L
was baptized last night! I've attached the pictures, but I realized a
few minutes ago, that I forgot to take the date stamp off. Luckily it's
not covering up anything important. I guess I'll never forget the
date. For more reasons than just one. :) Her baptismal service was
absolutely amazing. She asked me to sing The Lord is My Shepard, and I
was really kinda nervous, because I wasn't sure how well I would be able
to hit the high notes, but it ended up working out well. The elders
also had an investigator baptized last night, A, and so it was extra
special. Two baptisms this week and two confirmations next week! L was
so prepared for this and she is so happy. It was such a spiritual
experience.
The Surrey 1st ward has also
started something special in the last few weeks. Every Sunday, right
after church, the missionaries, ward missionaries, ward leaders, and any
members who want to, gather in the kitchen, have a quick lunch, and
then divide up into groups of 2-4 people and go out and visit as many
less actives and recent converts who weren't in church as we possibly
can. This has already seen some success. One of the members who was
visited last week actually came to church this week and came out with us
afterwards. The elders last week were able to have a wonderful
experience with one of the members and give them a blessing to help with
some issues they have been dealing with. Yesterday, we were able to
teach a woman who was baptized just over a year ago who has been
struggling quite a bit lately, and by the end of the lesson, she was
fully committed to reading the Book of Mormon everyday. As we were
leaving she said that she would try to, but then she corrected herself
and said she would, no matter what, and then she repeated it several
times. Missionary work is never over. She may have been baptized, but
she still needs help. And her fiancee is expressing interest in the
church. It never ends, it just keeps on giving.
M is still struggling.
We have taught her, as simply as we possibly can, everything that we can
and everything that the Spirit leads us to, and it is up to her now. If
she can't keep her quit date for this Wednesday, we are going to have
to place her in a reflecting pool. Every time we go to teach her, we
start with our lesson plan, but the Spirit leads us back to how much her
Heavenly Father loves her and how she needs to give up smoking now. But
I don't think she is really listening. It's up to her to exercise her
agency and make the right choice, but I don't think she is. She kept
telling us on Saturday that she wasn't ready to quit yet, and I don't
think anything is going to change dramatically enough between now and
Wednesday to make her ready. But I don't know that. There may be a
miracle. I desperately hope so. She needs this so badly.
This has been so hard, but so good. And yesterday was just the
thing I needed after an exhausting and long week. We have three
appointments for tonight, and hopefully all of them will go through. If
they do, we should have at least two new investigators, on a Monday
night. That would be a wonderful miracle.
Love you all!
Sister Peterson
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