June 19th

Hey Mom!

Haha I can imagine that the prep for Girl's Camp has been crazy as ever! I hope that you guys have at least been able to enjoy the beginning of summer a little bit! Either way, I know you're gonna have fun at camp, you always do!

I took a look at the schedule, it looks pretty good, but honestly I have no idea what good actually looks like haha! Thanks for getting it all done! And thanks for looking into the housing thing, let me know what happens there!

I'm working on the pictures thing haha. Lately we've been emailing at the chapel, and the connection here is so slow it takes about a half hour for a picture to load. Once we get to the office again, I'll have some good stuff to send to you. A few videos too haha.

Our week was pretty sweet! I guess the first thing was MLC, which went well. We talked a lot about the Elder Andersen meeting again, and then really talked a lot about baptism. Found a ton of scriptures in the Book of Mormon that I've been able to use in teaching, which was pretty cool. One of my favorites was Moroni 6, which talks about the requirements for baptism, but then a lot about what happens after, too. I've been using that one a lot with members lately. One of the other things we talked about is that as missionaries there's often a separation between baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, when there shouldn't be. I guess it's easy to catch yourself doing that, because baptism is the hardest part, but most of the blessings come from the Holy Ghost. It's the Spirit that gives us a remission of sins, and we know that we're doing the right thing worthily when we have the accompaniment of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is a symbol of willingness to follow Christ, and it's necessary, but the ordinance mostly prepares us for the blessings that come after.

Right after MLC we went to Łódź for an exchange! If you're wondering about pronunciation, it's wooj. Haha pretty easy. We spent the day there with the elders. First thing in the morning we did a service project raking about an acre of land and clearing rocks. Then after Elder Blackwell and I taught a lesson. The lesson was good, and the guy is preparing to be baptized, which was awesome, but the coolest thing was the member that helped us teach. She's an older lady, in her 80s. She's a WWII concentration camp survivor. While she was there, she told us her story. She lost her whole family in the camp, and then again lost her husband and children in an accident later, but the whole time has remained faithful. She talked about how she's confident she'll see them again because they're sealed for time and all eternity. She's had a lot of powerful spiritual experiences because of her faith, and she bore a powerful testimony about the importance of keeping the commandments and going to the temple.

I had another exchange right after that with Elder Mandla! It was crazy, he hit his year mark this week! Haha my son is all grown up. Sure did make me feel old here though haha. We had a good time, and we were able to catch up a bit and talk about how things have been since we served together.

Our investigator that was supposed to move really did move this week. It was pretty sad. He'll be living in Berlin, trying to get something going there. We're in touch with the missionaries there, and we're praying that everything works out for him in the end. He's had a tough life, I think it's about time he gets a break. We'll see, it's in God's hands!

I'm excited for this week! We're starting off right, Sister Turek is gonna teach us how to make some German food! We're excited haha! 

I hope you have an awesome week at Girl's Camp! It'll be a blast!

Love you Mom!

Elder Haskett