Here is Elder Talbot's letter from July 22. 

 

 

Dearest Family,

We're heading to the end of another transfer here in Seattle!! Our planners are only 6 weeks long, so we've been cramming new pages into them to accommodate the long transfer that happened to get onto the Seattle schedule. We're sure that Elder Lutes will be leaving us, and pretty confident that either Elder Kimber or I are leaving. More likely it will be him, but we'll see. That's another week from now or so...

Last night we had a fantastic fireside/cottage meeting at the church building on Mercer Island (...where I told you Bill Gates lives. Yea, we're talking like they plant forests on all of the highway overpasses, and all of the speed limit and exit signs on the freeway are flat-screen tv's. Maybe a little bit of wealth, potentially...)

Anyhow, the fireside was great. Recent converts and investigators were invited, and we brought two of our friends that were baptized about 9 months ago. They really enjoyed it! Elder Kimber and I switched off interpreting. It was in a little relief society room, and we left the back door open and sat in the hall where we could see the speakers, and translated over headsets. I gotta say, it was really hard to interpret President Choi's mostly fluent English into Spanish, because he doesn't use traditional phraseology and what not. But, the gift of tongues kicks in pretty quick and makes it easy.

All of the investigators and recent converts were asked to share their testimonies, and our friend Alejandra volunteered to go up and share. She talked about what her life was like before finding the church, and about meeting the missionaries and her baptism, and then took questions. I interpreted for her, and had a great time. Lots of people thanked me afterwards and said that I successfully transmitted the same spirit and energy of her testimony that she was bearing. One lady commented on how special interpreters are, and what a miracle it's always been for her to watch it in action. I could say nothing more than that the Spirit fulfills its obligations by the prayer of faith!

I've been going on exchanges with Elders in the zone and been learning together with them about effectiveness, and making adjustments to improve. We're training the missionaries to teach the members why we have new rules and practices. I may have noted before, but we now only meet to dine with members on Sundays and Mondays unless they have an investigator present which would allow us to come other days. Members aren't too hot on this, and so we're trying to help them understand. The missionaries are doing a good job of showing them why it works. Miracles are happening because of it. We've already found new investigators because of this new rule, even by just explaining it to members they have been encouraged to give us referrals! It's great!

Oh man... Baptisms will come. I know they will. We're improving as much as we can at a time. Close study of Preach My Gospel has opened new doors for me and helped me understand. There's so much buried in there that you can't possibly see at a cursory glance. I will make some minor substitutions to one of my favorite scriptural passages found in Doctrine and Covenants 130:19-20:

"Whatever principle of [Preach My Gospel] we attain [prior to missionary service], it will rise with us in [our full-time ministry]. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence [regarding Preach My Gospel] through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage [bringing others unto Christ] in [his appointed service here, and in] the world to come."

I firmly believe this to be true and extend an invitation to all that they, by employment of their agency, work to understand the art of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The WHAT's the HOW's, and most especially the WHY's are found in this manual, all again centered on Jesus Christ. I believe this and am working my hardest to know of a surety.