Another Baptism

It is great to hear from you, this week has been a great week. We had the baptism on Saturday it was great! Brother R. has been waiting to be baptized over a year.  When he was baptized news spread fast about it, there are missionaries who are home and married that taught him!  It really was something for him to be baptized.  Unfortunately, certain baptism requirements are time sensitive so I will not have another baptism while I am here. 

I too have heard that it is supposed to snow this week, but isn't the first time people has told us that, yet it hasn't snowed since November. We still do missionary work like normal on those days, and Camp Lejeune stays up and running too.

While the weather has gotten colder I am fine. I am keeping warm. We went on base to the beach on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We got a flat tire at a tank crossing, luckily there wasn't any tanks.

2 Nephi chapter 2 is a chapter I share a ton with investigators.  Without going into much detail, many people I have taught and am currently teaching have serious problems.  Problems that even professionals cannot completely fix.  Yet, I have seen people come unto Christ and have many of their difficulties wash away.  And they are now happy.  I have also seen how much people find happiness from families.

I love you, and I will email you again next week.

Love, Elder Lakey

Martin Luther King Day

The library was closed on Monday, because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So this is the first chance I had to email you. Brother R. is still going to be baptized on Saturday which is really exciting, it is great to see the changes in him!

I was able to go the zone leaders for the last two days, which was highly spiritual and fun. And the weather has gotten cold, like Utah cold now.

I'm very sorry to hear about great grandma, I will pray for her. I'm fine with whatever in the package, I'm still eating candy from Christmas. But, I am always grateful for a package.

I'm sorry that this is a short email, I don't have much time, but I will email you again next week.

Love, Elder Lakey

Things are going great

Things are going great here. This week we had a miracle. Ever since I got to Jacksonville, we have been teaching a investigator.  He always had a testimony of the Gospel and everything related to it, but he wouldn't stop smoking, he wouldn't come to church and he was on probation. (We can't baptized people who are on probation) no matter what we did we could not get him to stop smoking, come to church consistently and become converted to the Gospel. Eventually, he violated his probation and ended up back in jail. Last week, he went to court where they released him from jail and terminated his probation. What was a even  bigger miracle was he changed and became converted, he is a very different person now. He has stopped smoking and is coming to church. He fasted and prayed a lot in jail and he realized how much his mistakes are hurting his family. He always wanted to be baptized, but now he wants to be baptized for a different reason, he wants his baptism to be for the benefit of his family (who are already members) and not for his own benefit. He should be baptized on January the 25th.

This week has been pretty good, I am feeling good. As far as the pants go, don't worry about it I believe I found a solution to my problem.

The weather has been good. Last week, we had the coldest day in years here. It got down to 15 degrees at night ... since then it has been in the 50s and 60s. This is clearly not Utah weather, seeing how my coldest is your normal.  

I am glad that you have such confidence in me. Being on a mission isn't easy but it is rewarding. I will email you more next week.

Love, Elder Lakey

Six Months

It seems very crazy to me that I have been a missionary for over 6 months now!

This week should be a better week.  Last week I was sick, so we didn't do much, but I am feeling better now. The weather has been bouncing around it went from being in the 60s to being in the 30s to back to the 60s again.

Elder Killbourne replaced Elder Mickelson, which is really crazy. When I came to Jacksonville, I replaced Elder Killbourne, and it is really crazy to have a missionary come back to the same town he already served in, even if he is in a different ward.

I love that thought, Jesus was the perfect leader because he was the perfect example and we must follow that example. Many people become interested in the Gospel, because they see and know people who are living the Gospel standards. We are constantly doing missionary everyday, as we strive to live a Christ like life. And people, as they look at us, will recognize that our happiness come from living the Gospel.

Thanks for your support and love, and I email you next week.
Love, Elder Lakey

Brand New Year

It is great to hear from you. There has been a lot of sickness going around, and I am a little under the weather myself right now, but I am fine. I cannot believe that I have been out for almost 6 months now! It has been going by really fast! I have heard of hump day and burning a shirt on that day, but that is the only tradition that I have heard of.

It sounds like you had a fun Christmas. It was a good Christmas for me.The CD player and speakers should work great, thank you!  As far as pants go, I will look at the sizes this week, and I will need about two more pairs.

I do not know what we are doing for New Years, we will probably be with the other Elders that night. Also, Elder Mickleson is being transferred, he is opening up a new area which should be exciting and challenging.

I love this spiritual thought, because as missionaries we are supposed to "Say nothing but repentance unto this generation" DC 6:9, and everyone has need to repent. I remember back home, how virus and other electronic debris got on my computer. But there were ways (mainly through you) that it could be fixed. And that is what the Atonement can do for us  on a very personal level.

I love you and I will email you again next week.
Love, Elder Lakey