Hey Mom!
Looks like everyone else didn't have time to write me, but that is ok. I understand how they get busy and that dad has been working hard to get all of the stuff figured out for the stake. That is amazing how the entire stake was realigned! I am happy that our ward will be going back to the Stake Center, it feels more at home than at the other building. It's great that Bishop Ashdown will still be the bishop. He has really done an awesome job. I think that we still need his inspiration to help our ward prepare in the coming years, especially with how the economy is going.
Thanks so much for the packages, and I did get a card from Ron and Shannon. A bunch of people in the ward wished me a happy birthday. It was nice and it ended up being a memorable day. It was very different not being with the family, but I think that the baptism made up for it.
So on to the baptism. We spent most of the day preparing for it. We were over at the Dawsons working on a project that we are doing for the Bishop.
While Elder Fairbanks was doing that, I was in the kitchen making cookies for a treat afterwords. Then we went to the church and got all of the chairs set up, and started to fill the font. We had the programs made the day before so all we had to do was copy the inside of the program in the library. People started to come in and we had a pretty good turn out. There ended up being over 10 non-members there. Brother Wagoner spoke on Baptism and the importance of it. Brother Richardson performed the baptism (he was a member that gave her first Book of Mormon and works with her at the hospital). Then we went back to the chapel and gave some members the opportunity to bear their testimony about the Gospel. Elder Fairbanks gave a talk on receiving answers to prayers and tied it in with the First Vision. The spirit was very strong. We had a closing song and a prayer and then everyone went and had some refreshments. While everyone was moving into the kitchen, a woman stopped Brother Dawson and put her arm around him and said that after tonight her whole perception of the Mormon church had changed. She had been told we were a cult and a very strange people who didn't believe in Christ. And she said that now all of those misconceptions had left her, and that she thought that we were the most Christ centered church she had ever seen. That was super cool!
Sunday during Sacrament meeting I was asked to confirm her a member of the church. That really was an amazing experience since it was my first time giving someone the gift of the Holy Ghost. I really felt the spirit and hope that she was able to write down the things that I said. I just remember mostly saying that she was a Pioneer for her family and that she was going to be an instrument in bringing others into the Gospel through her example and love of the Lord. Her husband went up and bore his testimony. It was very simple yet very powerful in that he is so thankful that she had decided to come into the church. It was a really good meeting and felt so blessed to be a part of it.
So that is what happened this past week. For this coming week we are trying to see if we can work with another investigator and maybe get him closer to being baptized. When we were in Gospel Principles yesterday we talked a lot about praying to know and that it is really the only way that we know what the truth is. He really looked like he was pondering that a lot and we will be seeing him this week. I sincerely hope and pray that he will be open to being baptized. He has done all that he needs to. We know he has a testimony, but there just may be one or two things holding him back. I just hope that those concerns will be resolved and that he will want to be baptized before I get transferred out of here.
That is so cool that Christian and Ryan bore their testimonies. I wish that I could have been there to hear it. Being on a mission has its challenges, but its worth it. This baptism really has made my mission and it is inspiring to see that changes she has made in her life. Hopefully we can find more that are ready to make that change, but if not that's ok because I just need to keep trying as best as I can and the Lord will do the rest.
Well we have to go get shopping and all of that other stuff finished for the day. Hope that you all have an awesome week and thanks for all that you guys do.
Love you guys!
Love Elder Colton
