From Sept. 14, 2009, email: It's amazing how quickly things can turn around. The week before was awesome, but this past week was one of the worst. Amanda didn't get baptized because her mom wouldn't give her permission. She said to wait--possibly months or years. She didn't say absolutely not so we're still hopeful for the future. It's all in the Lord's timing!
Dominick didn't show up for church yesterday so we'll have to move his baptismal date back a week or so. We had such a wonderful lesson on Saturday night, but I guess it wasn't enough to get him to church. His friends are not a good influence on him so he's struggling to find the balance. I'm not sure that his heart is completely into the gospel. It sounds like a good thing to him, but he doesn't have the testimony needed to stay strong. So we'll be working on that this week. He went with us to Institute at the Bloomfield chapel and really liked it. They've got some great kids in the area that he can fellowship with. I even enjoyed the Institute class. Even though I've read the BOM over and over, I still had many new insights throughout the class.
On Wednesday, all four of our appointments cancelled so we weren't too happy then. But we did take the bus down to Hartford to get monthly bus passes & were able to hand out two BOMs. That was the highlight of the day. And once again on Friday, all of our appointments cancelled. It was a frustrating week, but we just have to press forward through the hard times.
Saturday we did service for a part member family. Luckily I've become such an expert at painting (haha) from all those hours in Almo. We have a deal with the non-member husband: one hour of service for one hour of church. So we happily painted away for a couple of hours and he came to church (without his member wife) with their two kids. Service is the best way to soften a heart! He won't be baptized anytime soon, but definitely in the future.
The Elders talked in church yesterday and did a wonderful job. One of them talked about his missionary experiences in high school. Two similar situations produced such different results. But in both of them, he felt the undescribable joy that came from sharing the gospel. As D&C 18 states, if you bring one soul unto Christ, "how great shall be your joy with Him in the kingdom of my father." I've truely felt that joy as I've been serving the Lord here in Connecticut. I know that this is His work and we are just the instruments in bringing those souls into the fold. I've never felt so happy in my life! I wish I could carry this feeling on even after I'm home. Heavenly Father doesn't need us to do the work . . . he could send angels down here to preach the gospel. But WE need it. We need to learn unselfish service. We need to strengthen our testimonies so that no matter what storm comes our way, we are safely built upon the rock of Jesus Christ. That is probably what I'm most grateful for. I can now say I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, the Restoration, the BOM, and also prayer. There is no way that I could have spiritually survived without this testimony.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
