Josh's Farewell Dinner in Trinidad!!

Our Favorite Missionary comes on Tomorrow, Saturday July 13th.  We are all so excited.  Sister Debbie Jones posted pictures of Missionaries serving in Trinidad!

Farewell Dinner

Week 102--Couva, Trinidad

Week 6--Elder Raymond

Hello family,

 We were able to have a great week in Couva. We didn't waste a minute. Something really good this week is that we were able to contact a lot of people, and we were actually able to contact into a lot of lessons with those people. We were able to find a few very, very promising people that way, and I was so grateful for that. There were a few who just loved learning about the Book of Mormon, and there were also a few who have a desire to be baptized. That was really fun this week to be able to do that.

  I must say that I have really enjoyed being Elder Raymond's companion. He has done a really great job, and I know that he will continue to move the work along here in this area. He has a very good sense of the things that we and the ward can do to best help those we are teaching, and I have been very grateful to learn from that.

  I have a testimony of losing oneself in the work of the Lord. There are so many things that we could be worrying about, but I have found that worrying about what the Lord wants makes everything else worry you less. I am very grateful for that. A goal I have had for a while is that I did not want to let myself go or allow myself to work with less effort as the time of my mission finishes. I am very grateful that I set that goal, and I can testify that the Lord has magnified that desire. Until today, all I want to do is to serve Him. With the time I do have left in this calling, I will continue to do all that the Lord expects of me, but when that time is up, I know that I need to continue to do the Lord's work, even if that means having a different calling. I am okay with that. I am going to miss being a full-time missionary more than I can adequately express, but I rejoice that I still have a few days left to give everything I have.

  A spiritual experience I had this week was being able to go out with Adrian, our recent convert, to teach some of the people in our area. We were able to go with him last week as well, but this week, we taught him the Restoration and then went out to teach others the same message. It was amazing to hear him bear his testimony of the truthfulness of this message to those we visited, and it made me so happy to see his willingness to minister to those people. He has grown a lot in the month since we first met him, and I know that the Lord has truly been merciful in this part of His vineyard. I testify that he watches over all of His flocks and that His work is the greatest work on the earth.

 I love all of you so much! Thank you for your prayers and your faith. I can't wait to see you all again at the end of this week. Take care and know that I'm praying for you! I'll see you just now.

 Love,

Elder Hanni

Week 101--Couva, Trinidad

Week 5--Elder Raymond

Hello family,

 We are doing great in Couva. We were able to have the baptism for Antonio this week. It went really well. There was a really great baptismal service, and his aunt, who is from another faith, even came to support him. It's amazing what can happen when someone who was taught everything decides to be baptized. Antonio was one of those miracles, and it's amazing to see how much he's changed even in the last few weeks.

  Elder Raymond is a great companion, and I am really enjoying it. Luckily, he has been able to feel so much better this week. We've been able to have a great week this week, and we are looking forward to continuing to fill our pipeline up this coming week. We have a lot of potential baptism dates, so we are really excited for that.

  I have a testimony of contacting with the Book of Mormon. On my exchange with Elder Morgan in Couva this week, we met a young man, and we felt very prompted to not only give him a Book of Mormon but teach him about the Restoration on the spot. He seemed a little bit interested, but we weren't able to get a return appointment. we did get his number, though, and he got ours. Fast forward to Saturday evening, and he calls us and asks us what time church is. He came to church the next day. Later that day, which was yesterday, we went to see him, and we were able to go into more depth with the Restoration. First off, he loved church. Second off, as we shared the Restoration and invited him to be baptized, he said yes! During his prayer at the end, he prayed that the Lord would help him to be baptized and to become a full member of this church. Wow! That was a really cool experience, and it just testified to me of the importance of contacting with the Book of Mormon.

  A spiritual experience I had this week was actually at Antonio's baptism. He had asked me to baptize him, and I was pretty nervous about it. But during the baptism service right before the ordinance, I just received a very peaceful and warm feeling from the Holy Ghost, and I knew it would be fine. When the ordinance was performed, it went great! We just had to do it once. That made me really happy. Afterwards, when we had changed back, Antonio shook my hand and said, "We nailed it." That was a really cool experience, and I am so grateful that everything was able to work out.

 I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for all of your prayers and your support.

 Love,

Elder Hanni

Antonio's Baptism