Found my own names for Family History work in the Temple - written 6/16/2014

This week has been really great, and I have a few more mission stories because of this week. There were several storms that passed through this week. I'm starting to get used to storms here, they just sweep in and dump rain, usually with some lightning and then an hour or two later they're gone (unless it's a evening storm, those stay all night). Maryland gets a ton of rain. Elder A and I once had to do a 25-yard sprint in the rain and with no exaggeration, the front of my grey pants suddenly were black pants. I had to iron those pants for about 15 minutes (no water in the iron) to get them dry enough. The whole time it was like a sauna in front of me. I also came into possession of the 1943 pocket edition of the Book of Mormon for men in the Armed Forces from cleaning the church and them throwing away a lot of old books and other miscellaneous items. It's cool to have and a neat little keepsake from my mission. 

On Wednesday, Elder A and I went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was a extra trip to the temple and you could only go if you had names that you had found. I brought the limit of 5 names of some of our distant cousin's I've found. Elder A and I officiated the confirmations of the missionaries who just finished their baptisms, then we went in and baptized each other for the vicarious ordinances. Then we did the confirmations for our names. It was a really amazing experience and I am so grateful that I was able to participate in it. This Wednesday is the temple trip for the mission and I am excited to go to them temple again.

Sunday, Elder A and I went to the Visitors' Center with a recent convert in our area for a "Why I Believe" featuring Charity Tillemann-Dick, an American soprano (opera singer) who received a double lung transplant (she's on her 2nd set of new lungs) and she continues to sing opera today. Her story was really amazing and inspiring. I feel so lucky to have a Visitors' Center and a temple in my mission that I can go to with investigators, recent converts, or less-active members for some amazing events.

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl