Baptism

3 Jun 2013

Wow, I know it's only been like 3 days since I last wrote you, but there's been TONS of stuff that has happened. The work here is REALLY progressing.

So friday after noon we taught J. again. Brother R. R. (Bruce R McConkie in the making) came with us and so did another ward missionary Sis B.. We sat at her house for 2.5 hours teaching to her needs. We taught the rest of the plan of salvation, Tithing, Following the Prophets, and a little bit of the Word of Wisdom. It was really cool. Whenever I got to a point where I was a little stuck on how to word things, brother russell would chime in and say exactly what needed to be said. It was incredible. We talked also about the blessings of the temple and how we can do the saving ordinances for the dead members of J.'s family and the feeling that comes with it. She marvels a lot about what it might feel like to know that her brother and her mother have accepted the gospel. She also got the approval from her son if she were to get baptized. She has a tentative date, but it's up to her to solidify that one. She's gotta come to church first though ha ha! She's working on it. There's no problem with that.

We took the H.'s to the Temple VC on Saturday. It was good. They have a more casual approach to living the gospel, but the whole family knows that it's what they want.

Taught D. again. Oh I've never told you about him. ha ha So D. is a 25 year old guy who used to be a partier, but since he's been dating this girl he got to know the family and see all the blessings that they've had. He's been coming to church for 3 weeks now, but last sunday in Gospel Essentials his girlfriend's aunt turned to me and said "So Elder Lloyd, are you gonna be there at the lesson today at 3? S. (her daughter who's leaving on a mission in 2 weeks) is going to be practicing on D." I told her that would be awesome. The only problem is that we have 9 hours of church. the second ward is just starting the 3rd hour at that time. So we went on a split and I went to teach D. while Elder Harker stayed at church and set up lessons and went to missionary meetings after church. When I taught D. the first time, everything went great. I team taught with S.; which was a little weird to teach with a girl sitting next to me. She taught really well though! She used her notes, but she did great. I had to fill in only a few gaps. It was sweet. D. was a tank. He's over 6'4" and a college b-ball player. He's not just a tank physically though. He's a spiritual giant in the making as well. In the one week before we had our lesson he had read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 17. Before that, he had already read "Our Heritage." When we got to the story of Joseph Smith, I asked D. what he knew about the prophet and he taught us the whole Joseph Smith Story AND the book of momron. All I had to do was teach him how to recognize the spirit. It was sweet. When we got to the point where I invited him to baptism IF he knew that the Book of Mormon was true he responded, "Well I'm not going to say yes, cause my more immediate concern is whether or not it's true, but isn't that kinda the whole point?" It was funny. He's a way smart guy. He grasps on to gospel concepts REALLY fast.

Yesterday when we taught the Plan of Salvation It was amazing. He told us he had to slow down reading the Book of Mormon because he ran out of data on his phone so he's ONLY in Jacob 5. yeah... only... I wish I could get other people to read that much. ha ha! The lesson went really well. He understood it. At the end I asked him if he had prayed about it. He said he had. I asked if he had received an answer, and he said he believed he did. I asked him what his answer was, and he said he saw some things and he knew it was true. After a little coaxing, he told us he was sitting in his pitch black room after a long day of hard work building fences and having prayed and read the scriptures and a blinding light hit him out of no where. He told us that he saw straight path leading to the tree of the fruit of knowledge and then it closed. He rubbed his eyes wondering what happened and why he was blinded, and then it came again, and he saw the iron rod leading straight to the tree of life going on forever onward and upwards to the tree. It went on so far that he couldn't see the rod anymore, but the tree was still visible. After that, he was by himself in the pitch black room. He called his girlfriend about it and he came to the conclusion that what he's been reading in the Book of Mormon was true. We then tried to set a date for his baptism, but it got complicated. He wants his girlfriend's dad to be there, but he lives in Arizona, and he's not coming up until August. that's kind of far away. After that I shared with him the majority of Moroni 10 telling him that the reason that he had been able to see those things was because of his faith. He has great faith. He is definitely ready to be baptized!

As we ended D.'s lesson I kept phone call after phone call that I had to keep silencing during the lesson. After we got out I saw the 10 or so calls/ texts and called one of the repeater callers and they told me that I needed to go get my white clothes because in 45 minutes I was going to baptize G. instead of Brother K. at G.'s request. That was exciting. We ran home, got the clothes, ran to the chapel in the other town, snarfed down dinner in 15 minutes, changed into my whites and then took pictures with G. //  J. came to the baptism, as did the H. family, as did half the West Linn ward. I've never seen a baptism so well attended in my life! G. asked me to sing at her baptism to start it off after the opening prayer. and then we had a talk, and then the baptism happened. I had to baptize her twice because I forgot to say "amen." It was funny. B. T. had to be baptized twice for the exact same reason! I remember as I baptized her the second time I looked straight into her eyes as I said the prayer. I've never seen anyone so ready for baptism. She looked so bright and hopeful. She looked truly like a child- meek and submissive to the will of the Father. I could tell that it was really special for her. For the first time, that baptism was special to me as well. Everything was perfect. Everything was well planned and executed. After that she was given the gift of the Holy Ghost and then it was all over. G. met J. for the first time. When she learned that J. was meeting with the Elders, she testified of the things that mattered most to her and then invited J. to be the next one to be baptized. Ha ha. J. said she'd think about it. I talked to the H.'s and asked Br. (who's 12) if he was ready to do that in a couple of years, that is, to go on a mission and baptize his investigators. He said, maybe, and his Dad said He hoped he would. That's a big thing, because J. never served a mission. It was just a good day.

After it was all over I was laying in bed for hours not being able to fall asleep. The Spirit was working on me. I kept feeling that the work that had been done that day would change not just G.'s life, not just the future of her kids and her posterity, but of each and every person who was there that day, including D. There was something more to it. There was something more special about that day than I can put my finger on. I don't really understand it. Maybe I'll understand in the years to come. I can only hope.

 

pictures below: G. and all of the women that were at pretty much every lesson we had with her.

 Me and G.

I love you guys. I know that missionaries are the messengers of God, and that God works through his children to answer the prayers of others. You don't have to be a missionary to be a tool in God's hands. Gigi joined the church simply because Sis Khoo invited her to church and then after a couple weeks invited us to have dinner with them all. Please, please, please be looking for those around you who are looking for the gospel. Their souls are so precious to Him who paid the price for their salvation.