"Ask and Ye Shall Receive."

Hello family!

Mom and dad, tell the family up in Washington that I say hey!   This last week has been great. Elder T is still with us.  His new companion gets here tomorrow so he will be going back to his area tomorrow. It has been a ton of fun having him here, and I have learned a ton from him! He is an awesome example to us. 

This last Saturday, the baptism streak kept hot and we were blessed with four more baptisms!  We baptized four youth.  It was a really awesome service, and they all looked super happy afterwards.  Elder T, Elder O, and I were all able to baptize one of them, and I baptized the other.  I have been blessed to see so many of God's children enter the waters of baptism, and I owe it all to the Lord and the Spirit.  They are blessing us for our efforts to be more obedient. 

We had a Seventy come to the mission a couple weeks ago, and really say some things that were hard for some of the missionaries to take.  Our mission isn't baptizing much right now, and the mission is not reaching its full potential.  The Seventy put out a lot of rules and a lot of the missionaries are having a hard time accepting what he said as truth. I have a hard time seeing missionaries that don't accept what a servant of the Lord commands them to do.  I liken it to the scriptures in the Book of Mormon, when a prophet was sent among the people, they rejected him.  Our mission could be so much more successful, and more importantly we could change so many more lives if we listen to the counsel of our leaders who are called of God to help us.

We saw a pretty cool miracle this last week.  We went to two other islands with Elder M and Elder M. Elder M is in the district presidency, and he wanted to visit the branch presidents, so we took elder T and went with him.  Chak drove the boat.  We got done, and we were coming back to our island in the dark.  All of a sudden, the engine dies, and we realize that we are out of gas!  We shake the gas tank, pump the tube connecting to the tank and the motor, and nothing. Bone dry.  We decided to say a prayer, and then Elder M started to pump the hand pump again.  At first, nothing, but after a minute, the tube filled with gas, and we had just enough to get to a hotel close by and buy some more.  The Lord literally gave us the extra fuel we needed to get back.  It was a total testimony builder of the power of faith and prayer, and all that experienced that miracle were greatly struck by the spirit that was felt.  "Ask and ye shall receive."

This week is the last week of the transfer.  We are going to have two more baptisms and then we will head to Panama City to do the whole transfers purchasing routine, and I will find out if I stay or I go.  I love you all!  And mom, I will send some pictures of the hut right now, and the two dogs named Kipp.  I officially have two dogs, one monkey, and one squirrel named after me now. 

I love you all!  Go Seahawks!

Love,

Elder Austin Michael Kipp