This week has been so amazing! We've seen the Lord's hands here in St. David so much. It truly is amazing. I also have some bad news... I'm starting to go gray. I was worried all week because who wants to get gray hair before their parents, but I was pleasantly surprised to see in some of the pictures that you sent that Dad has some gray hair too. But really, who wants gray hair at my age. There are these two sisters here in town. They are about 2 years apart, the older one has zero gray hair (and doesn't dye it) and the younger has completely gray hair. I have a feeling that this is how it will be for Suzy and I. Oh well. If a few gray hairs are the worst thing that is happening to me than I'll be ok. Anyway, that was just a side note.
Like I said, this week, like every week was so great! We saw so many miracles. On Wednesday our district had a fast to find new investigators. My companionship had just fasted a few days earlier, but we knew that if we sacrificed again that the Lord would pour out blessings on us. And He did!
Since we got to town in March we've been trying to work with this part-member family. Nothing had really come of it but we still went by a few times a week. Well on Wednesday we went by. The mom let us in and told us that her son wanted to be baptized! It was so amazing! When we showed the Lord even more effort, He blessed us so much. This kid's name is Patrick and he's 10 years old. He's super smart and wants to do what is right. He's really cool.
We had a really cool experience with Dorothy this week as well. We were teaching her and she wouldn't accept a baptismal date. She said that she needed to know "the rules" first. So we decided to teach her one of the commandments. She already knew it and asked for another and then another and then another. After hearing the Big 4 (tithing, law of chastity, word of wisdom, and sabbath day) in a space of about 40 mins she said, "you know, this baptism thing is something that I can really do." So we set a date with her for the 4th of July! The only problem is that she's temporarily care taking land in the next town over but is trying to find land here in St. David. She gets along great with the ward here so we're hoping that she'll be able to find some land here in the next few weeks. She's so cool and loves learning about the Gospel.
Also this week we had a really neat experience with Terry. He had lost something really important and called us to see if we knew where it was. We said no but to pray and that we could come over in a few hours. Well, when we got there he still had no idea where it was at and hadn't prayed yet. We used this time to teach him about the power of prayer. We all knelt down and prayed to find the item. I knew that as we prayed that we would find it. After praying we got up and Sister Mackay and I walked right to it and found it. It all happened in less than a minute and was so simple. It all happened because of prayer. We were then able to talk to Terry about how Heavenly Father really wants to talk to us about everything. We shared Alma 37: 36-37 with him and then prayed to thank Heavenly Father. It was amazing and a really neat lesson for all of us. The climax of the week was Ian and Connor's baptisms and confirmations!
This family is so amazing. In just a months time they went to the temple and came back and got baptized. They knew what they needed to do and wouldn't let anything get in the way of them doing that. It is so cool. Something neat about it is that Shannon's brother came in from Albuquerque to perform the baptisms and confirmations. They hadn't seen each other in over 5 years and the temple brought them together again. The spirit was so strong at the baptism and in Sacrament Meeting. It was incredible. I'm so excited for a year from now when we'll come back and go to the temple together. The ward was also so supportive. There were more people than chairs because so many people came out to share in the joy of their baptisms. Something that I've really come to know is that the members are SO important. If there is little or no support from the members than the work is so hard and almost nonexistent. But when the members are excited and involved the work is on fire. There is a huge correlation between member involvement and success. An example of this was a member (Brother Davis) invited his neighbor (Asher) to go to the temple open house with him. Because of his sharing our beliefs with this friend, the friend was more open to the Gospel. Brother Davis was then able to invite Asher to his home to hear a message from us. We taught him yesterday and set a baptismal date with Asher for July 24th! None of this would have ever happened without Brother Davis and him being brave and sharing what he knows is true. Member involvement is pivotal. I'm so thankful to be in an area where the members know that. Because of the change in the members we've already reached the yearly baptismal goals for 2 of the 3 wards. It has everything to do with the Lord and member involvement.
Oh, after the Kirkwood's baptism Bishop Jones shared some really neat thoughts. He was quoting Paul about when we join the Church we are no longer strangers but fellow-citizens in Christ. I love that! The Gospel really is what binds us together. I love the Church because no matter where you go you have brothers and sisters there to buoy you up and to be there for you.
I just love the Church. It is so true and really is the only true source to happiness and joy. There's no doubt about it. I've seen it so many times, when someone is living the Gospel - truly living it and making an earnest effort to live it - they are always happy. That doesn't mean that they don't have hard times but they are able to see the good amongst the bad.
Well, I hope that you all have an amazing week! Happy Father's day! The Church is definitely true!
Love, Sister Anderson
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