March already?

BODEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

Oh ya! Last Tuesday night we went over to the Osters and told Boden and his dad that Boden really is ready for baptism and invited him to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, March 5th. Wow I love that family! Remember that Boden is 9, and he is a fireball--maybe that is why I love that kid. He is so smart and even though his parents had not come to church in 11 years, they still read the scriptures with him and he is so smart. He knows Bible stories, Book of Mormon stories, pretty much any story I know he could probably finish. And he is getting baptized! Bro. Oster has changed quite a bit in the past month too. We teach him about once a week and have tried guiding him to rediscover his own testimony. He will be doing the baptism, by the way. Bro. Oster is great too! His countenance is different from even a month ago, and he has great insights during Priesthood and Sunday School. Sis. Oster gave a great talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and shared how important the Gospel is, how important Boden has been to her as a parent and to bring her back into the church. I just love that family! So much love and spirit are in that family. Have I ever mentioned that Boden does wrestling?!

Here are a few quotes from Bro. Oster and Boden to give you examples of what kind of personalities they have:

"How can people not believe in God? Teams of engineers use state of the art technology to create cars, yet these same new creations break-down the more they are used. Yet the best supercomputer in the world is a piece of fat between your ears. The harder we run our bodies the better they get. How is there not a Supreme Creator?"
--Bro. Oster, reminding me of something captivating that Bro. Litchfield would say

To give a little background for Boden's quote, is that there is no background. He was running at about 100 miles (kilometers anyone?) an hour and then he said: "My brother has ADHD, it's kind of like letting a raccoon loose in the house." Ya, I died laughing.

When talking to Bro. Oster I shared with him a few scriptures that were key to me finding my own testimony and me realizing that I did have faith in Christ. They are the comparison of faith relating to a seed as found in Alma 32, Ether 12:4, D&C 6:22-24, and D&C 82:10. Feel free to read and see my own spiritual train of thought. And then at the end of the last scripture, is when you do what the Lord wants from you and the Lord has to bless you for it. What a comfort, EH?

Here is something to ponder: most religions want us to be with God and Christ, but we see something even more; not only to be with Christ, but Christ wants us to become like Him. Religion is more than mere profession of the lips. As James in the New Testament states something like giving to the poor and needy is pure religion. GIVING. ACTING. Do you see a pattern in my emails? People, including Latter-Day Saints, need to ACT, not to be acted upon. So many people do not act!

Hey, guess what? I sang at a wedding this past week. Yup. a wedding, not just a reception. So, I'm a wedding singer now right? Right...Elder Morris and I were invited by Elder Cutler to a wedding that he was performing at the church. It was a way that we could get our faces out in the community. Sure did. That wedding was interesting, but I will not go into that.

So a little about investigators. Boden Oster is golden--love that family. You may remember me visiting or mentioning a Jeff and Desiree. They are interesting. They seem to agree with whatever we say, they read, they ask questions, but they never come to church. We ask, "will you come to church tomorrow?" "Oh ya, we'll be there for sure." Nope. Frustrating, because they are so great. Yes, they know where the building is, and what time the meeting is. They have said they will come for about the past 8 weeks, but not once. Hmmm. Someone that Elder Morris and I started teaching a week or so ago is a younger guy named David. David loves the concept of having a modern prophet and was eager to come to church and he even invited himself--UNHEARD OF. But he didn't make it. Maybe something came up, but we knocked on his door at about 8:30 (church at 9) and no answer. I want everyone to know that Sunday mornings are the most stressful time of the entire week by far. Oh, so stressful, especially when the branch is so small and I count how many people are there each week. I want the "chapel" to fill up! It would hold about 40 people. Oh, and Fort Francis had a record-smashing 5 members to church. Yes, it really happened. Being out here really helps me appreciate the upbringing I had in the atmosphere I had too. It is so much more difficult for younger kids here for a number of reasons.

I had to get a Minnesota license, and got it this week. It was a sad day having my Washington license clipped, but the Minnesota one looks pretty good too.

That's about all from my end. I am on about page 590 in Jesus the Christ and my corresponding reading in the Gospels. I will leave you with a good missionary scripture, Alma 17:11 which essentially says be patient in trials, be a good example, and the Lord will make us instruments in His hands (all involving works...).

Ok, and I have to put in a plug for Bro. Oster...he does not know I am doing this, but his home business is fixing computers and he has a website where he can clean-up computers just through the internet. If you ever need a computer cleaned up, give him some thought. His site is computerdr.org. Just food-for-thought sort of thing.

Thank you to Mike and Kim for their letters this week as well! I appreciated Kim's odds and ends about our ancestors and their lives in the early days of the church. Neat. Love to you all, especially my family.

Elder Galbraith