Saturday, December 24, 2016


Alec, Elder Burgess, and investigator skyping with new convert
Familia! 
 
Can you believe it's Christmas?! Amazing how time flies.  

The People

Our new convert brought her friend to church on Sunday! She's a great missionary. Her friend was impressed with the church and how welcome she felt. Hopefully we can teach her when she gets back from her holiday! 

I've been focusing recently on pushing myself even more with talking to the people on the tube. Ex: I would talk to someone, they wouldn't be interested, so I'd change seats or move and talk to someone else.  

We met this week with a recent convert of a few months ago. He's a great guy, and an amazing photographer. Quote from him"The thing that holds us back is our limiting beliefs. You have to replace limiting beliefs with liberating truths". He was quoting someone else, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. He also gave us a very big/nice christmas gift. What a guy.  

For the day of gratitude for "Light the World", our new convert texted Elder Burgess and I individually and expressed some really nice things. I'm grateful for her! she taught with us today and did a great job.  

Another new convert taught us the Restoration this week and she did very well! She has a great understanding and desire.  

Christmas
Tomorrow will be a great day! I'll tell you about what we do tomorrow night (afternoon for you).  

Miracle
I was in line at Pret a manger to purchase my dinner (a nice chicken salad), the lady asked me how I was doing. I responded with a big smile and enthusiasm. The price then came up on the register, then went to £0.00. She said "it's because of my smile". Seeing me surprised and confused that I'm getting a free dinner, she then just said "Merry Christmas".  

Love you all! Merry Christmas

Elder Withers
 
 

Saturday, December 17, 2016


Hey there familia! 

Christmas is in the air. We just completed a week of Christmas Conferences! That was fun... We had pizza and salad every day for lunch. Wow... I was proud of myself for my discipline in my eating. 

Funny
Elder Burgess and I got matching Christmas T-shirts for the Christmas Conferences (after lunch everyone threw on a Christmas jumper). We looked rather smashing in them. I'll send a picture! 
 
Alec and Elder Burgess
 Spiritual
Christmas conference was so great! I enjoyed the talks given by President and Sister Stevens and a couple stake Presidents that attended. I look forward to Christmas and hope we can spend at least some of the day with people who would otherwise be lonely/without anything to do on that special day.  

Our investigator was baptised on Sunday!! It was so great to be a part of her conversion. I'm so impressed with her obedience, her love of God, and her consistent study and prayer habits. As I've expressed before, she's so pure and sweet!  

Our new convert spoke at Bamboo's baptism, and did an incredible job. I'm very impressed with how much she's grown as well. They make quite a team! 
 
 

Have a wonderful week! Enjoy celebrating my half birthday on Thursday.
 
Love,

Elder Withers

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Alec and Elder Burgess in front a PROTEIN!!


Hola familia! 

It's been a great week. I've been much better in journaling! Sadly I left my journal in the flat so I don't remember as much juicy details. 
 
Royal Albert Hall
 
The Work
Our investigator is ready for baptism, and tomorrow is the day! She tried on her baptismal clothes and is good to go. We asked her if there's anything we could do for her in our last lesson, and she was so sweet in her response. she expressed a lot of gratitude to us for all we've done to teach her, and answer her questions from the Book of Mormon. So sweet!

My growth
I'm shrinking! Lol I've been quite disciplined recently with my diet. I'm determined to get fit before judgment day arrives.  

I'm so grateful for the many trials I've experienced on my mission. For they turn me to God, and lead me to rely on him to overcome. 

Funny
We introduced our new convert to PMG, and invited her to study Lesson 1 so she can teach us on Friday. She said that she will be a great teacher, that it's in her genes. What a girl.  

Skyping lesson

Hope you all had a great week! 

Love,

Elder Withers

Saturday, December 3, 2016


Alec and Elder Burgess with ice rink in South Kensington
 
Hello family!

This was a great week. Winter is coming (as well as my half birthday). How is everyone doing over there? Christmas will be here before you know it... Here are some juicy tidbits about my week:

Companion
Elder Burgess and I had a nice lunch with a member today. We also took a nice selfie with a scenic background. I'll make sure to send it. 
 

Alec as Joseph in the live nativity
The Work
Our investigator is doing so well! She has already passed her interview and will be baptised on 11 December. She even brought a friend to church last week. Sadly, she wasn't interested (yet) 

The American says he believes the Book of Mormon is true, and understands that that means that this church is the only true church. However, he's been tough to get ahold of. We should see him tonight, and we'll smash him with the Spirit & Christlike love & boldness & Christmas. 

We finished transfers this week! It was a bit crazy but good. We pretty much spent friday-monday morning with President and Sister Stevens. Tuesday night was the departing dinner! It was special to hear the testimonies of the sisters in my MTC group! Very strong. Then the very next morning, 18 new missionaries came in! All of them have such great faith and excitement about the work. I quite enjoy interacting with the new missionaries coming in.  

Transfers with President and Sister Stevens
 
The Work outs
We ran three times this week in Hyde Park. It's a nice run! for 2/3 of them, we ran for 30 minutes. It's probably a bit over 3 miles.  

Funny
I asked our new convert what she wanted for Christmas, and she said she wanted a boyfriend. Haha Elder Burgess and I tried to matchmake for her, but to no avail. haha On a more serious note, she did baptisms for the dead yesterday with a group of YSA! So fun. 

Spiritual
I'm so grateful for personal study time. This morning I changed the way I studied the Book of Mormon; digging in to footnotes, and spending time reflecting and writing down thoughts and impressions. I am so excited to continue this pattern of study. Previously, I was too focused on staying with the mission's reading of the book of mormon, as well as doing other things in study time. I plan to stay caught up with the Book of Mormon reading and finish by Christmas, but I'll just devote more personal study time to the Book of Mormon. After all, it's the most correct of any book! 

Love you all! Happy December.

Elder Withers
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, November 26, 2016


First Christmas package arrived in less than a week!
Hi familia!

I hope everyone's started listening to Christmas music, because I sure have! Christmas cheer is finally here. The HP Chapel has been decked with boughs of holly (figuratively speaking), and it's quite festive. On Monday night Elder Burgess and I will be Joseph for the live nativity (at different times, of course). One of us will be finding with a member while the other assumes his role. 

Also, you've probably heard about this, but the Christmas Initiative has been launched! How fun. I look forward to using it in finding and teaching situations. 

Funny
There's an app called "Face swop" that we've enjoyed taking selfies with. (When I say we, it means us and our Chinese investigators). Jing commented on one of the pictures "I look handsome as a man."  

The office
The Rees took us out to dinner this past week to a very nice Italian restaurant! It was so fun to be with them. Sadly we had an appointment not too long afterwards, so we didn't have tons of time to talk, but it was so good to get to know them a bit better. Also, Sister Rees shared her conversion story with us a couple of days ago. It was incredibly powerful! She gave up a lot for the gospel. Amazing. I love the Rees and I'm glad they're here! 

Transfers have begun! We spent all day yesterday with President and Sister Stevens discussing leadership and changes in companionships. Fun fun! They are both such wonderful people. If only the rest of the mission knew how funny President was... :D 

The Work
Our new investigator is great! She's done so well with reading, praying, commandments, and she even committed to invite a friend to church for next week. She's an example to me. 

Our other investigator is doing well, too! She has quite the enthusiastic personality. Funny to teach her. 

My Companion
Elder Burgess and I are having a great time together. Working hard, learning lots, and enjoying the work. We started running a bit in Hyde Park this week! We want to alternate between running and basketball. 

Spiritual
It's strange how fast the time is going... The Sister Missionaries that came out the same time as me go home on Wednesday. This is definitely a spur for even further change! Missions are so precious and I'm grateful I have so much time left.  

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for each of you. For you love, letters, prayers, friendship, and support. I'm so grateful to be here in England! I really love it here, and I love the people. The mission is incredible. 

Love you all!

Elder Withers 

P.S. I don't have anything to report about reindeers, but I put it in the subject line because it rhymed with "Christmas Cheer"

 

Friday, November 25, 2016

[SENT NOVEMBER 19, 2016]


Gale's Farewell
Oye! 

Familia. Tudo bem? That's Portuguese. I'm currently sitting in the mission office on the 3rd floor of Hyde Park Chapel. To my right sits "The Mews", an expensive grouping of housing. To my left sits "Elder Burgess", my faithful companion. In front of me sits "Vanilla Yogurt", which is the most pleasing to the taste. Anywho, I'll tell you about my life during the past 7 days.  

Companion
Elder Burgess got a hair cut this morning. I'm so excited for today actually. It'll be the first p day that we've had time to just chill a bit; we are going to walk by "The Globe Theatre." T'will be fun. 



The Work
Our dear friend dropped us. ): It was quite heartbreaking. She "made a decision to give up", saying "it's too hard for me to have a religion. I tried, but I failed. And I have talked with my parents about this, they also don't agree. Sadness... 

I was talking to investigators (since they're friends, and Jing was the one who originally referred her). Our new convert had such a good attitude. She said "At least she heard about God. More Chinese people need to learn about God." What a good perspective. She went to FHE on Monday, is having fun, and making even more great friends. I'm so happy for her! She's just the coolest person.  

On Sunday we had Hot Pot at an investigator's house (she will be baptized at the end of this month. She's being taught by another set of missionaries in the ward). If you don't know what Chinese hot pot is, look it up on google! It was super good, and fun.  

After the dinner, we taught our first lesson with our new convert since she was confirmed (she was confirmed on Sunday during sacrament). We taught a wechat lesson. Our new convert was so excited to teach.  

We found another Chinese girl to teach! We taught her in person, with our new convert joining the lesson over my iPad. They met up the next day (since they both go to UCL), and now she is super excited for church because our new convert told her that Sundays are her favorite day. WOW! I wish you could meet her. Add her on facebook! She'd love it. :) 

Lessons Learned

I've realized that many of the skills I've developed at home (organization, computer skills, movie making, people skills, nunchuck skills etc.) are being used in the mission. It's quite neat! Yesterday I typed up in excel an availability calendar, displaying availability times for members. I was quite proud of it actually. One column is for the member name, and then there are 7 columns for the days of the week. If they can't teach then, I just put an "x". Otherwise I'd specify when they can teach. There's another column for phone number as well. I got all the information by mass messaging individual members and asking for their availability. It's quite beautiful, if I do say so myself. If I'm ever a ward mission leader, this is totally what I'd do. It makes it very easy to plan for and teach with a variety of members! Also it increases ward missionary work by involving more people. 

Funny
I asked my Chinese friends for a Chinese name on Sunday, and was given the name "Wei Shau Bau", which is apparently some polygamist Chinese character. Needless to say, I requested another name. Lol Chinese people are such jokesters. 

Elder Burgess and I made a funny video to preface our training to the Skype Super MLC we had yesterday. Our training was on interpreting Key Indicators (meaning #'s). I'll send the video to you :) 

Spiritual
It's just amazing serving a mission. I'm so grateful for the time I've had hear, and that I have lots of time left!  

Love you all!
Have a great week

Elder Withers
 
 

 
[SENT NOVEMBER 12]
BAPTISM!
 
Happy P day everyone!                                    

I really like having Saturday P-Days. It feels nice :) This has been a really good week! It's just so good to be a missionary. I love the people, I love my companion, I love the gospel, I love President and Sister Stevens, I love the missionaries in our mission, and I love the way the Lord is shaping and molding me while I'm here. The mission life is the good life.  

The People

Our new convert is just the most amazing person ever. Her baptism was such a wonderful experience. There were a lot of people there. After the ordinance, while still in the font, she was so happy. She put her hands together and did a little bow towards everyone that was there. She got changed, and the first thing she said after she came out of the changing room was "The world is peaceful." She bore a wonderful testimony (funnily enough, I talked to her in the morning about her bearing her testimony, and she was unsure if she wanted to. But she decided she would, so she came prepared with things typed up on her phone) 

Our other new convert received the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood on Sunday! He's a great man. I look forward to him getting even more integrated into the ward. 

We had the three week missionary meeting a couple days ago. It was fun being with the new missionaries again, and seeing them a bit more comfortable with everything they're doing. 

Last night we were out finding. I was with Elder Mthombeni (again :) for our exchange. We ended up talking with this girl from India! She was the last person we talked with all day. It was about 9:00pm when we met her. She had a conversation with someone earlier that day about believing in God, and her answer was that she didn't know. We read Alma 32:28 with her, and it was a wonderful teaching experience on the streets in London, near Warren Street Station.  

Funny
On Sunday, I was facetiming our new convert before church to get some information about her and her family for her baptismal record. When I asked her for her dad's b day she didn't know it. In response she said "sorry dad" and laughed. Lol 

We were talking to her, and she reflected on her baptism. She said, "When I was under the water it was just me and God." She's super sweet. She also said she wished I would've held her under the water for like 2 minutes. HAHA Chinese people are just the best ever. 

Spiritual Experiences
There was a missionary that went home this past week. We had him stay in our flat with us. It was so special to have him there, and talk with him. I appreciated his powerful prayer that he offered. I hope he's had a good transition home.  

Love you all! Have a great week

Elder Withers

 
[SENT NOVEMBER 5]
 
 
 
Hiya everyone!                                                                                                                       

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. Like I did when I was younger, I dressed up as a missionary. It was quite exciting. Thanks for the Halloween package mumsie! It was so fun. Elder Burgess, President, and Sister Stevens all loved their packages of goods. Sister Stevens said I had a special mum. And she is right :)

Here is some organized observations of the occurrences of my past week.

The Work
Will was baptised! It was a great day for him. I don't remember exactly what he said after he was baptised, but he felt really good. He's such a good guy and I'm so happy for him. He will be confirmed on momma's birthday.

Jing is so ready for her baptism! We are teaching her two friends: Circle and Bamboo. Yes, their english names are "Circle" and "Bamboo". They are both super sweet. They accepted 10 December as the day for their baptism! I just love teaching Chinese people... Once again, we're making dinner for them tonight and then teaching them. We will cook up some wonderful spaghetti.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, we were street contacting near University College of London (UCL), and we met a guy named Paul. We set up a time to meet him for the following day, and parted. On the day of the appointment, we were OYMing (OYM = Open Your Mouth) near UCL, and in the middle of a conversation we were having, Paul, along with a friend, show up and just stand by us. Turns out, Paul brought a friend named Ricardo with him. We taught both of them about the Godhead and about prayer. After we said the opening prayer, Paul said he felt calm. So neat that he already felt the Spirit. Ricardo was super cool, too. We finish the lesson, and go off in our separate ways.

The next day, I message him on WeChat (the Chinese equivalent of FB). He responded to my messages by saying "I told everything to my parents but they are not allowed me to believe the western belief. Sry, but thx." He deleted me from his contacts, as well. Very sad that his parents interfered even when he was doing so well. However, Ricardo is amazing. He accepted a baptismal date for 17 December. I feel the reason we met Paul was so we could teach Ricardo! Hopefully Paul comes around one day...

Funny

I loved the fake spider that was in my Halloween package. I have used it on Elder Burgess, Elder Gale (A senior missionary in the office) and on Sister Gale. I'll send you the reactions of Elder Gale and Burgess.

We were out finding on Exhibition Road, and there was a guy I stopped by asking "do all English people hate the dentist?"  He said something, and then was like "you're rather slim for an American. See it's probably not a good idea to start a conversation with stereotype". He was a bit salty. :D Bless him...

Spiritual Experiences

We had a mission wide conference call today to start off our mission wide finding, and to prelude the mission wide fast we will do together for fast Sunday. During President Steven's remarks, he talked about what he felt as he read the story of Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. That many probably thought they would be unable to teach the gospel to and convert the hardened Lamanites. He said that some of us may be feeling the same way about our areas. President promised that if the Lord prepared people for the sons of Mosiah to find, teach, and baptise, so to would he here in England. I felt the Spirit strongly as he shared this wonderful insight.

That sums it up. Thanks for reading this, thinking of me, loving me, and praying for me.

Much love,
Your hijo and hermano,
Elder Withers

P.S. I'll send some personal emails a bit later, since we are going to prepare spaghetti soon. Our emailing time is segmented today. :)

 

Sunday, October 30, 2016


Alec, Investigator and Elder Burgess
Hi everyone! 

The weeks here go so fast. It's incredible. We are just busy, busy, busy. I wouldn't have it any other way! Gratefully I'm still learning and growing a lot, individually and as a leader.  

The Work
Our investigator is incredible. We taught him last night, and he's already read everything in the book of Mormon up to and including 2 Nephi 2. I'm so impressed with him. We met him on General Conference Sunday, and he's been amazing at keeping commitments ever since. He will be baptised tomorrow, and he's bringing 1-2 friends from his work. I feel so much love and gratitude for him! All we did was teach him the gospel and extend committments, and he's risen to all of them. It'll be a great day tomorrow. 



Our other investigator is doing super well, too. We challenged her to invite a friend to our lesson with her, and she's bringing 2 friends with her to our dinner/lesson today (Elder Burgess and I will make a Lasagne dinner for her, her two friends, another friend (A recent convert Elder Burgess taught about 5 months ago when he used to serve in Britania), and us, of course. It will be a fun time! She passed her baptismal interview and will be baptised on Mom's b day! Fun fun.  

We gave a training on Obedience at MLC, that was rolled out to each individual zone yesterday. Obedience definitely is the price of spiritual power, of faith, and of any blessing! 

Hyde Parke Zone
Funny
Did I ever tell you about the guy from St. George Utah that was following me on my blog? So he started his mission (his name is Elder Sharp) in Ipswich zone (where Elder Jensen was ZL). He already knew a bit about Elder Jensen from my blog, specifically the story where Elder Jensen ran over a squirrel with the car. Anyways, he is now in Britania and we see each other quite frequently! He's a great missionary. Very hard working, very diligent, and very humble. Sometimes he runs and sometimes he plays basketball with us, but it's pretty funny that we're around each other now, especially since he followed my blog. 

To be honest, I didn't write in my journal this week. So I can't really think of any funny things... Except for the fact that I'm a goon and enjoy making funny/random noises sometimes, and I still occasionally imitate Gollum. 

Elder Burgess
Spiritual Experiences
On Wednesday we had MLC. President Alldredge (Sis Stevens brother, former ELM President, and former SLC Temple President) along with his wife spoke with us. President Alldredge was incredibly powerful. "Ear hath not seen, neither eye heard such marvelous things as we saw and heard that day" (Intentional swapping of the words ear and eye, for humourous effect :). He bore a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ and temples. It was amazing to listen to him speak.  

I love you all! Have a great week. 

Love,
Elder Withers

 

 

Friday, October 28, 2016


Alec, Elder Steuer and President and Sister Stevens
Hello everyone!  

Let us dive right in to my past week.

Companions
Elder Steuer and I were talking last week and we both wrote in our letter to President that we are like brothers. I truly loved serving with Elder Steuer. 
 
Alec and Elder Steuer
I now have a new companion. His name is Elder Burgess. He's 11 days older than me. He's English, from Cheltenham. In his own words he describes himself as: "stylish (cuz I'm english), hmm... (sigh) It's interesting being put on the spot... haha my whole conversation is going on... I joined the church 2.5 years ago, more or less. I'm just an all around great guy. I have 2 younger brothers. I played saxaphone. I used to do a lot of running until I got fat as a missionary."  
 
Elder Steuer, Alec and Elder Burgess, Alec's new companion
The Work
President and Sister Stevens are amazing. It was fun doing transfers with them, and eating with them last weekend. I took a couple pictures in their flat/of some food. I'll send them in a bit! 
 
Transfer board
 
Dinner with the Stevens
Our investigator came to church to "learn more about God." She had a great experience. In addition to our teaching appointments, she's went to a dance class on Thursday night.  

We went through the baptismal interview questions with our investigator last night and he passed! He's worthy and ready for baptism. He said a prayer at the end, and thanked Heavenly Father for the restoration and prophets in this day. He will be baptized on the 30th of this month.  
 
Alec, Elder Burgess and investigator
Fun/Funny
On Tuesday, we went to a restaurant called "The Ritz"by Green Park station. Brother Evans (from  apast ward Elder Steuer served in) paid for lunch for us. It probably totaled up to about £300-400 for all of us together. He's an amazing man, with a deep testimony and understanding of the gospel.  

This morning we played Basketball! We got Elder Gale (one of the office elders) to play with us. It was great! He played well. He has a nice shot. 

Spiritual experiences
Quentin L. Cook came to our sacrament meeting... He bore a POWERFUL witness of Jesus Christ. It was incredible. 

Tuesday night was the departing dinner. The departing missionaries bore testimony, and it was incredibly powerful.

Wednesday we welcomed a group of 9 missionaries to the field! Then on thursday, we welcomed another missionary named Elder Henrie. We had lunch with him, and went through a few things. At the end, we read the scripture in 3 nephi 5:13 (this was on the back of a mini card that Sister Stevens gives to all the new missionaries). The spirit was very strong as we read this scripture together, and I expressed to Elder Henrie he was called of God and meant to be here.  

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Withers

Friday, October 21, 2016

Video lesson
Hey there familia. I don't have much time, since we've been doing transfers all day today. I will tell you what I can in the group email, and send short individual emails.
 
Funny
Momma you would be proud! I have a journal entry for each day this past week. Yes! I even told Sister Stevens, that's how proud I was of my journaling.  
 
Our investigator came to church on sunday. After sacrament, she went to the chinese class without us. It was like I was a dad saying goodbye to my daughter as she went to school. They grow up so fast...
 
After church we were with our investigator. Somehow, we all ended up doing a shake, initiated by Elder Steuer counting to 3. She also told us that the peace signs aren't as popular in china. She then showed us the "hang loose" motion and told us that was more popular. 
 
After our tuesday lesson with her, we walked to the tube station with her. There was a chinese person we walked by, who found it humorous that I was trying to speak chinese. We stopped her and told her who we were, and found out she didn't believe in God. I told her that our friend didn't believe in God 2 weeks ago, and invited our investigator to share why she believed in God. This was her first street contacting expereience! It was super cool. 
 
While playing basketball with our investigator, the game became "give our investigator the ball". She actually improved as she practiced. 
 
The Ward
It's interesting being in a YSA ward. We went to a dinner appointment with a group of them at a place in Ladbroke Grove. As we talked more together, and I got to know people better, it becoame much more fun. For our spiritual thought, we shared Alma 36:6-7, and had everyone get out there phones. They looked through their friends list, and then selected someone who they'd message. While we were there with them, they messaged something about the gospel. 
 
Miracles
On Saturday we thought our appointment wasn't coming to our lesson, but he ended up coming 30 minutes late! A sister in the VC called us when we were with President in his office to let us know he came. We found out that our investigator had read up to 1 Nephi 5, and is keeping the Word of Wisdom. 
 
On Thursday I was on exchange with Elder Spieser. Before we started street contacting I felt we should walk a bit away from the tube station to where people are less in a rush. There came a point where I felt we should stop and say a prayer before we commenced our finding. We said the prayer, and after "Amen", I went off talking to people. Elder Speiser wasn't able to join me at that moment because his magnetic name badge had fallen off. When he bent down to get his badge, a guy tapped hum on the shoulder and said "I like that" (referring to the public prayer he saw us offer). Of course, I wasn't there for the beginning part of the conversation, but eventually I rejoined Elder Spieser in talking to the man. He's seen religious people out and about before, and he feels it's a sign. During teh convo, we read from Moroni 10:4-5 with him. When he read "sincere heart" in verse 4, he had a powerful spiritual experience. He said he "couldn't stop smiling". We taught him this morning, and it was a great lesson. We will teach him again next week! He seems very prepared.
 
Yesterday we played basketball at the HP chapel with a bunch of investigators/nonmembers. There were 23 people there in total! It was so fun to play ball again. Our investigator invited one of here friends.  
 
Learning
During our weekly planning companionship inventory, Elder Steuer and I had a great convo regarding personal study and this is what I gleaned from our conversation
1) prayerfully seek confirmation from the Lord regarding what topic to study by
2) Have discipline and study for that topic only while reading the BoM
3) Take time to ponder, ask questions while reading
 
After church on sunday, we set up 200+ chairs in preparation for Alex Boye. Both our investigators were able to make it (one even came in a suit). Alex Boye did more story telling than singing, but it was still good. He referred to his conversion story, and said that one sunday he sat in church in the 2nd row, in between the two sister missionaries. Ironically, Elder Steuer and I sat in the 2nd row with our investigator in between us during the fireside. 
 
Spiritual
I started a prayer journal using one of the moleskin notebooks you sent me mom! I know that if I want to be effective in my leadership assignment, I must receive revelation.
 
We had interviews with President and Sister Stevens. I enjoyed both of them thoroughly. Sister Stevens is so consecrated. She expressed deep gratitude to the Lord for allowing us to be a part of such a great work, getting a little emotional as she said so. I'm very impressed and inspired by her. She had me put my name by one of my favourite book of Mormon scriptures and tell her why I like it. I choose Mosiah 5:13.
 
I loved being with President Stevens. I look up to him so much and I aspire to be the kind of leader that he is. 
 
On Tuesday, we taught our investigator about the 2nd half of the Plan of Salvation and temples. At one point I was prompted to relate the lesson to her deceased grandma. As we talked about her and where she was, I felt the Spirit so strong! More so than any lesson I've taught. 
 
We went to institute with another investigator on thursday, and it was on the Atonement. I gelt that because of the intense suffering of our Saviour, he is intensely involved in our lives. His desires to help, lift, and forgive us are equivalent to the depth of his suffering. And all we must do is "Look to Him and live". 
 
I hope you enjoyed the juicy details! Today was really great doing transfers with President and Sister Stevens. Lots of work left to do! 
 
Love you all!
Elder Withers