Week #53

January 28, 2013

Hey fam-bam!!! 

Well, Frank actually did it!!! He was baptized and confirmed yesterday!! :) It was such an amazing couple of days. I will literally never forget them... but I do have to tell you how slightly disastrous the baptism was lol!!! Here it goes... 

The baptism was at 11am, and we started filling up the font around 9:45. Plenty of time, right? Well, we filled up the whole font, began having the service, but we made the mistake of having both the baptism & Holy Ghost talks AND my musical number before the actual baptism... ha ha. Frank began walking into the font after I had finished the song and the water was only up to the first STEP!!! Ha ha ha! I was completely freaking out inside, ha ha! So we started filling up the font again, (took about 15-20 min) and Bishop asked me if I could keep playing music during that time... Let me tell you, I've never been more grateful to have my piano skills!! (Thanks for pushing me, mom! :)) I played a good 3 or 4 hymns after that, all Marshall McDonald arrangements. I felt so good about being able to play those songs even though I hadn't practiced them for about 3 months or so, ha! The Lord definitely helped me out. Frank is obsessed with piano music as well and so he just absolutely LOVED it.  He said, "Good thing the water went down so you could play more for me!!"  He was SUCH a good sport. :) Then the member that baptized him got the words wrong the first time, so Frank got dunked twice, ha ha! So crazy. But now he's baptized and he was literally BEAMING when he came up out of the water!! It was so fun to see him SO happy. I just love that man so much. He's such an awesome guy!! Seriously, he was SO prepared and is now such a faithful, good member of the church. When he was confirmed he was smiling even bigger afterward, and was shaking people's hands as he was walking back to his seat. :) This ward has changed so much since I've been here, and I'm SO happy to see that they truly were prepared to receive a new member in their congregation. I know they will take good care of him!! :) 

It was so interesting after his confirmation. I literally felt a feeling of satisfaction, like I've done what I needed to do while being here on my outbound. It has been such a great experience for me to be here!! I love my companions so much, even though they really struggle watching the clock... which is a pet peeve of mine, ha ha.  I have learned patience though, and I need to speak up more to help them be more obedient. 

This week was seriously INCREDIBLE!! Before Frank's baptism, we were out tracting on Thursday and found a 22 year old girl named Rita who let us right in, and we had a lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation right then and there. She's "Catholic," but doesn't even know why infants are baptized in her church. So funny how small people's understanding is of their own religion. Anyways, she is a super sweet girl, and we'll be teaching her again this week. 

On Thursday again (HUGE miracle day!!) we went over to Bruce Johnson's house, a less active in the ward that agreed to let us teach him. The man hasn't been to church in almost 50 years!! Anyway, we went over not really expecting much, and then his wife (a non-member) came in and said, "Do you mind if I join you?" Um, do you even have to ask?? So she joined us and started asking ALL sorts of questions. She wanted to know everything about our church, and even said halfway through the lesson, "Between you and me, I don't really want to be a Catholic anymore.." :)  The heavens opened and the angels were singing, ha ha!! So incredible!  I just can't believe the miracles that happen out here on the mission. It’s just unreal! I don't understand how I deserve all of these amazing blessings. Heavenly Father is simply too good to me. My comps and I literally started clapping, crying, freaking out like girls do in the car because we got 2 new investigators... in one day!! And, Cici (Bruce's wife) is so TOTALLY prepared, it's ridiculous. We taught her the Restoration and we'll teach her the Plan of Salvation this week and invite her to be baptized. :) I can't wait!! My only sadness is that I will be leaving here in a couple of weeks... I really REALLY want to be able to see Cici baptized but I don't think it's possible. Oh well. I told the sisters they better write me and update me on everyone we've been teaching or else!! :) 

We had a lesson with Rachel this week that was so incredibly powerful. Definitely one of the most powerful lessons I've ever been in in my life!! The spirit was insanely strong. We met up with her at the church building and felt so much peace from the Holy Ghost. Rachel has a looooong, hard road ahead of her... She is in a LOT of debt and has very little options of what she can do right now. She wants to raise Daisy right, but she's honestly stuck. She can't get a job and live on her own because no one will accept her horrible credit.  Joe is the only option she has living wise because he can work and she can stay home... unfortunately, Joe is NOT the kind of guy she should marry. He's a totally lame-o, and doesn't even want to marry her right now. She wants to be baptized again but obviously the Law of Chastity will be broken in their house together.. It's such a complex situation that we had to tell her that she needs to meet with the Bishop. We can't help her out much anymore. The poor thing totally broke down in tears and just has no respect or love for herself. She hates herself for all of the things she did and the people she hurt in the past. It's so sad to see someone that you love hurt so much! I honestly want to just take her in myself and take care of her, ha ha. I would in a heartbeat if I had the money and the situation. Anyway, we were finally able to get her to open up to us which was amazing. She's one that puts up a front to cover up how she really feels inside... 

Thanks so much for all the wonderful emails and love that you guys send me! It seriously helps me SO much. I love you all more than I can express! The work here is moving forward, and I think I'll be able to see a lot more miracles if I just work hard and hold out to the end. Hopefully I can do all that the Lord wants me to do out here. I love you all SO much and hope everything is going well with the move and things!! 

Love always, 

Sister Nat 

PS. I forgot to mention that the Stake President AND the mission President, President Godwin came to Frank's baptism. :) So sweet, right?!! and they got to see this somewhat disastrous baptism ha ha ha! :) Oh well though!