Habenyeros! (sorry for my spellink) We had a BBQ in our branch on Saturday and some of the older ladies in the branch got Elder Wilson to eat a chilly pepper dip! It was really funny! For the rest of the night he would come up to me and say 'man, my lips hurt so bad!' It was fun!
This week has been really good! I love this little island! We are teaching this old native man who is really funny! He keeps telling us to go out and find him some girls and fill his whiskey bottle and stuff, but he has a huge heart! In our lesson with him this week his daughter came over and talked with us. She actually lived in Corvallis before she came here to the island! Small world huh?
Earlier this week we were driving around, and decided to take the long way to our next appointment. We were behind a bus and it stopped and let some kids off. One of them was a less active member named John, who we had only met once because he doesn't come to church that often. We pulled over and actually gave him a ride home (probably not the best thing, I know....) because he was a few miles away from his house. We had a really good talk just about school and his life. When there was a pause in the conversation he said "So, I've been thinking. I think I want to serve a mission!" Elder Wilson and I were so shocked by this that we didn't know what to say! After we got over the surprise we were able to testify about what an incredible experience the mission is, and that we will be here to help him get to that point. It was amazing to see the Spirit truly guide us into this boys path, and then to watch it soften his heart. It's cool to be able to do what the other missionaries did for me! Even if that was the only experience we had had here in Dutch Harbor, I would've considered us successful.
We had another cool experience this week with the Spirit. We finally met up with a former investigator, Janis, who is super solid, just very busy! She's a native lady and owns a lot of the land here. I love talking with the native people because they are hugely spiritual. We came in and she started to tell us all of the crazy things that had happened to her that day, and she recognized that it was Satan trying to stop her from talking with us. When we were leaving, we wanted to leave the scripture about "opposition in all things" with her to read, but neither of us could remember where it was! Embarrassingly, I skimmed the chapter headings in the Book of Mormon until I saw something that applied to her. I saw something that looked good and invited her to read it. After the lesson we were in the car, feeling kind of stupid, and we decided to look at the chapter that we had left her to read. It was 2 Nephi Chapter 2, the exact chapter that we were looking for. It was very clear to us that the Spirit lead us to share that with her!
On Saturday the branch had a BBQ which was very well attended! We invited a lot of people, and amazingly, many of them showed up! It was a very good and productive activity. There was a Samoan family who came, and actually the people for whom President Clark (the branch president) asked for a Samoan missionary. They had a great time and came to church the next day. The wife got up and bore her testimony, testified of the truthfulness of the church, and said that someday all of her family was going to be baptized! It was a very special experience for us. We had a good lesson with them last night, and talked about how our goal is not baptism, but the temple.
Well things are going very well here! Both Elder Wilson (who's English is still getting better) and I are developing a deep love for this little island and the people here.
Happy Birthday Joe! Hope everything is going well for you, Mel, and the little Garbanzo!
Love to all, Elder Gullerud
Email dated May 6, 2013
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