let us start with a hymn. President Taylor is said to have had a beautiful tenor voice. After the hymn was sung, President Taylor said,"That was so wonderful--would it be alright if we sang another?" The two men consented and sang another hymn. After that one was over, "They say that the third time is the charm! Let's sing one more just to be complete." They sang a third hymn, and the Spirit could be felt strongly. "Forgive me boys, but I just love this so much. How about one last hymn, and then we can get to your problems?" They sang a fourth hymn. By the end, all three of them were in tears. President Taylor said, "Alright. Now what did you come to see me for?" The two men thought for a moment and both admitted that they had completely forgotten what they were fighting over and walked out of the room like best friends. That's the power of hymns. That story is from the church's sunday school manual about Wilford Woodruff, if I remember correctly.
I hope everyone enjoys their week!
--Elder Wade
