I would say this was one of the happiest weeks of my whole mission. I did not baptize anyone or set a date but I did see miracles and did one better than baptizing someone. Sheila invited me to come with her to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. Elder Winter worked with all of the recent converts down in Gold Coast to come with her. So it turned into a big ward activity. Bishop was there, the elders quorum president, all the great people I knew, but more importantly Sheila, Ceila, Marty and Alex. All people that I either set on date or baptized or worked with!!
Wow, the spirit that you feel when you are in the temple with all those loved ones is just so strong!! I have not done baptisms for the dead in a few years!! I will never forget the happiness that I felt. Celia went first and did 10 or so baptisms! She was so scared. She did not know it was her that was getting baptized, so she had on so much makeup but in the end knew it was more important to get it messed up. She just loved it and had the biggest smile!!
Sheila was up next and I could not be the one that baptized her so Bishop Nawaka was the one doing it. There was the strongest spirit!! She was being baptized for her mother!!. Sheila, as the prayer was being said, took in the deepest breath and you could practically see the spirit that filled her!! She went under the water and came up and just kept her eyes closes and stood there. It is so hard to describe the spirit that was felt and seen!! It was powerful. I was up next and asked to stand in place for her father.
Boy I can’t say it enough, the spirit was so strong. Bishop said as I walked into the font, “You don’t get baptized to much on your mission.” It was a touching moment!! I felt so peaceful!! It was the happiest I have ever been on my mission. I kept looking at her and thinking look at how far she had come. This gospel is the best thing that ever happened to me!! How blessed are we to have it in our lives!! I challenge you to share it with everyone you know!!
From there our week only got better!! Elder Tewes is such a hard worker and great missionary. We used every hour we had to find, teach, and follow up!!
I am really struggling planning for two wards and what to do, but Elder Tewes is so supportive and helpful as we go!! It has made it such a pleasure to work with him. We have both talked about the companionship and how we can make it grow!! Boy do I love him and he loves me. We are just smashing it!! He is a very serious guy!! German made!! But deep down he has a funny bone and we are really loving it. In lessons he can clearly teach with love and the spirit. The best part is we teach together. Just naturally we both teach together. One never does it all by himself. One will talk for just a bit and then pause and the other will jump right it. It comes from a good comp unity and knowing the lessons. We have great studies and really grow in teaching together!!
At the door we have seen so many tender mercies. We taught 20 lessons just at the door. Not quick little ones but 5 to 10 minutes going to the whole lesson. Out of those 20 lessons about 10 invited us back and I would say 7 could become solid investigators as we come back. We are really growing our teaching pool and doing what the Lord would have us do!!
One Sunday we were invited to attend a bishop’s training meeting. The stake president had us come and hour early and he spoke with us on how he wanted us to help in the meeting. He wanted us to talk and train. That was scary. We were going to train bishops on how to have good productive ward councils. President McSwain gave us a power point to go through with the stake president and the meeting was such a huge success!!
We were also able to have another trade off with Elder Pugsley. He is one of the APs. Boy we just love working with him. He was sharing with us the whole time how great we are and he just made us feel really good. I love him!! He also shared how we can work with such a big zone now!! I am not going to lie, it is so hard. We never have a spare moment. Always on the phone, always getting texts for permission or questions. It is so fun but draining... On Sunday night our calls ins got pushed back so we turned on the movie Ephraim's Rescue. I was in tears. If you have not seen it go see it. It is like 17 Miracles but with such a great main character. At the end of the movie I prayed and told God I wanted to be just like Ephraim and do whatever it takes. He took me up on that this week. We were able to give so many blessing and also just be on the rescue. It changed how I see people at the door and those in need. We have the blessing of being God’s hands and feet here on the earth. How cool is that!! Let’s use it!!
I just want to bare my testimony that I know that this is Jesus Christ’s church. He is in charge and fully knows what is going on. He has provided everything we need. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is the evidence of Him!!
I love my mission, I love my family!! Bring on the next week!!
I love you all and hope all is well!!
No comments:
Post a Comment