Prayer
(Random picture but he sure looks happy!!)
Hello friends and family from the beautiful Lincoln Nebraska. I hope all is going well wherever you are in the world, and I hope that you continually find joy in life because of the Gospel despite trials and hardships. Well on Saturday Samone was baptized!!! I was really amazing. She showed up that morning and was very bubbly and excited. She said she stayed up until four the night before with her friend making a dress, and all she could talk about was how excited she was to be baptized. The service was great. Two of her friends from the ROTC program, including her friend who introduced her to the Gospel, gave great talks. After that I had the privilege to be the one to baptize her. There was much support there at the baptism, and luckily we were able to do it in one take, haha. She came up very happy and smiling, and bore a great testimony after. She talked about how her whole life she has been searching for a church that would bring her closer to God and Christ, and how through diligent prayer and scripture study she was able to learn for herself that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in fact Christ's Church, that the Book of Mormon was true, and that Joseph Smith was indeed a true prophet of God. The next day on Sunday Elder Chesley confirmed her a member of the Church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost. He gave a great blessing, and she was very happy and enthusiastic afterwards, despite her lack of sleep. One of the biggest things I've learned from Samone is that consistent prayer and reading of the scriptures truly does have the power to bring us to Christ, to follow His Gospel, and to have the courage to keep the commandments. Every time a concern came up, or she had trouble accepting something we taught, she prayed and read her scriptures, and I know that through that Heavenly Father guided her through the Holy Ghost to find truth in her life. What a wonderful thing to be a missionary and to see the amazing miracles that God has for His children who sincerely seek Him out.
So my spiritual thought of the week is about prayer. Throughout my mission I have learned many things about prayer, and I day by day learn more about it's importance in our lives. One thing that I've really learned is that we cannot truly help our brothers and sisters unless we first pray and seek guidance for them. Alma says in Alma 29:4: "I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction." What this means is that God grants unto us, through prayers, according to our desires. If we have desires to do good, and pray with real intent, meaning we are willing to act on Spiritual promptings for things that we need to do, then God will grant unto us according to our desire. If we have desires to bring people to Christ, the Holy Ghost will guide us to those that are prepared, and all we have to do is open our mouths to them. So, if we truly want to have missionary experiences in our lives, we need to pray for them, listen to the Spirit, and then courageously invite all around us to come unto Christ by living the Restored Gospel. I promise as we do such we will find much happiness in our lives, and those around us will be drawn nearer and nearer to God. I love you all so much, and hope you have an amazing week. 
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