Beautiful day! 11-26-08‏

Today is truly a gorgeous day! The temperature is a mild -1 C and there is STILL no snow to speak of here in Edmonton. The blizzards had begun when I was in Fort Mcmurray but winter hasn't yet caught up to me. I'm afraid that the lead I've gained will be short lived.We had an amazing meeting with our Mission President. He invited President Holt who is the temple president to com speak with us. He taught us what it means to be endowed with power from on high. WOW. My mind was sent for a spin and I now more understand the calling I have and the power our Father offers us when we act in faith and righteousness.Sunday we met with Johan! Talk about an amazing man. He is from Shrie lanka (if you know how to spell it please correct me.) It's an island off the coast of india. The majority of the population are buddhist and hindu. He is from the catholic church. 5000 men rose up to commit genocide to the people with christian belief.The bishop of his church told him to turn the other cheek but he said "If their cause was just I would turn the other cheek, but because it is not I will stand and fight." We expained that although Jesus submitted when he needed to he also cleansed the temple! Johan has a wife and kids that are still stuck in the country of persecution. They're working on getting them to come here but are having difficulty. The faith he has is evident in his expression that his family will join him for Christmas in Canada. As we taught him his concern was that his family is right now his priority. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Near the end we committed him to baptism and he continued that his family needed to remain top priority. We explained that his baptism is FOR his family. We talked about his family being eternal IF they go to the celestial kingdom. The catholic doctrine contradicts eternal families. As you may imagine his distance from his dear family makes being with them eternally quite a sweet thought. We bore testimony that the gate of baptism leads him and his family to being together forever and living in the presence of our exalted heavenly father!He accepted and will be baptized on Dec 27th 2008. I am SO excited for the miracles that have and DO happen each day. I love the fact that as Johan does we can and ought to all have faith to make changes to help us return with our God and our Families as is explained in Helaman 3:30 "to go no more out."Also some exciting things, I get to go up to Fort Mcmurray to see Ashleys baptism this weekend! I'm so stoked. She is an amazing girl and has faith to be like a lion even through her nature to be lamb-like. She's a great example also. Her family doesn't particularly support her but they don't oppose her either. She's acting with a lot of faith and I'm so excited for her to be blessed!I love this work. It is of God. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet OF GOD. We often accept ownership and say he is our prophet but let us not forget that primarily he is God's prophet ordained, sent and set apart from evil for you and I and all our brothers and sisters.I love and miss you. Take the best of care of yourself.Elder McCartyof canada