What an amazing week this has been! Peter was baptized this past week, and he did soooo well!!! He made me laugh so hard! He came in a T-shirt and shorts because he didn't know that he had to come dressed like church!.. That was on us though big time that we didn't take the time to fill him in.. I guess we just figured that he would think about it on his own. We forget that he has no religious background at all. He came in and was feeling the water to make sure that it wasn't to cold or to hot! He told me that it was acceptable to him! hahaha After the baptism me and Elder Fajardo got up to give the intermediate lesson and we are still not total sure why, but in the back ground Peter was hootin and hollerin about somethin! Him and the man who baptized him was just laughin away and there was not a dry eye in the audience at that moment! I wish that I could say that it was because the spirit was so strong, but it was because everyone was laughing so hard about it! We still have to ask him about why he was screamin like he was! Haha Well the rest of the service went really well. We had a great turn out from the ward, and people brought a few snacks for after the service for him. Well after it was over we were taking the chairs down and thanking people for coming, and bishop asked, "Where is Peter?!" Well we looked all around the church and outside and no one was able to find him!.. It was super weird! Well we were walking past the car of the person that had given him a ride, and I just happened to look through the window and saw his legs at a glance! I am not kidding, but he waszonked out in the car! We knocked on the window and he still wasn't waking up! So we took a few pictures of him so that we could remember it, and then opened the door and woke him up! He was so tired. He had stayed over the night at a friends house, and hadn't slept at all that night. We got him to come back in and to enjoy the friends and people that were there for him! It was super funny!
One of the best parts of the baptism was the fact that we were able to get 5 of our investigators there to see it and to support Peter! Harry and Deniella came, and then we had three others that we had found this week! They all loved it so much and Harry actually told us that he wanted to get baptized that day so not to let the water out yet! Haha We told him that if he wanted to and felt like he was ready he could be baptized a week from that day or two weeks. We told him to pray about it, and he got back to us that he wants to move it up to he 14th of this month so we are super excited for him! We took him to the temple last night, and he loved it!! He told us that he had never felt so calm in his life before! I am so excited to see this young man enter the waters of baptism. He is going to be a great member of the church. He told us that he wants to serve a mission in his city in China when the church first puts missionaries there! Honestly I would believe it that it could happen! He is going to do so well. We played ping pong this week and he just seriously kicked my butt... He is dang good! I think Garret needs to come out here and play this guy! Definitely have found a worthy opponent! haha
Our prayers have been answered!!! I have such a testimony of Prayer and Fasting! Deniella is going to be baptized on September 21st! She decided randomly last Friday that it was dumb to hold herself back from the blessings of the gospel for that long and so she called her mom and told her that she could be here for the first time she goes to the temple to do baptisms, but that she was going to get baptized for herself before she came out here! We are so proud of her, and so thankful that Heavenly Father stepped in and made sure that she didn't wait to long. It is a week longer then we had planned, but like we tell people, they receive revelation for themselves not us! We just invite for a date and then let them decide! We don't take agency of others away! We are super excited for her!
We were able to find 6 new investigators this week and it was amazing! This past week was easily the best week of either of our missions! We taught 19 member present lessons and had a total of 21 total lessons! Teaching 19 investigator lessons was such a miracle! It was so amazing to watch the Lord just tell us where to go and how to do it!
Sadly we found out two weeks ago that one of our really good friends and member of our ward that we both knew, has passed away... His funeral is going to be this Saturday in Oakley and so we have gotten permission from president to go. It was huge news to us all and very very sad. But thankfully we know the plan and his family is very strong in the gospel! Please just keep them in your prayers this week. They will need it!
Well I have got to sign off! I love you all! I know that what I have been doing the past few years is exactly what I am supposed to be doing!! I love this gospel so much and am so blessed to be able to have Christ's name on my name tag! I got an email the other day from a guy who I was in the MTC with and he was telling me that they all only have one more transfer!!! For the first time I was so excited that I still have four and a half months left!!! I would not be ready to go home already! I love this work and I love to teach the ysa aged kids. They have such strong faith whether they are members or not! Thanks again for all the love and support that you have given me! Know that I have faith in this gospel! I love it so much. I will never deny the feelings and the thoughts that have gone through my mind the past transfer. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life! As we opened my box from home and found that both of us got ties from Grandpa, tears came to both of our eyes. He has been here with us the entire transfer and now we have ties to make him even closer now! As we listened to the funeral service this past week, we both came to the conclusion that Peter and Harry are the men that Grandpa saw in his dream! I remember him telling me that the man didn't know god yet. It couldn't have been June because he already new him! It is Harry and Peter! Elder Fajardo felt the spirit so strongly as I told him that story and we know for a fact that Grandpa is tracting the college one door ahead of us each day and that is why we have yet to find anything less then three a week for the past 5 weeks! I love the plan of salvation so much! I thank Heavenly Father each night for allowing me to be born into the family that I was born into! I Know that I was not always a great example of who a priesthood holder should be, but I sure am trying now! I have a very strong testimony of the priesthood and what it can do for us all! Please read your scriptures every day this month in preparation for conference coming up! You will see blessings from it I promise!
Much Love
Elder Shelley
No comments:
Post a Comment