Dear Family,

Things are going really great here, but some of the people we are teaching really are going through some rougher times. Patty and Katie are still progressing towards baptism, and we had a baptism on Sunday! Things are just going so well here, and the branch is doing so great at keeping these people going. I'm starting to value the HT/VT programs a lot more as I watch our converts going off into the hands of the ward members. It is so vital to their success that the branch members be involved, daily, if possible in the lives, trials, and triumphs of these converts. It does miracles for them.

It sounds like after two years of CRAZINESS, some things, like moving to Europe, are starting to come full circle. It was interesting how it's doing the same on my mission. My first zone conference, Sister Fillmore read us a story from a book, but she didn't tell us the title. I've  wondered ever since, as I've used the story in teaching the gospel, what the book was called. That was 23 months ago. Last Sunday, a man in the branch stood up and read us a story in his talk. At last, he said the title was "The Spyglass." It was a simple thing, but a symbol as well, that everything happens for a reason, and that God knows everything about us.

I love this gospel, and I'm so thankful for the knowledge of who God really is. We had an experience yesterday that was incredible. We were tracting into a guy named Tom. He was nice, but as he sat us down, he went and got his Bible. He picked it up, and pulled out of the pages, a card, all too familiar. A card with at least twenty reasons why the Seventh Day Adventists, JW's, and Mormons, CAN'T be true. He asked us several questions, and often, these discussions never go anywhere. So often the person becomes too hard-hearted and contentious to accept any explanation. But as I opened my mouth, and began to teach him from the scriptures, they came alive! We went through Revelations, to Deuteronomy, scriptures I had even forgotten about, came to light, and we wanted so bad for him to get it, that the spirit softened his heart. God is merciful, and he did soften his heart, and hear what we had to share with him. He accepted a Book of Mormon and we'll be going back next week. I'm so grateful for the light we find in the scriptures. They work wonders on the hearts of men.

I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Wallentine