It's been a pretty loaded week, spiritually, that is. We had another baptism on Saturday, it was a miracle! His name is ________, he is from Japan. Sister Slade and I used to teach him months ago but he wasn't quite ready to live a few of the commandments so he decided to take a break from learning. He said he'd contact us if he changed his mind. A few weeks ago, the Elders called us and said, "Hey, we ran into _______ on the street and he said he wants to meet with you for a lesson!" I was like, okay great! He came to church two Sundays ago and we were able to have a conversation. He told me that he is moving back to Japan in two weeks! So we scheduled a time to meet the following Monday to have a lesson, but he other sisters also scheduled a lesson with him not knowing that we had already scheduled one. Instead of teaching him twice, we just had the other sisters teach him. They came to us afterwards and said, "He wants to be baptized this Saturday before he goes back to Japan!"
I'll admit my first thought was.......really? haha but I was excited! The sisters, as well as the Japanese Elders, taught him throughout the week to prepare him for Saturday. All was smooth sailing and during our lesson with him, I could see that he was different, that he really wanted to change this time. The day of the baptism came and he had his interview. During his interview, he told the Elder that he again isn't sure he can keep two of the commandments, he didn't feel ready for baptism. Meanwhile, we are all downstairs waiting to get on the train to head to the baptism! We received word that he had changed his mind and so immediately as a zone and a few members, we all knelt down in prayer to ask Heavenly Father for help. A few of us were in tears after the prayer, the Spirit was so strong. The Elders called President Howes asking what we should do. President Howes replied, "Well, what ARE you going to do, are you going to give up?" The two Japanese Elders decided to have one last lesson with ________ to see if they could soften his heart and resolve his concerns. While the rest of us patiently waited...and waited...and waited...when FINALLY they came out of the classroom and said, "He's ready." Everyone was all smiles, including _______. The baptism was beautiful and he shared his sweet testimony of beginning a new life. What a miracle.
Another wonderful surprise for me came Sunday morning, I received a call from the "A" family, any of you who remember they are a special family to me - I taught them in my first area. I had my first dinner appointment on my mission with this family. I love them. They drove to Sydney to come to our ward to say goodbye to me. They are traveling to Fiji next week and won't be here when I leave, It was so nice to see them. They asked if the Ogden temple is close to me - I said, "Yes, very close." They told me their goal is to be sealed in the Ogden temple this year and would like me to be there. What an amazing miracle, the journey I've been on with this family, it's amazing.
Sister Liu and I are doing well, we've been able to find some new investigators, one in particular is from Korea! We've been trying to contact him and our schedules just haven't matched up right but last night we got a call from him and he said, "I'm at your chapel!" We quickly ran across the street to the chapel to meet him, we gave him a tour and he just kept saying, "Yes, It makes sense." He joined us for family home evening and said to us "I can't wait to meet you again, thank you!" He's agreed to meet us this week and come to church on Sunday. Another miracle.
We had a member of the Area Seventy speak to our mission yesterday in a mission conference. It was very motivating. He encouraged all of us to "seek for those spiritual experiences," that these miracles we see on our mission every day, we can see them even when we don't have a missionary badge. We just need to be prepared and tell the Lord we'll follow his promptings and then go to work. He shared a few experiences he's had lately and he said, "Elders and Sisters, these things happen to me ALL the time." It really hit me - that if we want to see miracles, we will see miracles, but we need to be willing to open our mouths and share the gospel. If we want to help others and changes lives, then we need to be prepared and willing to do so.
I pray you all have a wonderful week and seek for a spiritual experience, just take a minute to look around and see who around you to serve. There are miracles all around us, the work is "Hastening." We're not hastening to plant seeds,we're hastening to HARVEST. The seeds have been planted, now go get the fruits. :)
I love you all,
Sister Raitt
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