Here is Elder Thieme and his new companion, Elder Amott.

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Dear Dad,
It's been a fast week for me too. We've been working hard and I am just exhausted at the end of every day. It's a good feeling. I really think the work is progressing well here. This last week and a half or so I guess I'd felt like I was working so hard, doing my absolute best, and I wasn't seeing the fruits of it. I was praying for Heavenly Father to help me to see it. I had felt like I am working so hard for these people and they're not going anywhere fast. Then on Sunday, we had a family of four investigators come to church. The Larsen family has been taught for a while. The mom is starting to get more and more interested, the step father has come a long way. He was a heavy drinker and smoker. He's still working on tobacco, but he really has come a long way, and I was so surprised to him there with his wife and their two 11 year old boys. He's a snowboarder and his only day to go is Sunday. It also dumped snow all Saturday afternoon until Sunday evening. I was so happy to see them there. It was like the Lord saying, "don't get discouraged because no one is getting baptized yet. Be patient." The Lord said to be patient in your afflictions, THEN you will have success. I guess patience is something that I've been learning and that I'll have to learn even better as I go to Australia eventually (a brother who served there tells me all about his mission when they feed us dinner). It's not easy to be patient though.

We've been talking to  recent convert here about temples, trying to get him there to do baptisms for the dead. Then in his ward, all the talks in Sacrament meeting were about the temple. I thought that was cool. I miss being able to go to the temple with you and mom.

We got a call from the hospital again to go give someone a blessing. It was an elderly lady who had just found out she had cancer and didn't have a lot of time left. Her family was pretty shocked. It is just great to be able to have the priesthood and bless the lives of others.

I'm excited for this week. We hope to set a few baptismal dates today, and more later in the week. I trust in the Lord that if I keep working hard and giving him my heart, might, mind, and strength, I will be an instrument in bringing many souls to salvation. Even if I don't see a baptism while I'm here, although I would love to, it's the Lord's work and it'll be on his time. Love you dad. I hope work and everything is still going good. Tell everybody I love them.
Love,
 Elder Hayden Thieme