May 17th Week 32- Heat  Layton Utah Week 22 (T4 - Trainer DL W/Gibson)

皆さん! 

 Hope you've been doing well! Weather is heating up here... and simultaneously cooling down. It's... Utah. Not sure what I'm expecting at this point. Hope you all have more... temperate weather than we do. Rain, thunderstorms, wind storms, blazing heat... it's been a whole thing. 

 We've continued to try our best throughout this week. Our focus has been shifted to the members here - we're working hard towards that goal of meeting with everyone from the stake, and we're so hecking close! Just a few more now... it'll be good. 

 We also have a couple of new opportunities that have presented themselves to us, and so we're going to keep going towards those. In addition, those we are teaching are progressing well and are slowly learning more and more, and letting go of more and more of their fears. It's been pretty fun! 

 We were also able to help teach the baptism lessons to a young girl in our ward. (Different from the returning family I talked about last week.) It's so special to be able to see the faith that these eight year olds have, and how excited they are to perform this ordinance! It's such an amazing spirit there - it was our honor to help! She was already super prepared, and we just added onto her knowledge a bit and helped get her excited. It's been something we mentioned we could do when we first taught her family as member lessons, and every single time she saw us, she would always say, "I can't wait until you teach me about baptism!" Literally. This started about two months ago. 

 And for the actual baptism - which she asked me to play piano for, and asked Elder Gibson to conduct music for - she was just glowingly radiant and excited. And to see the love her parents have for her, and the talks that they gave... it was just such an amazingly sweet moment. It's such an important ordinance - and we're glad she chose to make that decision!

 Other than that, I caught a pretty nasty cold which got blown up by heat exhaustion after I tried to push through it... so I've been out of commission for the past two days in terms of physical activities. We've been setting up appointments in the meantime. No time left unused! But that does make this email a little shorter...

 But first, happy birthday to Elder Caryotakis! We siphoned time from lunch to have a little party in the apartment. He's amazing - and we're glad to have him for a little bit longer until he gets going to Mexico! He's pretty great. But that's in another couple of weeks, so... yeah! 

 For the scriptural thought, I've been looking at Jesus Christ, Savior, and I found this little gem out of Exodus 15:

 2 The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

 I did a little bit of research before this, and this is the song they sang after the events of the Red Sea. They witnessed firsthand the power of the Lord, and this was their praise. What's interesting is that this theme of praising the Lord was passed down from generation to generation, and not only that, they took the traditions of their fathers and made it their own. I think it's important that when we see the Lord, we not only look to Him with the same lens as our parents and leaders, but it's important to also see Him and study Him for ourselves, in light of our own experiences, choices, and situations in life. That's why the points of light are so powerful - they enlighten the mind to a new awareness of Him and how involved He is in our lives, and how to tap into the power of His love. He is all knowing and all powerful, and for that I am eternally grateful!

 Thank you so much - you all are amazing! Take care, and have a great week!

 Over and out,

Elder Decker

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