Baptism is the first saving ordinance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Baptism by immersion in water by one having authority is the first saving ordinance of the gospel and is necessary for an individual to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to receive eternal salvation.  All who seek eternal life must follow the example of the Savior by being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Hello family!

The highlight of our week was the baptism on Saturday! Oh, what a wonderful Saturday morning. We rode over to the Stake Center (they only have fonts at stake centers here in Utah) and met up with the Ward Mission Leader. I was so excited for the young lady I was going to baptize.  As we stepped into the baptismal font, dressed in white, the spirit was so strong. It was incredible! She held my wrist as I raised my arm to the square, said the prayer, and baptized her. When she came out of the water, she opened her eyes and looked at me and all I could see was the pure joy in her eyes. What a wonderful experience to be able to baptize someone as they enter the waters of baptism and follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ. On Sunday, Elder Greenacre did the confirmation.  As we laid our hands on her head and confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Elder G conferred the Gift of the Holy Ghost upon her, then left her with a wonderful blessing. It's moments like those that truly remind and inspire me why I'm serving a mission. To see folks like her and her sister make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father, and eventually go to the temple. We're planning on a day when all four of us can go to Timp Temple and do baptisms for the dead..

Anyways, I figured I would say this now since its in three days...but Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 21 years strong! I love you both! Do something special for me.

On another note, I saw a bright yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP-540 a few days ago! It was moving so I couldn't snatch a picture but it was HOT! 🔥

Anyways, I think that about does it for this week!  (I didn't inform you last week, but after I emailed you, we met up with the rest of our zone in Lindon, UT and played soccer for at least 3 hours. Serving with a Brit for this long has made me develop a love for fútbol. Yeah good times!)

Love you all!

-Elder Ahrens

Sent from my iPad

We have to align with the correct frequency in order to hear the music of the Spirit. ♬♬♬♬♬ 

Hello family!

So this has been a pretty quick week! Things are moving forward in the Pleasant Grove Creek area!

So, we met a young man who was referred to us by the Ward Mission Leader of that YSA Ward. We were informed about some of his history, but the bottom line is that he wants to turn his life around. A fellow member was recommended to go teach with us but he ended up not being available. So guess who I called who just so happens to be in that same YSA ward? Jordan Capt. It was awesome! So he went with us to teach. This young man has one of the most firm and unshakable testimonies that I have ever heard! As went about teaching The Restoration, the answers he was giving to our questions carried insight that I have never heard before in my entire mission. It was incredible! The spirit was so, so strong in that room! He expressed some of the ways that he gained his testimony and they were very unique and interesting but true nonetheless! He's an amazing young man and I look forward to continuing to work with him! I think one of the coolest things was the fact that Jordan and I basically switched places! Usually it would have been me going with him and Elder Edgington or Elder Musso! So cool to teach with him!

Speaking of Elder Edgington! Well, and Jordan. So Jordan is getting married. He said that both Elder Edgington and Elder Musso will be at his reception here in PG! I just have to hope I'm here next transfer so I can go and see them! Super cool!

So I thought I would share this just because it's funny. So on Saturday we had a lesson with another guy. So when we got there, he was trying to get his truck started because the battery had died. I offered to give him a jump with our car and it fired right up! After a few minutes, he shut it off and we went inside. I was a little concerned about this just because there was no way it was long enough to charge the battery enough for another start. Unfortunately, I was right. At the end of the lesson, we waited for him just to make sure it would start. It didn't. We then jumped him again. Only this time, we had the contacts on the battery, we waited a minute, and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even click. No noises or lights inside. DEAD. At this point if he had to ride his bike, he would have been late because his work is at American Fork Hospital about 4 miles away. I had one last idea pop into my my head! I informed him that if I put the positive contact on the starter directly bypassing the battery, it would turn over and ignite. He replied that at this point, he had nothing to lose so we proceeded. Thanks for teaching me that trick, Dad! It worked like a charm! Cranked over a few times and roared to life! Redneck start-up: Mission Accomplished✔

So I assume you would like to hear about our investigator! Her and her sister go to church every week, read their scriptures, and have daily prayer. Well we currently have her on date to be baptized next Saturday, the 18th. She has asked that I baptize her. We are so excited for this wonderful occasion in her life! Watching her enter the waters of baptism will be one of the most rewarding feelings of being on a mission! After which, the 4 of us are planning on going to the temple to do baptisms. We're just so happy for the recent decisions that she and her sister have both made in their lives.  I know their lives will be blessed by committing to be a disciple of our Heavenly Father.

So during the week, we had our quarterly interviews with President McCune. They went really well. The only bumming part is that we were informed that it will be the last time we meet with President McCune formally before he is released in July. A bittersweet experience. With all of the changes in the mission, things are definitely getting
prepared for a greater thing!

Anyways, I think about sums up this week!

Until next week!

Love you all!

-Elder Ahrens

I am sooo excited to hear a Prophet of the Lord!

Waiting for General Conference to start.

Salt Lake Temple

Committed to serving the Lord!

Awesome companion, Elder Greenacre.

Hey Family!

  This has been a productive week.  One of the highlights was when we went on exchanges.  I went in our district leader's area and we did plenty of walking around, talking to everybody, sharing the #BecauseHeLives video and handing out the pass along cards.  We were walking around and we literally talked to everybody!  Some of our appointments fell through, so we walked around and did some contacting.  I think one of the highlights of that day was when we had dinner.  Elder Evans had talked to this family previously inquiring about breakfast for dinner.  But since he wasn't in the area at the time... I got to have it!  While I was in the area we taught a young boy who is 9 years old and he's been talking about baptism.  We talked about faith, repentance and also about the promises we make at baptism.  It was actually pretty easy teaching him because of the copious amount of 9 years olds I taught in Spanish Fork!  We also shared the video Because He Lives.  It was a pretty good lesson.    

   So the sister of our recent baptism is on date for baptism!!!!!  When she left to go back to her hometown for a week, we asked her to pray about a date for baptism.  And she replied in April.  We are pretty excited about that!

   Now to the real deal of the week.  General Conference!  It was a lovely morning.  Got up, got prepared for the day ahead, jumped in the car with a few other missionaries, and drove to Lehi to meet up with President McCune and the other missionaries who were also going.  From there we jumped in the car with the APs and off to SLC we went.  We arrived a couple of blocks from the Conference center.  As we were walking we saw numerous protestors and anti-christs.  Then we went into the Conf Center and found our seats and took a bunch of pictures.  Talked for a while and then watched as General Authority after General Authority walked into the Conference Center.  I wished that I was down in the front row talking to all of the Apostles as they greeted everyone.  After a few minutes went by, the entire room went silent as President Monson, President Eyring and President Uchtodorf walked into the room. You wouldn't believe the spirit that just floods the room as they walk in. It gave me chills! Then conference started and we had the opportunity to hear the talks in person. Listening to each one of these folks who were called of God speak to us testifying of the gospel is a life changing experience! I'm thankful that we get to re-watch/re-read these talks on Gospel Library. I'm going to have to re-read President Packer's talk being that no one could understand a word he was saying. Watching him sit there in his chair giving his talk..man I felt so bad. He looks terrible! I fear his time may be coming. It's kind of cool to think that when he passes, he will be greeted by God without a single fear. Serving as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ for many years...and he's still coming along! It was so cool to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! Their singing combined with the power of the volume of that incredible pipe organ! I'm sure Sister Harris would kill to play that thing! Amazing! I think one of my most favorite talks was from Elder Perry. As I watched him stand at the pulpit....check-TOWERING over that pulpit....he is TALL! 6'5, 93 years old, and flippin awesome! Elder Perry is still chuggin along!

   As conference came to a close, we all gathered outside with President and Sister McCune for a picture! This is kind of crazy but as I walking down the street to temple square, I was walking with Elder Laffidy (an elder who was in my MTC district), he noticed this young lady who, to both of us, looked very familiar! I don't know if I've told you already but Elder Laffidy is from South Carolina, and so he went to EFY at Southern Virginia University just like I did. This young lady whom we noticed was a counselor at EFY when he and I went! Her name is Hollie and it was super crazy to see her again! She said she recognized our last names and we were reminiscing the good days. Anyways, we continued on to temple square! We saw person after person...even saw a dude dressed up like Satan standing outside the gates talking bogus stuff about the church. There were a few people who I knew that I bumped into there. Pretty cool! Took plenty of pictures! While we were hanging out there it became very apparent to one of our group leaders that we needed to get to the Front Runner (train) station quickly otherwise we would miss it back to Lehi, UT! He gathered all of us and we literally (I'm not joking) ran all the way from Temple Square to the train station! We got there with only 5 minutes to spare....holy moly. I bet we looked ridiculous. A bunch of Mormon Missionaries running through the streets of Salt Lake hahaha! All in all we got back in time.

     We then watched the remaining sessions of conference. It was a really good time! Spent that time with a few of our favorite awesome families. Good times!

Anyways. Good week! Fantastic weekend! I won't ever forget it!

We have a fun hiked planned today for p-day so we're off to do that!

Until next week! Love you!

-Elder Ahrens