Elder Tommy Webber Washington Tacoma 2013-2015: Soundview: Six Days of Sun, Short Sleeves, and Salvation for Maike!

Dearest Family,

Happy Almost Easter!! First off, if you haven't seen it yet, watch this video about the Easter message: easter.mormon.org The video is called "Because of Him." We may marvel at the many inventions and miracles of our day, but there is no marvel or miracle so great as the first human to live again after death, with an immortal, glorified body. That human was Jesus Christ. And because of Him, all of us will also live again. And as Elder Christofferson so powerfully spoke, that means that Jesus truly was the Divine Son of the Eternal Father and all other points of His Doctrine are true.

Second, thank you Las Flores Activity Days girls (Jocelyn, Bailey, Brinley, Sister Sampson and Sister Rodriguez) for your letter! That was so kind of you and fun for me to read! And thanks for other letters that I hope to get back to soon! (Amy, grandma, & Megan Mittleman)

And CONGRATS to Sister Baker, and (2) Sister Mittleman's!! I'm so happy you have your mission calls and I am excited to hear about each of your experiences, they will forever bless you

We had a pretty amazing week, ending in a baptism and another fireside! Not to mention 6 days (and counting) of sunshine in a row. I think on Sunday it even got up to 70 degrees. And people say it rains in Washington... And that also means it's time to pull out those short sleeve white shirts! Now I will look like a missionary again :)

Zone P-Day Frisbee activity - It's sunny

Sunny, green and lots of water in the Puget Sound in Soundview

We had a Zone Meeting Thursday, and had a training from two sisters on the "Daffodil principle" which is from a story from SisterWeaver. In short, it's about this woman who lived by Mount Rainier who for 50 years planted daffodils one by one until she had planted acres and acres of bright yellow daffodils. Really it's the story of diligence. And yes, dad, I did the math and found that she had actually only planted 2-3 daffodil bulbs per day. And what do you know, that is our mission average for the number of baptisms! So if we are as diligent as this woman in the story, the wonderful WA-TAC will have tens of thousands of new members of God's Church after these dedicated decades.

Maike's Baptismal Service

Most important of the week, and one of those baptisms is our dear friend Maike!! What a great young man this Maike is. Elder Anderson and I would keep saying to each other, "Isn't there usually some more obstacles to have a baptism?" But not for this guy, Maike was as prepared as it comes. My favorite thing about him is his deep desire to do good. That's all he really wants to do. And the best "good" thing he could do was to make a covenant with God "to do good continually" for the rest of his life (Mosiah 5:2). I testify that by him making this covenant and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost the following day, Maike has entered a promise of eternal life, if he is faithful unto the end. He has entered into "the gate by which ye should enter," the "strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life... And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Nephi 31:17,18,21). What a marvelous work this is! I am so grateful to be a participant, and to be worthy of God's blessings. Because not only does this bless Maike, but me, and you, and all his family and people he will baptize on his mission! (ha ha I really hope he goes in a few years. He's 16 now).

He asked me to be the one to baptize him, and that was a special privilege. Like I've said before, he doesn't speak any English, and all the lessons have been translated for him by either his cousin or his uncle, both members of the ward. So his baptismal service was one I won't forget. Conducting the service was our assistant Ward Mission Leader, Brother Bateman, who also speaks Spanish. He would say something, then explain it to Maike in Spanish. The welcome to the ward was translated by his uncle, the talk on the Holy Ghost translated by his cousin, and the talk on baptism was translated by a sister missionary serving in our zone, Sister Lechuga. And when we got into the baptismal font, I said the baptism prayer first in English, then in Spanish, then baptized him. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that again, it was memorable. "...Yo te bautiso en el nombre del Padre..."

When we were changing back, I wanted to talk to him but obviously couldn't say much. All I got out was "How do you feel? Como estas?" and he responded with a huge smile and said something I don't understand, but I caught the word "feliz"

Then in priests' quorum Sunday, the priests started learning Spanish so they can talk to him :)

Visiting Priest at Musical fireside, Tommy 2nd row back on right

Lastly, we had the Lakewood fireside, where I got to see the Steilacoom Bishop, the Gehrings, the Brothersons, Brother Bishop, and a few from the Soundview ward came too. It was a powerful, great fireside. ElderSchaffner and Elder Green were there :) Elder Green and I will be in the same group this Thursday for the temple!