Good-Bye Elder Thurber--Great Companion and Friend

Here is an experience from Elder Thurber that we received from his mother in his last email as Elder Christensen's companion:

Elder Thurber is the first missionary on the left

To make last Monday even more exciting, I`d like to share a special experience Elder Christensen and I had as we went housing. We came across a house that I remember a member had said we should visit with Elder Shingaki.....but he never answered the door- the 6 or so times we went. He answered this time. I remembered vaguely that the member said his wife had died and he was lonely. I did a powerful short introduction to eternal families. When I asked him how he would feel if he got to live with his family forever in happiness, he was already gushing out the tears. He quietly explained that his wife had died 5 years ago and let us in. As we started to teach about God, we introduced baptism- like we`ve been doing the last month or 2. To our surprise, he pulled out some paper, wrote the word down, and the date we said that we`d have a baptismal service. When we asked him if he`d want to receive baptism, he answered with a definite YES. We continued to introduce the BOM and the truths it had, including where we went after this life. Elder CHristensen pulled out Alma 40:12(spirit world is like paradise for the righteous) and the tears started coming again. Elder Christensen continued with his own testimonial, explaining that he probably understands a little bit of how he feels as his brother passed away a year ago. He testified of how his family has gained hope that he will see his brother again after this life and how Takahashi san can too. All 3 of us were bawling. We ended with a prayer in which Elder CHristensen blessed him again with hope, comfort and to be able to meet with the missionaries often, and we testified of the holy ghost that we all felt. He has been prepared and needs this message of truth and hope. Maybe the reason that Elder SHingaki and I couldn`t get a hold of him was because we needed Elder Christensen powerful testimony and his experience to relate to such a lonely, sad man. They will continue to meet with him and prepare him for baptism.