Oh My Lollipops!!! I got to go back to Elko!!!! Pictures attatched!
We went up there Wed, Thur, and Fri. I was able to go and see some of the people we baptized there. The first stop was Peggy, my first baptism! And guess what?!?!?!? She just went to the temple and took out her endowments in Salt Lake!!! I wish you could have seen the smile on my face when I found out. Her family is super happy. She lives with her daughter and her family who are all active members. When we were teaching Peggy we tried to involve a less active member of the ward. This member is now part of the Relief Society presidency! If I had no other success than with her on my mission I would still be able to come home knowing I served God faithfully.
The next visit was to the Zimmerman home. This was the first family I had the opportunity to teach. They were baptized just after I left. I am very close with their family and it is amazing to see them over a year and a half later and see the effects the gospel has had on them. Their oldest, Katie, who is 14 and a freshman is attending seminary and young womens regularly. Their 12 yr old, Asa, just received the Aaronic Priesthood, so when I was there I told them about Samuel and how proud I am of him. Ben is 10 now and their youngest, Sophia, is 9 and was just baptized last year! She is the spitting image of Olivia when she was that age! It is the most rewarding experience to return to an old area.
In the rest of our visits I was able to eat dinner with the Pasketts. Sister Paskett is an amazing cook!!!! They are a young couple who moved to Elko about a year before I started my mission and when I arrived in Elko they took good care of us. Then we saw Carrie! She was our pregnant neighbor who moved in when I was serving there. She had her baby boy after I left so I never got to see him. She is no longer pregnant and Zach is 16 months old! He is so adorable and is walking and talking already!
One of the craziest things was to see how much some of the kids had grown up in just 16 months! I can only imagine what it will be like to come home and see how everyone has matured! It's crazy! Truthfully I felt at home in Elko! I love that place. I will go back there in the next couple of weeks for the last time and will visit some other people I missed seeing this go around.
Things are still going great here in our area. I had dinner with a family from the Tri-cities area the other day and they helped draw out memories I had from there. As I described where we lived and went to school they knew exactly what I was talking about except where I went to school in Kennewick. We deduced Lewis & Clark was the school I went to in Richland and we lived just down the street from a Fred Myers and a 7-11 across from the ACME rock plant. Kennewick was a little more vague. I can remember riding my bike to school and we lived just down the street from a new Toys-R-Us. Other than that I couldn't describe much else. It was a mental trip back in time.
We have a baptism tonight! This is an investigator that was found before I got here. He is taking a big leap of faith. His father is inactive and against the church and this decision. It is sad to see but our investigator is sure that this will help him make the right decisions. His life is quite interesting. He is 20 years old, a union pipe-fitter, races modifieds, owns two cars and his own house, and is well off. Yet what started this whole thing was the lack of happiness in his life. He said he felt life was good for him and he thought by establishing himself he would be happy just as everyone else seems to be who lives in the cookie cutter suburbs of Las Vegas. Even still he did not feel happy but he is sure now that making this decision to follow Christ will bring him happiness.
Well, I've talked your ears off and typed my fingers numb. I love you all! I cannot wait to return home and apply all the things I am learning here. Please pray for me that I can stay motivated, focused, pure, and willing to follow the Spirit as my mission draws to a close. The Lord deserves my best and that is what I am aiming to provide for him.
Love,
Elder Cronin
No comments:
Post a Comment