Monday, 26 January 2015

Baptism Saturday - Funeral today

Hey everyone,
     I'm sorry if I didn't reply to your emails this morning because we have a crazy day ahead and don't have a lot of time! 
     First off we have a funeral for our mission President's wife today at 11 am, and we need to be there at 10 so sorry for the short letters today! We had a memorial service for her last Saturday with the whole mission and the Hansen family. It went really well, there were a few general authorities there that know the Hansen's so they came and gave some incredible talks. We had Elder Don R. Clarke of the Seventy and Elder Clayton from the Presidency of the 70 give talks, our President spoke to us too. He's doing remarkably well, he's taking everything really good. I talked to him on the phone Thursday morning before we found out, and he sounded normal. He was enthusiastic when he answered the phone, just like he always is. Elder Firpo and I couldn't believe it, he seemed perfectly normal even though a few hours prior to that phone call his wife passed away. He's an amazing man, I don't want a new Mission President! He's such an incredible person and all of us are going to miss him so much!
     Sister Hansen was an incredible person, she always had a smile on her face. She was spreading the gospel at every chance available and was fearless! She always taught us about personal polish, like always shining our shoes, having nice haircuts, stuff like that. She had an amazing sense of humor too, and I honestly love her and President Hansen so much. 
     In other news, we had a baptism on Saturday too! I baptized a guy named Juan Juarez, he's an incredible person. After I pulled him out of the water, he gave me a big hug and said, "I feel incredible, thanks so much Elder Strate." I almost started crying, it was incredible. I love the people in our area and the people we're teaching so much. They're all awesome and I can't wait to continue working with them.
     
     My companion is getting transferred tomorrow, NOOO!!!! Haha I love Elder Firpo, he's such a boss. We won't be able to cheer together when Seattle wins the Super Bowl this Sunday!     
     AAAHHHH! Lol my new companion is named Elder Osbourne, I don't know anything about him but I'll pick him up tomorrow morning. I'm staying in Bountiful, and I'm really happy! I love it here and we have a few more people we'll be putting on date for baptism soon. 
     I've had a rough week as a missionary, we've had a massive tragedy in our mission but we'll see how the next few weeks go. I love the mission, no matter what happens I'll always try my best to stay positive. Love you guys and have a wonderful week! I'm doing good with everything, I was shocked when I found out and felt really depressed, but the work of the Lord must push on. 
Love,
Elder Strate

1st is us with Juan at his baptism
2nd is me with my little Canadian flag I found  

No comments:

Post a Comment