Week 22 - "If you'll excuse me, I have a double baptism this afternoon, and I have to, ah, top up the font."
Hello, everyone!
It's been a great week here in Warren, Ohio. Before I say anything else, lest I forget, I should say that the transfer board has been sent out, and I am staying in Warren for the next 6 weeks.
The quote this week is from Dr. Chasubel (sp?) in The Importance of Being Earnest. It seemed appropriate for this week, seeing as the major highlight of this week was the baptism and confirmation of John and Jean. They're a couple we've been teaching, and I guess that I came into the area just in time, just as they were really starting to make progress, John was interested in the church, but once Jean got involved, they rocketed toward baptism. I had the privilege of baptizing John personally, and Elder Anderson had the privilege of baptizing Jean (by the way, if I've called her Jeanne in previous emails, I need to apologize--that's not her given name, it's just what John calls her sometimes). They're awesome. I noticed a real difference in their countenances after their baptism, and I felt there was an even greater one after their confirmation. Elder Anderson and I spent a good part of the day at the church, doing online proselyting and waiting for the font to fill up. When John and Jean got there (bringing, by the way, their own refreshments for everyone to have, because that's the kind of people they are, and after John helped a member of the ward move apartments that morning), we gave them a little walkthrough of what was going to happen. They looked great--Jean had a white dress on, and John was wearing a very nice white shirt (see the attached photo). John was smiling so big throughout the experience, and I guess Jean was pretty touched by the Relief Society president's welcoming her in. Other cool moments included a talk by one of the sisters in our area. She spoke on faith and baptism, and I felt like she really invited the spirit and set the mood for the ordinance. (I don't know if I've explained this before, but the area we are in has both Elders and Sisters. It used to be that areas were divided in half if you had two companionships in them like that, but here we just share the area and try not to step on each other's toes. The sisters have actually been really awesome and sent a lot of referrals our way.) Another cool thing about the baptism was that there were over 40 people there, by our count: While we were changing after the baptism the ward mission leader passed out index cards and pens so people could write their testimonies and their thoughts to John and Jean. We'll actually be meeting with them tonight, so we'll be able to give those to them. Anyway, there were 41 cards in all, so unless people wrote multiple times, there were at least that many people at the baptism. Five of those people John and Jean invited themselves. One of them was their son, and he brought his girlfriend with him. We thanked them for coming later, and he complimented me on the baptism and said I did a good job, which I appreciated hearing, because it meant he was watching--he was actually the one who let missionaries into John and Jean's house and got this whole journey started, but he since lost interest in what missionaries were teaching. We're hoping that changes soon, and I promised John and Jean when we met with them that the spirit they would have on being baptized and confirmed would make a real difference in their home. They have a lot of people come and go in their house and sort of look after a lot of people (kind of like Sister Portis in Worthington), and I think the influence they will have from this point will be enormous and wonderful.
They seemed to appreciate their confirmation on Sunday, as well. And we got to be in the circle, but we encouraged them to choose someone in the ward to confirm them so they would have a relationship with them. It was a great to be there as they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. They're awesome people, and they're about to be even more awesome.
Also on Sunday we met a guy named David. We received him as a referral and had tried to schedule an appointment with him, but it didn't pan out, so he asked what time services were. We let him know, and then he actually showed up. He's awesome. He's got long, gray hair and a beard, and he does animal control and trapping and so forth. He's, like, a modern-day mountain man. He said he saw an ad for The Book of Mormon on Facebook and had heard things about the church before but figured he should find out for himself. After church there was a linger longer, and this nice lady in our ward named Sister Bishop told him while we were waiting in line to get food that this was the best church ever, and it was true, and he should be baptized. He said he planned on coming back to church, and we've got a lesson with him Saturday. It made me think we need to invite Sister Bishop to more lessons with us.
Bruce appears to be making steady progress--he read through the whole Book of Mormon and then started into the index (?). He's prayed about it, and he hasn't received his answer yet, but we're praying for him. Either way, he loves coming to church and being with us, and he's already invited two of his friends to participate in lessons with us and/or come to church, so we've started teaching them a little as well.
A few cool miracles happened this week: While we were out trying to contact a few members, potentials and people we've dropped, Elder Anderson felt like we needed to go see this one member. We went to that house and met her, only to find out that she's really going through a rough time and wasn't supposed to be there at that point in the day--she wondered how we knew to come. We asked her if there was anything we could do for her. She said "Pray." So we had a prayer with her, and then we assured her that the Lord loves her--he sent us to her on purpose.
The other cool miracle that happened was that we were meeting with a guy we're teaching whom we've been trying to get in touch with for a while, and then his brother came out of the basement while we were talking and told us he's a member of the church and wants to get back into it. We don't even have him on our records. We've started reading The Book of Mormon with him, and he's coming to church on Sunday! I'm hoping that as he becomes more active his family will see a change in him that they desire and that will motivate them to action. They're an awesome family, and I feel like they would just become even more awesome with the gospel.
One of the things I feel like I've been learning this week is that ultimately bearing testimony is the most important thing for a missionary to be able to do. If you're thinking of going on a mission, find your testimony. Spend some time and sit and think about what you know and what you believe. Sometimes there are things we don't even know we believe. For instance, I have a strong testimony of prayer and fasting, that they make a difference in my life, but I've only been able to realize that because I turn to them out of habit when I need help. I've been listening to Bapa's tapes about the Presidents of the Church, and I guess at one point Heber J. Grant was about to be made a general authority, and a person in the council asked him if he had a testimony. He said that he didn't know, and the man then began to object to his being ordained. He was like, "You want him to be a general authority? He doesn't even have a testimony!" The president of the church at the time smiled and said, "He has a testimony, he's just the only one in this room who doesn't know he has a testimony." Sometimes if we pay attention to our behavior, or if we sit down and think about the experiences we've had and what they've meant to us, we can find that we have a strong testimony of many principles of the gospel. And once we have that testimony, and we know what it is, we can go out and bear it boldly. If you are contemplating a mission (or if you feel unsure about this gospel--or if you just feel like doing the following activity for fun), sit down and start writing about the spiritual experiences you've had and the things you believe. Think about the things you do. Think about the miracles you've experienced--the things that have happened to you which you can't explain, but which the hand of the Lord explains perfectly. Start writing down the individual principles or parts of the Gospel that you have a testimony of and what you believe about them (for example, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, temples, prayer, individual commandments, missions, and so forth). Then see what you come up with. If you feel you are lacking, pray and fast that your testimony can be increased, and have faith in the promise of Moroni that, "If ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." As a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise that if you meet all those prerequisites given in Moroni's promise, and after you pray, you listen (be it on your knees or off them), your testimony will be increased.
Final note: Today we visited the National Packard Museum in Warren. I guess Packard is a car company that went out of business in the '60s, but was prodigious and of the same caliber as Rolls-Royce up until that time. Some of the attached pictures are from that.
I love you all! Keep fighting the good fight.
Last week we also got to go to Kirtland, and I'll send some photos from that in a separate email.
Photo 1: John and Jean post-baptism
Photo 2: A salamander we found during a service project
Photos 3 and 4: Kittens Elder Anderson found while we were trying to contact a referral.
Photos 5-7: The Packard Museum (photo 7 - I didn't realize Baby Face Nelson was a real person)
Photos 8-11 - Kirtland!
I almost forgot! I had an idea earlier this week, but it requires your participation. In light of my recent emails, I wanted to ask:
How have you (yes, you--the person reading this) been blessed by obeying a specific commandment?
What principles taught by the gospel do you have a testimony of because of that experience?
I'd be very grateful if you sent me an email to let me know.
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