May 21, 2012

Hey!

 

Well, this week has been super amazing! We have four people on date for baptism! (3 of which are this weekend!) Pa (9 year old) and Jer and Au (a mom and 8 year old son!) are being baptized this Saturday and all are VERY excited.... me too!!

Jer and Au had been taught by the Sisters back in January and they were supposed to be baptized in February. Unfortunately they were kicked out of her parents' house and had to live in &&& for a time; thus delaying their baptism. 

For months there was no contact with them.... off the charts and nowhere to be found...

But this past Friday we got a phone call: it was Jer telling us that she was back in ^^^ and they had been attending church out in &&& and they had been reading the Book of Mormon together whenever they could. We ended up having to meet with them at the motel they are staying at, and despite their sad circumstances, things are looking up. They are about to get an apartment in the ward they were attending previously, and though they haven't moved in just yet we felt prompted to extend another baptism date. Au jumped up and down "YES!! MOM!! LET'S GET BAPTIZED!!". It was so cute :) Jer smiled from ear-to-ear and said "We've wanted to for so long now". 

 

Some people in the ward are skeptical since they have no house right now, and it really bothered me all weekend... were we doing the right thing to have them baptized this soon? As I sat and prayed in Sacrament Meeting yesterday I felt at peace. Why put off something so special because someone doesn't have the luxuries other have? The Gospel is available to ALL of God's children: wealthy or poor. We consulted with the Bishop on the matter, considering the fact that they would need some financial aid and their records would not have an address for a couple of weeks until they move in to their apartment. The Bishop felt good about it, and gave us the go; knowing full well Jer's circumstances. It's so wonderful to be able to gain advice from Priesthood leaders, and most especially from the Lord on certain matters.. He will never lead us the wrong way.

 

So I'm going to take in a deep breath, pray, and follow this propmting I've received about their baptism. It felt right when we prayed about it, and it feels right right now. HERE WE GO! The field is white, already to harvest!

 

My is our other baptizee for June 2nd. She was a referral and the first time we met with her she was excited to be refreshed on all that was taught to her previously by missionaries in the past. She was solid! By the second visit we had a baptism set in stone. When we asked her if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by soming holding the Priesthood authority of God she said "Sisters, I've been waiting for someone to ask me that for a year now!" ........aaaaannndd...... wa-bam! Yay! Here we go! She is moving in with a recent convert and both of them are so excited to be one another's support as they both start their new lives in the Gospel. My was renting from a guy who didn't pay the bills, so she had to move out in four days due to foreclosure. She had nowhere to stay and lucky for us, one of the recent converts here (Be) had just moved into a 3 bedroom house and was looking for a good roommate; My was perfect!

 

So bada-bing we killed three cats with one stone!

 

Things are going so well here in ^^^. I'm loving it.

 

I'm grateful that everything is looking up and we've got baptisms happening again.

 

My companion and I are getting along pretty well. We're teaching each other about the different cultures. It's been so interesting and even HILARIOUS! Like the other day she was talking about how much she loves fish....raw.... Disgusted, I said, "AUGH. Raw fish? Gross!" but then the thought came to me that it's no different than eating medium rare steak... so I said "Have you ever had a rare steak?"... after explaining what that meant she exclaimed "NO! AUGH! GROSS!! No. No. You eat raw meat. I eat raw fish. We stay that way, ok?"

 

:) She's so funny!

 

Well, I hope all is well, and I look forward to your letters this week! I love you! Stay true!

Love, Sister Meg

 

Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah for Israel!
* * *

PS: We don't have a P-day today... President says numbers are down in the whole mission (lucky for us, Sister T and I have been kicking butt!) but the whole mission needs to stay home today and study Preach My Gospel about extending commitments and baptism dates. haha! I'm glad :)

 

Woah, everyone looks so great in the pictures! Thank you for sending them to me!! I love it!!

H is freakishly tall......Duuuuude.... L and J look so grown up, it's crazy! Madd"s hair is super cute!! And I love the race track! How cool!

 

Tell K congrats on making color-guard! WHEW! Sh wrote me a couple weeks ago and she was so nervous about it! I'm glad K made it :)

 

Tell everyone good luck with the end of school! YAY! (Seriously, it's that time of year again??)

 

I LOVE YOU!

See a great week!
* * *
Love, Meg

 

P.P.S KEEP THE PICTURES COMING! I love to see you all and your activities. Dad is making me a PowerPoint for next Monday.. those are always hilarious!  :)