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Mission Week 17 - Jessica Baptism!

Monday, November 6, 2023

What's good. Hope you all had a good week.

First things first, we had Jessica's baptism! It was a really good experience all around. She chose our awesome member Max to baptize her which was great. If you look in the pictures I am also wearing white because since Max is a smaller guy he wanted someone else in the water to help him lift her. I also had the opportunity to do the confirmation on Sunday which went well. Overall not a lot to say about the day, it was just a regular baptism haha but the Spirit was really strong for sure and Jessica just kept saying that all she could feel was joy, peace and tranquility. We had a few of our members come and had a lunch together after too. 

Other than that not much else happened in the week. We did have 2 really good lessons though that I'll explain a little bit about. 

So one of the two lessons was with Daniel. Can't remember if I've explained his situation before, but basically he has been meeting with missionaries for about 5 years, and comes to church every week but still hasn't been baptized. A lot of the times we go and teach him we just read the scriptures with him or give a short spiritual thought. Which is good and all, he loves the missionaries coming, but in order for him to make more spiritual progression at his stage baptism is really important. So a few times since I've been here we've tried to talk to him about where he stands with the church and what he thinks his next step is. Daniel is a little scatterbrained so in past times when we ask him stuff like that we don't really get anything. But this time I was done with getting no answer so I just kept asking him questions until he started explaining a little bit. Eventually, after probably like 30 minutes of me just asking questions, we came to the conclusion that he already knew the Book of Mormon is true, he just hasn't realized it yet. He still has some other issues with his testimony he needs to work out, but I would say it's the most missionaries have got out of him maybe ever, so it made me really happy to see him progressing, even if it's just a little bit right now. 

The lesson with Abraham was probably better, and just crazy to see his turn. So to remind you all he is the one who claims he is a prophet and always asks us to follow him and believe in him. Basically the last 4 times we have been talking about priesthood authority with him and we explained it more this week and he seemed receptive. He was asking questions but then after he just went back to his regular thing about prophets saying we can't believe through witnesses and that we aren't true followers of Christ and stuff like we need to live our own life and stop following others and when I asked him who we are following if not Jesus, he said he doesn't know but we are. And so I was super pissed off at this point, I just stopped talking and my comp kept arguing with him but I was just staring at the floor not saying anything. I had the impression I should just stop the conversation and bear my testimony because it wasn't going anywhere. So I did and just said like I know that President Nelson is a prophet and Joseph Smith was a prophet and God's authority was restored to the earth through him. And then Abraham just said thank you and I just got up and went to the bathroom and then he just took us into the kitchen to have lunch like we always do. We were just talking about regular things but then after like 30 minutes my comp asked him if he read the chapter that we asked him to read (2 Nephi 31 which talks bout being baptized after Christ's example makes you a true follower). He said he read it and he liked it, and had me reread some of the verses that talk specifically about baptism. We had talked in the previous conversation about baptism and how that is what Christ's wants us to do. Abraham was saying that it was what we were just talking about and he liked it. So I asked him if he believed what we were saying bout the authority thing, and kinda explained why we think it's important so we can be baptized after Christ. He then asked a bunch of questions and we clarified for him. At this point it was crazy his mind just switched, he completely understood the authority thing now even though we talked about it 5 times, and then he also understood that our church has the full truth, even though we've said that a bunch of times too. He was hating on the Book of Mormon during the discussion but then he said that we were meant to be put in his life he has been looking for Jesus's full truth for so long and couldn't find it, and that we were the way for him to find it. He told us to just leave him with him, God and the Book of Mormon and he was gonna study and see if it was the truth. We told him if he had a pure heart then God would tell him it's true, and then he says "my heart has nothing my heart is just Jesus, if I accept this book it's because it's Jesus accepting it" lol.

Sorry if those stories don't seem that crazy to y'all reading, but for me they were both big miracles that have been a long time in the making. Besides those and the baptism nothing really happened though, just knocking doors and social media work like always. We did start a Book of Mormon club for a newer member in our branch who doesn't know much though which was nice. 

For spiritual thought this week I thought to just talk about the importance of covenants since Jessica made her first covenant with baptism this week! Here is a quote from President Nelson about covenants from the talk "Overcome the World and Find Rest" (this is one of my favorite talks go read the whole thing if you have time I really could have quoted the whole thing). "Dear brothers and sisters, I grieve for those who leave the Church because they feel membership requires too much of them. They have not yet discovered that making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier! Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth! The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to His higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God." Can't put it much better than President Nelson but covenants really are a truly special opportunity that we have, and as we keep them we can grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ than any other way. 

Sorry for the more boring email this week. Appreciate y'all who read it🙏

Have a great week!

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