Can I just tell you that I love you all so very very much. The Lord is so amazing and helps us so much in our lives. Like giving us wonderful friends and families to help us and give us the support that we need to make it through. I just love you e-mails and thank you so much for the supporting words that you give me. Well I have a ton to tell you about the week and not much time to do it so I will fill you in the best I can.
Monday- After I emailed you we had a zone meeting to figure out what we needed to do to get the 10 baptisms that we needed. We made a list of everyone that could be baptized, mainly all those who have been to church enough times and could be baptized. It went well and both Hna Bounds and I left with some ideas of what we could do but we still were a little lost. That night we decided that we needed to go to Lebanon (30 miles from where we live but in our area) we went and met with a less active family whose son was 9 and not baptized. We taught them and set a date for him to be baptized on Sunday. It was a miracle from our Heavenly Father. Really it was. So at the end of Monday we had 4 dates for the weekend (Joshua, Juan, Esmeralda & Vanessa).
Tuesday- We had a wedding. Juan and Esmeralda (the family that we set a date with last week to get baptized on the 29th) got married. It was so wonderful. We went and helped them get their marriage license and then we had a bishop marry them. They were there with their 2 kids Vanessa (age 8) and Angel (age 4) It was such a good experience and they were so happy. You could not wipe the smile from their faces. Miracle once again!
Wednesday- was a day of not feeling good. Hna Bounds and I both were sick to our stomach and just not feeling good at all. So we knew that Satan was working hard on us because we had a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in. We decided to ask the English Elders in our area for a blessing (the blessing was really good with lots of things I needed to here from my Heavenly Father). After that we just kept working and working and we made it through the day. We had a scare with Joshua and his baptism date, his mother thought he should keep waiting but we talked to her and told her that we had had the confirmation from our Heavenly Father that he was ready and we knew he was. So we talked to her about it and she said afterwards ok I feel good now about it. He will get baptized. Miracle once again, I love our Heavenly Father.
Thursday- We went back to Lebanon and we were teaching one of our investigators up there who has a date for the 12th of June and we were teaching her daughter as well. We ended up setting a baptism date with her for the 12th of June with her mother. She has another daughter that can be baptized as well but she was just not there at that time. So we will set one with her this week. Once again another Miracle.
We also however had some scars with Juan and Esmeralda they were not answering there phone and we could not contact them. But we finally got a hold of them and found out that Juan was having a hard time with the Word of Wisdom. We got some help from the Lord and ended the night.
Friday- Interview day for all of our Baptismal dates....Yeah!!!! Well it started off a little scary because we went to Juan and his family but they were starting to change their minds about being baptized. NO WAY Satan... nice try. We had a powerful lesson with them with the help of our district leader and his companion, as well as the HELP of the spirit. We got things smoothed out but we had to change their baptism to Sunday the 30th in the morning. All three passed their interviews, and they were once again excited for their baptism. The Spirit does amazing things. Yet again another miracle.
Then we went up to Joshua and he was interviewed and so excited for his baptism on Sunday the 30th at 6:00 at night. All 4 baptism dates passed their interviews and we were ready to go for Saturday. EXCITING STUFF!!!!!
Saturday- was a normal day with getting things ready for a baptism set for Sunday morning at 9:00 and doing all that great fun stuff. The lord helped us and kept us going. I just love the help of the lord in my life.
Sunday- The big day we woke up at 6:00 got to the church at 7:30 to fill the font. We waited until 8:15 to call Juan and Esmeralda, we wanted to know if they were on their way to the church. Juan answered and said I have a flat tire (nice try satan) but he said I have a spare so I am going to change it really fast then we are on our way. Yeah! They showed up at 8:55am they got changed and then we had a beautiful baptismal service for a FAMILY of 3. It really was amazing one of the best experiences I have had on my mission. The spirit was so strong the family was so happy and they were all doing this step together. They are now a family on their way to becoming ETERNAL. What more could one ask for. We had great support from our Branch and they were welcomed warmly. I have wanted to help a family join the church, while on my mission, and the Lord provided a way for me to help Him by making me an instrument in His hands. It was AMAZING!!!! Afterwards at 1:00 when we had church they were all confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost and it was wonderful. Their blessings were beautiful. This was a highlight of the mission to see them join the church. Afterwards before they left they shook our hands and said "Hermanas Thanks so much for helping us." (Heavenly Father thanks so much for this miracle and for letting me help them- I thought)
However we had some things happen and Joshua was not able to get baptized because of some problems that he nor us could control. But he will be getting baptized this month and we are excited to help him. It was hard not to see him baptized on Sunday because we both, Hna Bounds and I knew he was ready. He was sad as well but like I said he will get baptized this next month and hopefully his dad will be ready and will be able to baptize him.
We also had 4 investigators at church, making Sunday an all around an amazing day full of the spirit and the love of our Heavenly Father. I really love this work. It is hard and trying but it is all worth it in the end, to see the happiness that this gospel brings to people’s lives and families. What a day full of MIRACLES!
All in all it was a GREAT week 3 new members of the church and more coming for the next month. We as a zone ended up with a total of 6 baptisms. President had a conf call with us that night and he told us. Well you didn't meet your goal but you did work hard and I thank you for that. I think you worked hard enough and you were one of the top baptizing zones that I am keeping you together. YEAH, Another Miracle!!!! We still have to work really hard and keep our baptisms up or he said we might be separated. So we have a lot of work. But we as a zone are so much closer and unified we can do it. My faith has really really grown and I thank you all for your prayers. I love each and every one of you. Thanks so much for your support.
I am out of time. But know that I love you tons.....
Love
