My week was filled with spiritual punches in the face. The first being, Marilyn got baptized!!!! Woo hoo! Marilyn is a fantastic lady who Sister Corbett taught for a few months before I got here. She
committed to a baptism date a week before I came into the area, then Sister Corbett and I had the pleasure of teaching her the last few commandments and getting her ready for baptism. She was so prepared by the Lord it's a little bit up fathomable. She took everything we told her, learned it, loved it, and lived it. She even made it through Alma (That's halfway through folks, she's a champ) in her Book of Mormon reading before being baptized. She is such an amazing woman and I
can't wait to see how she continues to grow. Her baptism went a lot like her lessons (which were usually filled with crazy questions and giggling after dumb jokes), it took us 4 tries to get her completely immersed in water (we do baptism by complete immersion in fonts at our
church buildings) and by the end we could all feel the spirit but we were all giggling as well. She's very funny and it makes my heart happy to know she accepted the gospel. It was a really cool motivating experience to be able to feel the spirit so strongly at a baptism within the first month of my mission. I cannot wait for next month when we get to do it all again with Barbara!
Sister Corbett and I also had some quality companionship studies this week. We have been learning a lot about family history work. (Online Work that you can do through familysearch.org that allows us to learn more about our ancestors and make it possible for people that have passed on to accept the gospel) we were thinking about why we talk about the Spirit of Elijah, and why're was assigned the role of turning the hearts of the children to the fathers so I looked him up in the bible dictionary where it says, "Nothing is known of his parentage." He didn't even do his own family history!? That really made us laugh. Also we had a really great Role Play session to practice contacting people in the park. I was sitting on a bench and she came up to start a conversation and complimented my Captain America watch. She got a huge smile on her face, then asked "Why is Captain America your hero?" At that point we both burst out laughing because we both knew how she wanted to respond to whatever I was going to say. She wanted to use the line "Jesus Christ is my hero." (Which is a totally accurate statement but so cheesy it hurts) You know you've been a missionary for too long when that is a valid line you would use to introduce the gospel into a conversation.
My life as a missionary is great. I can't believe i have already made it one whole month and halfway through my first transfer (missions are split up into 11ish transfers of 6 weeks each, every 6 weeks our mission president decides whether we will stay in the area we are working in or move to a new area with a new companion). I've learned so much from all of the other awesome missionaries here and I am having fun sharing the simple message of Jesus Christ. We had a very interesting Sunday yesterday full of politically charged lessons and discussions on deep gospel topics that reminded me that our greatest strengths are our simple gospel truths. We have a loving God who literally created each and every one of us. We have a living brother, Jesus Christ, who came down to earth and sacrificed everything for us. They provided a plan for us, and our families to return to them because they love us so much. They sent us that plan through Joseph Smith who restored the gospel in its fullness to the earth. The Book of Mormon testifies of that plan and our brother Jesus Christ. It is full of truth. God continues to guide us today through modern prophets like Thomas S Monson. All God requires of us is to have faith in Christ, repent, be baptized, listen to the Holy Ghost, and continue to keep our covenants or promises we've made to the Lord until the end of our lives. I know these things are true and they can bring power to our lives. Hold on to these truths always.
Scripture of the week: John 6:38
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Look for ways you can put aside your own will this week and accomplish the Lord's will. I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer.
Love,
Sister Reynolds
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