Week 83 - LegoLand and a Baptism

Dear Mary,

I'm so glad that ya'll had a great time at stake conference, and a great week! I absolutely love the analogy of the Star Trek crew and ward council!! That fits so perfectly!! XD

[Note: a brother at Stake Conference said that Captain Picard showed a perfect example of how a ward council ought to go. Whenever a tough decision arises, he calls the heads of the major organizations throughout the ship, asks their advice, listens, and makes the decision, then everyone gets up and goes to work.]

Now you know my pain of wisdom teeth!! Although, I don't think mine were all that bad...only one was kinda off, but it wasn't hard to get out at all! I remember I got one half done at a time, so it wasn't agonizing for me. But I'm glad that you got it done! :)

LEGOLAND was soooo much fun!!! :D Others have told me in the past that it wasn't that great, but we're lego people... so I had a blast!!! I even bought a little lego batman keychain. There was so many things to look at! It was very impressive to see all the amazing things that people built out of legos! I definitely want to take ya'll there after the mission!

A cool little thing to know about LEGOLAND is that if you bring a little figurine with you, you can trade with the workers for the figurines that they have! It was so fun!

My favorite ride was probably the Ninjago ride! You sit with 3D glasses on and as you go to different rooms, the screens come alive with lego Ninjago characters and you have to "fight" them. You just thrust your hands forward to shoot "lasers" at the bad guys...I loved it so stinkin much! I also won haha my score was 98,532... SO FUN!!!

Several days this week were kinda hard for me.... I'm not sure why this week of all weeks, but I missed Mom a lot! I was thinking about how we're gonna do Christmas, and would think about all the different things I was so excited to show her and tell her about after the mission, but now it'll have to wait a little longer.... I know that she's here, but it's different, ya know? We went over to the Crump's house last night, because I needed it pretty bad. They are always willing to listen to me and cheer me up when I need it. I felt better after that :)

We baptized Santiago on Saturday!!! :D Elder Sedgwick Baptized him, and I confirmed him. You could definitely feel the spirit there! It was another super awesome day! :) You should've seen it, Santiago was also wearing a little "future missionary" name tag on his suit. It was the cutest thing ever! At church the next day I also gave him a tie from my collection that I signed, so that he could remember me in the future, and wear it when he gets older :) His mom told us what a huge impact we've made on Santiago, and how much we really have helped him. I'm so glad that I get to be a part of helping these children of God to grow and to have goodness placed in their hearts :)

Please continue to write when you can, I love hearing how life is progressing back home!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

[Prepare yourself for LOTS of pictures!!!]

Everything is awesome!!!

I was so excited when I found the Batman guy!!!

Elder Wockenfuss and Elder Sedgwick with Santiago,
a young man they helped prepare for baptism this weekend.

Week 82 - Gospel Analogies, Baptismal Dates, and LegoLand

Dear Mary,

I'm so glad that you're getting used to driving! I love the gospel analogy that you made with that! It makes a lot of sense honestly!

[my analogy: As I sat in sacrament meeting yesterday listening to the testimonies, it suddenly occurred to me that learning to drive and working toward a driver's license could be an analogy for gaining a testimony and converting to the gospel. At least, the way that I learned could be. It can be scary, but the more you practice, the more comfortable you are behind the wheel, the more you're ready and willing for other parts of driving that seem scary—like the roundabouts or driving on the interstate. And if you have a teacher who is calm, friendly, helpful, loving, one who celebrates every driving milestone with you, it's so much better. As a person learns about the gospel, it might seem scary, it might seem exciting, it might not be interesting, who knows how they feel? But as they learn more, their hearts are softened, and they become eager to learn more and more. It can bring about changes in their lives that they might not be ready for. But will they keep going? It's up to them.]

I have also found a gospel analogy this week! I told you of the mishap with my laundry didn't I? Ink splotches all over my white clothes...I was not pleased haha but I asked many people about how I can get the ink out of my clothes, cuz I don't wanna walk around with black spots all over myself, that would be just weird! But after asking several people that I trust, I found a few things to try, and it was not super easy! I had to scrub with one certain solution, with another solution I had to let it soak for a while, but finally after much effort, the stains came out of the majority of the clothes. The whites that had some spots remaining on them were still so much better than before! The shirts even became brighter as if I had just bought them! and that experience made me think of the scripture in Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." and also in Alma 5:21 " ...for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins."

I was literally doing just that! except for in the blood of Christ part, but if there was a cleaning product called the Blood of Christ, it would be the best stain remover ever!! Because of Christ our stains can be removed, but as I had to do with my clothes, we have to put in our best effort and then let the Blood of Christ do the rest. It can't just be us working on it, and it can't just be Christ doing everything. He did pay the price for our sins and sadness, but we have to continuously work and improve everyday. Otherwise it's just like not striving to take care of our white laundry, we could just throw them in the washer with no other thought in taking care of them then just "the washer will take care of it, I don't have to do any thing else," but that won't amount to much will it? I've learned that I have to scrub at certain spots of my white shirts in order to keep them white. If I don't scrub them and take care of them with certain solutions, they will yellow and not look nice. It's a lot like the Atonement of Christ, if we don't take advantage of it and use it to get rid of our "stains", it won't amount to much. That's one thing what I learned this week haha

We set baptismal dates with 2 of our investigators!! :D They will both be baptized on the 18th this month! We are so excited for them!

Also, we had been asked by the bishop to teach a little boy in the ward in preparation for his baptism, to make sure that he understands everything. His family had been less active until earlier this year, so they just wanted us to help Santiago understand more about baptism, the restoration, and the commandments, to make sure he knew what he was getting into. He's now going to be baptized this Saturday by Elder Sedgwick, and then he's asked that I confirm him in church the next day. It won't count as an official "number" for us as a missionary baptism, but we taught him, we're helping him to make this step, so it counts to us as helping another soul coming unto Christ.

I haven't gotten those prepaid packages yet, but I'm sure I'll get them today though!

Today, we're having a district activity! ANNNND......We're going to LEGOLAND!!!! :D 

There's nothing different regarding our areas, we just meet with our missionaries for DM, report our numbers to a different Elder, stuff like that.

I'll certainly let you know if there is anyone who needs a postcard!

Thanks for writing! Keep it up when you can, Love you!!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss