Week 66 - Aloha

Brothers and Sisters, Aloha.

This last week we had our first lesson with JR. We taught him the restoration and he accepted everything we taught him. I'm pretty sure he's about as golden as they come. The member we took with us, Takio, after the lesson told him and his girlfriend that they're going to get married. Then at church told him he's going to be baptized this next week, which actually works out perfectly because we're planning on committing them to marriage and baptism on Thanksgiving! That way we can have the entire branch show up to support them. So I'm not sure which color is associated with Thanksgiving, but hopefully for us it will be a white one!

We also committed another one of our investigators, Kaiya, with a date! At the end of the lesson we invited her to follow the Savior's example and be baptized, and she flat out told us no. So we explained to her the importance and significance of baptism, and after she said that she wanted to follow the Savior's example, we told her that baptism is the first step in following Him. She agreed, and set her own baptism date for December 31!

Last night we attended an awesome musical fireside. They talked about the power and influence of music. The keynote speaker, Nela Otuafi, gave a great talk. He was running back and forth from the pulpit to the piano and having the entire congregation join in while singing songs. Something he talked about that really hit me was the amount of influence music can have in a person's life. He first asked what happens when you put the wrong beats with the wrong lyrics together? You get a number one hit. He gave an example of if a guy were to walk up to a girl on the street and tell her "I know you love me. I know you care. Just shout whenever, and I'll be there" she'd probably slap him in the face and walk away. But what happens when you put those bad lyrics with the wrong beat? You get the number one most downloaded song in history. He then gave a counter example of what can happen when you put the right lyrics with the right beats. He then led the entire congregation in singing Love Is Spoken Here. The spirit was so strong in that room, and his point was proven perfectly. Music is supposed to bring us closer to our Heavenly Father, and when the right music is listened to it does just that. As a missionary, I can definitely testify that when uplifting music is listened to, it strengthens our relationship with Christ. Hymn lyrics themselves are considered scripture. He then challenged everyone to go through their library on their ipods and take out anything that didn't uplift. He said it didn't have to be all MoTab, but if it doesn't uplift, or have the right lyrics and right tunes, to get rid of it.

I hope you guys all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Merrill