This week has been super crazy!! We've gotten to a point up here where our schedules are actually full of appointments and it takes some serious time-managing skills to get everyone in that we need to see! We had another baptism this weekend, his name is Steven and he has very high-functioning autism. He is the sweetest spirit and he has one of the most brilliant minds that I've ever come across! He already understood most of what we were teaching because he'd sat in on his mom's lessons and he asked so many deep and probing questions that we were super surprised! Anyway, it was an incredible day and I hope I never forget the change in his countenance and the smile on his face.
This week has also been pretty amazing because we've had so many investigators! Sister Goodwin says that it's like they're getting blown out of the trees; which makes sense because (using the vocab of elder Shirley) it's "wind-ing" constantly up here!!! Anyway, we had a lot of lessons with investigators and actually got 3 of them to agree to prepare for baptism on the 10th of May (Mother's day weekend). One of my favorite experiences was with one of our investigators: Nicki. We hadn't been able to meet with her for a few weeks (which causes a bit of worry) and on the day we were supposed to meet, her daughter took her car. So she couldn't drive to the appointment. She said that she had the thought that "someone" (aka Satan) didn't want her to get to the appointment, so she texted us and we changed the meeting place to the church just down the street from her house. Then, her neighbor called her and asked if she wanted a ride to the appointment. She said "yes" and was able to come to the appointment at the member's home. The kicker for me was that she recognized that Satan didn't want her taking the discussions and deciding to move forward anyway. She is going to be such a pillar of strength when she's baptized!
The work up here is amazing! We've had so many blessings with the members opening up and giving us referrals for their neighbors and family members! It also blows me away (pun intended. aren't you proud, mom?) that so many of them are SO prepared to receive the Gospel. All of those seeds that had been planted all of those years ago are now bearing fruit. And by the sounds of it, the fruit is multiplying. I know that it is extremely important for us to get, not only our converts involved, but those who have strayed from the flock. We don't need to preach or use scare-tactics to get them to come back. We just need to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and LOVE them into the fold. Christ's church is a church of love. It's a church of bettering ourselves so that we can live up to the covenants that we've made with God. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is CHRIST'S CHURCH restored again, in it's fullness, to the earth. I'm so grateful for the blessings that I've received from the covenants that I've made with my Heavenly Father through baptism and in the temple. If we keep the temple as our goal, and if we keep it in our sights once we've made those covenants, it will become much easier to live the Gospel because we will have turned our will over to the Father.
I love you all so much and I'm so glad and so grateful that I've been raised around such amazing people. Especially because I know that I will get to live with you all again! There is so much comfort in that knowledge! Anyway, have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you all next week!
Love,
Sister Lee
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