Quick Update!

January 22, 2017

Quick updateeeeee cuz I'm about to go fishing (hehe);

All is going well out here on Fanning Island. We came back and things were a little slow, but after a few weeks things are definitely starting to pick up. Yesterday we had eight investigators at church--people who I never ever thought would come to church showed faith and came. It's so nice when you see inspired commitments help people come closer to Christ.

Yesterday we held our first gospel principles class in the branch (YAY) and our branch did its first ever rescue (whaaaa!!). The branch isn't perfect, but they definitely try their best and I know that they want the church to grow here on Fanning.

We have some awesome investigators. One is this lady named Tenikoraa who we just started lessons with. She is legitimately a Deacon in the Protestant church.  Although she wants lessons,  she expressed how hard it would be for her to ever leave her church and her calling. We shared the scripture in Acts 4:29 about how we need to do God's will and not men’s will.  It hit her right in the heart. I know that she has many challenges, but we have been having great lessons and I'm really excited to see where it goes.

To be honest, this week I have just been thinking about the gospel and how it changes lives...  It seriously blows my mind. We can lesson with someone for 30 minutes and it can change them so much. We lessoned on the Word of Wisdom with one of our investigators who was NOT progressing and it changed him to the point where he came to branch service on Saturday and then to church yesterday. That "double-edged sword" (Hebrews 12:6) called the word of God has the power to change lives quicker than the sword (Alma 31:5). It's seriously the best part of being a missionary. It's so fun to see the process of conversion from start to finish.

I hope that all is going well at home! I love you guys!

Elder Parrish