Hello everyone!
Things in Twin Falls are really going great! Its pretty cool down here and I've been able to get a lot of work done. We have a baptism coming up this week and I'd like to tell a little bit about some of the miracles we've seen with him. His name is "Bubba". I don't know how to pronounce his real name and neither does anyone else, so we all just call him Bubba. He is a skinny little guy from Iran, but was actually born in Turkey. He came to the US because he feared for his life while living in Iran. He tells some of the craziest stories I've ever hear about terrorists and about the things that go on in other parts of the world and it makes me happy to be here in the US.
Bubba is about 30 and he is seeing the Lord work miracles in his life. For starters, he doesn't speak English at all. Not even enough to get through a conversation. He speaks Turkish though and he can also read it so that's the first thing. We don't speak Turkish and he doesn't speak English so we use a lot of google translate and a lot of prayers to get through the lessons, but he understands so much. We teach him and he nods his head and I'll try to say something in Turkish and he'll laugh and he'll type out in google translate the answer to what I tried to say. It's so cool! The second miracle is the smoking, he has smoked since he was 10 and oh man that kid blows through cartons and cartons of cigarettes. So we asked him if he wanted to stop and if he had faith that God would help him and if he would work hard and he said yes and so we asked for all of it. He gave it all up and hasn't smoked since. That was about a month ago that he quit. It's insane and he struggled and it wasn't easy. He said he couldn't sleep and his head always hurt and he was just really struggling with the physical effects, but he pushed through!! He was able to do the hard things and suffer a little bit so that he could be prepared to be baptized. He is so amazing and I have so many more things I could tell you about him.
I guess I'll turn this into a little spiritual thought. I've been reading in the Book of Mormon. I've been studying in Mormon and I got to read a little bit about his life. Ammaron gave to him the sacred records to keep and to safeguard with a commission to remember the things that will happen until he goes back and digs them up from the earth. This all happens when he was 10. It impressed me to think about giving more responsibility to the youth of the church. I thought about my life as a youth and what all I had to do and the changes I might have had in my life if I had been given or simply just felt the responsibility of different assignments and callings. I think about when I was a deacons quorum president and "little" things like that. I think of what I did then and how I would strive to do better now. I wish I had known more about priesthood keys and about receiving revelation for my Quorum and the things a priesthood leader needs to know. Do we think of the 12 year old Deacons Quorum president as a priesthood leader? We should! He holds priesthood keys and is entitled to receive revelation, just as does the elder quorum president and the Bishop. Just something that's been on my mind recently.
I love you all and I hope you are doing well. see you soon!
Elder Noah Stolper