"Wal Mart Baggers in Pre-mortal life, Playing in the mud, Discovering the missing bible pages, making lemonade & keyboard & drums needed at church??'

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WHOA... Great things this week! I guess good things happen when you decide to go on an exchange with both the assistant and with one of your district leaders in a week! Haha...Crazy...
There was a big chain of miracles in the last couple of days! It started on...

Monday...

We were able to get a bunch of YSA's together to play some basketball during preparation day, and had a great time fellow-shipping, and putting up our own against the best that their army had to offer on the court. We've been teaching one of the member's room mates for a while, but he recently dropped us due to, "some political displeasure with the lobbyings of the church's liberalistic beliefs on some specific attributes and beliefs...." Needless to say, it was sad to see him go.  (especially with the confusing reasoning).  Sometimes the Lord simply calls us to plant seeds in the hearts where the soil is still culminating. He'll access it when he's ready :)

Tuesday...
I went with Elder Curtis on an exchange, and we had a blast! On our way back from meetings, we decided that we'd stop at Five Guys, to get some food, in an area which happened to be one of my old areas. We just happened to see some good members there that were kind enough to pay for us!  We had a great talk with them and found that one of their sons was about to be deployed.  We told them we'd put him on the temple list. He's one of the marines whose been deployed more than 5 times in the last couple years... He's in special forces and has a lot of secret things to do for us over there. So that was fantastic! We ended up teaching a lot of less active families about connecting your family with scriptures.  How we sometimes forget that the most important things are those we love, and that the words of eternal life give us that good click back to the unseen reality of that.
Then we visited and had a really good time role-playing with the Relief Society President.  We told her to think about a normal conversation you'd have with the bagger at Walmart. She did it, and was super nice as always. Then we said ok, "picture him as one of your good friends in the pre-mortal life, telling you that he would be born without the gospel, and would need someone to at least remind him of the Savior, because life would be hard to live righteously, as he didn't have that knowledge." She did it again, and took the extra time to make him smile and feel loved. We all felt the spirit, and the importance of seeing everyone as a child of God. THEN...

Wednesday...
Crazy day!  We went to what I'd say was the best district meeting I've been to on my mission! Elder Young talked about the Holy Ghost, and then it all went silent, as he asked inspired questions, about obedience, and love. Many people there, including myself, were able to testify about the importance of Love and obedience in this work. The best part was a break off role play, where my companion, (still the assistant at the time), and I, were told simply to minister unto one another. I felt prompted to talk specifically about the example he would set particularly to his sister, and the changes he would bring to their lives through his service. He told me that he's been waiting to hear that almost his whole mission, and that was a confirmation for him. It feels so good to be able to know that we can be the Lord's hands in helping people answer their questions, especially Missionaries :)
Then the real craziness began... the district leader and I, after leaving a great free golden corral buffet, went to go and see a less active member preparing for a mission. We were led to this dirt road, just covered in red clay. At first, Elder Young  was able to get out and help us get over the big spots, but then we came across this decently sized puddle... We navigated around it as much as we could, but we uh, kind of... got stuck in a giant mud puddle for three hours... Haha!!  We did all we could, rolling up our pants and trying to slip some wood underneath the tires, but the car didn't want to budge! We called a YSA member that saved the day by towing us out... We got to our dinner appt a couple hours late, but they understood and had a good laugh, making it all worth it in the end ;)

Thursday...
The NEXT day, because we'd got stuck in the mud and weren't able to get to his house on time, we went by again, and saw that he wasn't there, but that his friend was, just sitting there smoking a cigarette. We talked to him and found out he was a Rastafarian!  (Just a couple differences in our beliefs), ...After a good long discussion, he said he'd read from the Book of Mormon. He read 3 Nephi 11 and looked up at us, and told us that we'd found the missing pages of the bible, and that he would like to come to church with us!!! WHOA! We totally got stuck in the mud for the right reason for three hours :D  It was a good feeling to know that Heavenly Father took some of our crazy moldy lemons, and still squeezed us a nice glass of lemonade.  ;)

Sunday...
Skipping down for time's sake. So the guy from Thursday, and his friend, CAME  to church!!! :D It was so good to see them both there!! He said afterwards, that he loved the service, but that, "the music is terrible! man... y'all need a keyboard, and some updated music. Other than that. It was alright."  All we need is a primary program and he'll be converted.  : )

We also noticed that some of the sisters were having a bit of a rough time as well, so we were able to give them a blessing.  They're  powerful servants of the Lord. I could feel the words coming to me. I'm grateful for the many opportunities I've been given to bless others in this area. I've also been able to see so many great examples of faithful members living the gospel, especially on an army base. They love and work together so closely. It's inspiring to see.

Anyway, it's been a great week. Well, It's sadly go time my friends, but I will be back next week!  It will be the start of a transfer.  (Which will last forever!)

Love,  Elder Langford