[A Quick Note from the Dad: We got Couper's travel plans this week. He will be arriving home on Tuesday November 16 at approximately 3:30pm. All are welcome to join us at the airport.]


Hello All

Well this last week has been awesome in every way possible.

So we'll start with the exchange that I had with Elder Brewer in Cathlamet, we rocked it and had fun the whole time. Ok story time, so we decided to be a little adventurous and try out one of the 2 restaurants in town and we were not disappointed. So the menu said that all the burgers were 10oz patties and we just looked at each other and decided that we had to give them a try.

Holy cow is all that can describe the size of this burger. So normally you get a little tooth pick thingy in your sandwich, not here they had a steak knife stuck in the middle and then like 4 potatoes worth of fresh french fries. So we came to find out that the knife was there so that you could cut the thing in half so that I was the size of a normal burger and not this behemoth that it was. Anyhow I need to get the picture from Elder brewer but basically it's showing that both my fists don't even cover the entire thing, it was crazy.

Saturday we had one of the two baptisms for the week. Kelsey Reetz had her baptism at 1pm and it went great...kinda. So the Spirit was super strong and everyone was really supportive but there was definitely some confusion between us the Bishop and our ward mission leader. To explain, at Carroll Simonson’s baptism she was confirmed water side because she was leaving to get married and wanted to be a member before that took place. So the Bishop was a little confused and thought that all convert baptisms are now confirmed water side. So a little mix up but I think it was probably a good thing because her parents were able to be there for that too since they weren't planning on coming to church the next day, so all in all it went great.

Then on Sunday we had Gumencindo and Mireya Hernandez' baptism, this was a real treat. So they have been taking the lessons and coming to church for over 5 years now and just have never been or had the desire to be baptized. However that all changed, over the last 3 months or so they have really started to take hold of the gospel and truly become converted. The other cool thing is that the baptismal services were all in Spanish and since there are only like 10 people in our ward that speak Spanish I was lucky enough to translate it into English. So it had been a while since I had done Spanish to English translation and well it’s just like a bike, I was a little wobbly at first but then after the prayer I was feeling really good, well except for the fact that it was like 90 in the church and the air conditioner doesn't work that well in the font room, so I had a hymnal over my mouth to block the sound from the rest of the room and when I went to move it, I had to peel it off of my face, ewwwww, but again it was amazing.

And finally yesterday. We had a zone conference with Elder Ringwood of the First Quorum of the 70 and it was awesome. No rebuking just lots of heartfelt stories and teaching from his mission, his time as a President, and form the teachings of the prophets. All in all it was a great and super up lifting experience and one that won’t be forgotten easily.

One of the things that he really focused on was what he called our "1000" converts. So obviously none of the missionaries here in Washington are having that many baptisms, so he started with one of the greatest missionaries from the Book of Mormon, Abinadi. If he were to look back at his mission he only had one convert, Abinadi could have said that he had failed, but then we need to look at the bigger picture. Alma, Abenadi's only convert started to teach the people and he in turn baptized tons of people, over 200 just at the waters of Mormon. So there is the start of His "1000" converts.

Elder Ringwood explained that we are merely starting a chain reaction that is going to continue in a snowball like growth. While he was saying that I thought about you Mom and the missionary in Brasil that taught you, do you think that he had any idea how much of an effect that he was going to make in the lives of so many people.

First off there is just our family, so that is you plus 5, then there are all the people that I have taught and baptized on my mission that's another 15+, then there are all the people that Mason will teach on his mission, and then if the girls go on a mission, then there are the missionaries that will come from the people that I taught and that the other kids will teach and so on and so on. It’s just amazing at how much of an impact that we can have and at the same time how small it may seem at that moment.

So on that note I was able to talk to Jocelyn Escalona yesterday after the conference the missionaries serving there told me that she had just gotten her patriarchal blessing and I wanted to congratulate her on that achievement. It was great to talk to her and to hear her excitement about all the things that she is learning about in the gospel and the coolest part is that she is planning on a mission. I just can’t tell you in words how amazing this whole experience has been for me and how much it has changed me.

Well that’s all for now folks. Hope you have a great week and that all goes well as school is getting ready to start.

Love you all tons
Elder Couper Millar