President's Day

Happy Monday everyone,

I'm with a new companion: Elder Smith. He's a great Elder, and we're enjoying ourselves.

Even doing things I'm normally not into has generally been pretty enjoyable, like tracting. Knocking on people's doors is not something we do as a first resort, and usually I'm glad for that because it's often so unpleasant on both ends. But Elder Smith makes it fun. He's actually into the whole "finding" thing, and he's really good at it, which I love. It really helps me get into it when my companion is good at it. We've already found a good amount of new people to teach in this short week. Some great potential investigators.

Something new I learned about yesterday at church was the Orson F. Whitney vision. Orson F. Whitney was an apostle from 1906 to 1931, and he saw a vision/dream of the Savior's Atonement. It's super cool. The vision as he recorded it can be found in "The Divinity of Jesus Christ" in the December 2003 Ensign. Here is my favorite section:


I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien—not at all the weak, effeminate being that some painters have portrayed—a very God among men, yet as meek and lowly as a little child.
All at once the circumstance seemed to change, the scene remaining just the same. Instead of before, it was after the Crucifixion, and the Savior, with those three Apostles, now stood together in a group at my left. They were about to depart and ascend into heaven. I could endure it no longer. I ran out from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.
I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real, that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested. Then He said: “No, my son; these have finished their work, and they may go with me, but you must stay and finish yours.” Still I clung to Him. Gazing up into His face—for He was taller than I—I besought Him most earnestly: “Well, promise me that I will come to You at the last.” He smiled sweetly and tenderly and replied: “That will depend entirely upon yourself.” I awoke with a sob in my throat, and it was morning.


Yesterday we had the weirdest lesson ever with a guy we met on Friday named Kenny. Kenny is really, really weird. We're not sure if he's messed up in the head because he's just intoxicated every time we see him, if he's had too many bad substances in the past and ruined himself, or if he has some actual brain problems, or a combination. Suffice to say he's basically impossible to teach, keeps contradicting himself, and is really, really entertaining. He claimed to have read the entire Book of Mormon in the 48 hours since we'd last seen him, but I kind of doubt that.

It's been hard, but good. Hard to focus sometimes when we're doing all the peripheral missionary stuff like meetings and planning, but good when we find people we can teach and actually manage to teach them.

If all goes according to plan, I'll be having my first baptism next Saturday!

Love,
Elder Gallagher

Pic: Me and Elder Smith


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