The Work of Salvation

It has been such a special week! We were able to tour the mission and do zone conferences with President and Sister Alba. It was a fun experience for me to see all the missionaries. I absolutely love all the missionaries here in our mission. I have grown close to many of them and I am grateful for the faith they show every day. I love to hear of their miracles and feel the spirit as they share their testimonies of what they know to be true. I thought the day would never come for me to give my departing testimony in zone conference, and it was such a powerful experience for me. I felt the love of the Savior so strong and talked about how He has changed me throughout my mission and how close I have come to Him. I talked about how when I was growing up my favorite primary song was, "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission", and that my wildest dream of what my mission was going to be has come true. How grateful I am for a family that has raised me in righteousness and for a sister that is currently serving a mission. There is nothing better she can be doing and nothing better we all can be doing. It was a bittersweet moment as we concluded zone conference by singing together, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go." Tears ran down my cheeks as we sang that hymn and rejoiced together. 

We are working with five part-member families at this time. It has been an amazing experience to teach the children about the Savior. The kids have baptismal dates! One child that we were teaching responded to our question, "How do you know that Heavenly Father lives?" with "I can feel Him when I pray." It was such a powerful witness to me that we all need to be as the little children, by trusting and having faith. I know that this is the Work of Salvation. We are helping families be together forever … and as we help them gain eternal life we, in turn, become more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ ourselves. I know that true conversion takes a lifetime, but every day I can become better because Jesus Christ died for me. I know that any person can change. I have seen it and I believe it. The Lord has opened the heavens upon us. Elders Mahoney, Johansen, and I love serving here in the Brush Creek ward and we are absolutely loving it. Pray that we reach the 101 in July! We are on our way!

Los Quiero Mucho,

Elder Vance