Prophets, Ladders & Translations

Dear Family & Friends,

Dad, your letter was especially good this week. I heard a quote from President Packer that talked about President Hinckley when he died. He said something like 'When we are in heaven we will ask everyone what dispensation they lived in and who the prophets were. Some will say Moses and some will so Noah. Then they will ask you what prophet you lived with and you will say Gordon B Hinckley. Then the halls of heaven will go quiet and everyone will bow at your presence because you were worthy enough to live at the time of Gordon B Hinckley!' If you can find the actual quote I would love a copy! 

Our week was SUPER average! 

We met with a less active member who always feeds us strange foods. This week we had chili... with horse in it... It wasnt actually bad, a little spicy though. 

We did service for an older couple in the ward which involved fixing birds nests 15 feet high and on a hill! There was no way I was going to climb on the ladder to fix it so, I had my companion do it! Haha I am soo afraid of heights!  I was also super sore after because we also had to carry huge logs.

I have started to work out more intensly not because I saw Elder Jefferies work out. Elder Jefferies wants to be a Navy SEAL so, he is pretty hard core. If you could send some Insanity or someother work out program that would be great. One thing, there cant be any video or poorly dressed women. So, if there is some sort of program that fits that description please send it! 

We went on splits with the Zone Leaders this week. I went with Elder Jefferies and Elder Oberhansley. Both are terminally ill. (They will "die" soon, meaning that their missions are almost over.) 

A little back ground. On my first day on my mission Elder Jefferies pulled a prank on me with a member named J.L.. J. pretended to be a drug dealer or something and we went "tracting" and he let us right in and it was nuts right. Well, I was going on splits with Elder Jefferies in my area... which meant I could get him back! So, I told them we were going to be doing service for this member. We went to the member and the member answered the door. I pretended that I didnt know him. This member BTW is J. L´s borther, M.! V. L. invited us in and we started teaching him a lesson. It was an amazing lesson and we asked "the investigator" to say the closing prayer. After an absolutely perfect prayer, one a member would give, I look up and in English said, "Pretty good!" V. L. replied, "Not bad!" Then Elder Jefferies looked at me and asked if it was a prank! It was super fun but I finally got him back! Life for me has to be joyous, especially as a missionary!

We have been working with a less active member from the Philippines. At the same time we were helping her to get her friends to hear about the church. Well this sunday she and her friend were in church and we have a return appointment with them! It was awesome to see the faith of this member. Another family we had been working with invited a friend to come to church. There was 2 friends of members that were in church yesterday! 

Also, in church yesterday, a man walked into the church and asked if there was English services. I replied, "Ill try my best!" The man had researched all about the church and then look up on Mormon.org where the church building was. He then just walked into church. He was quite frustrated why there were no churches that lined up with the church in the time of Christ. He was explaining that the scriptures are great but he wants to hear from God like the people at the time of Moses heard from God. Pretty sweet because his search for that church has just ended! 

In church there was a few English speakers so I was the translator. In this chapel we are a little more high-tech. There is a spot where the translator sits and then all those receiving it wear headphones where ever they are in the chapel. I gave live translation for an hour and I wanted to die! The way Finnish language works is that if you miss one word and more frequently an ending on a one word, you will mess up the entire understanding of the sentence. Listening and talking at the same time accentuates the amount of times you miss a word! It was a mess. If I wasnt sure what was going on I just started saying things from my own head. haha but luckily there was a member behind me, bless her soul, who looked up the scriptures on her iPad in English for me and then let me read them into the microphone. It saved the day. I will be making her cookies this week.

Also a few days ago, we were walking to an appointment and we say a man cutting wood in his front yard. We asked if we could help and he said yes then handed me the chainsaw. So, I have used a chainsaw while wearing a suit! Quite fun! 

I hope everyone has a great week and studies Preach My Gospel to help them understand how they can do missionary work! 

Love you all!

Elder Tippetts

BONUS:

A few fun photos!

This is a book Spencer is making so he can introduce people to familysearch.

This one made me laugh:

We were going to an appointment and we got into the elevator and then the door shut and dint open up again for 20 minutes. so we sat on the floor and gave each other our last thoughts before we died.