Man oh man oh man... Leslie Williams was baptized this week! YEEEEEEEE! Haha we've been working with her for almost two months now and she was baptized this past weekend. Holy cow, you have no idea how happy moments like this make you. Elder Evans baptized her on Saturday and she asked me to confirm her on Sunday (yesterday). (Elder Ross got his Visa so he's no longer with us, just in case you were wondering...)
I really don't know what to say about this picture. Haha the feelings are just indescribable. If there was a way that I could send my feelings to you through this monitor, I would. I think the best way to think about it is a glimpse of what Eternal Life is going to be like; living in a state of "Never-ending happiness." I guess y'all have to get used to seeing me smile nonstop when it comes time for that because there'll be "No Empty Chairs!"
Saturday was awesome and a lot of support came from the ward. It was kind of funny though because she called us 15 minutes before her baptism was supposed to happen and said that she's going to be a little late... Haha we didn't start the baptismal service until 45 minutes after it was supposed to start. Talk about some serious prelude music. It was basically a piano solo for the pianist for an hour...
Sunday was "Rad-dunk-ular." I don't even know what that is but it's supposed to let you know how awesome yesterday was. The miracle with yesterday was definitely her being confirmed and receiving the greatest gift that we can receive in this life - the gift of the Holy Ghost - but it also came with the Johnson family.
So to back up a little bit, Elder Evans and I were teaching the "Butterworth" family who has 10 people in their family! Yes... they have eight kids... Haha anyway, the past two weeks has been awesome with them. Well, until Saturday. They called us and said that they don't ever want to see us again, that they're baptist for life and don't want anything else to do with us. The mom was in the background of the phone call telling her son what to say to us. We tried understanding them and then the mom started yelling that her husband has been yelling at her and the children to stop talking to us. That his family is baptist and they will stay baptist. Anyway, super disappointing because Elder Evan's and I were way pumped about them.
Soooo, we had a huge goal for the week with investigators to attend sacrament meeting. It quickly was cut in half as the Butterworth's called us Saturday afternoon and let us know not to come by and pick them up in the morning (we were lining about three sets of members to go pick up their entire family... haha). We didn't think we would reach the goal we felt confident in. We continued to go about the rest of the day Saturday trying to contact some referrals and do what the Spirit prompted us. To make a long story short, the Johnson family gave us a call... We knocked on their door and the 11 yr old daughter answered. She told us her parents weren't home so we left her a card and told her to have her dad give us a call when he got home. Well... Who would've known that they had six kids? Eight total with the Mom and Dad. AND they called usSaturday night saying they wanted to come to church on Sunday... Are you kidding me?? As we saw them at church on Sunday, and saw them walk in as a train, I immediately bowed my head and asked Heavenly Father why? I definitely am not worthy of a blessing like that. The lesson I learned was as you continue to do the little things, following the TINY, tiny promptings from the Spirit, you will be blessed. Alma 37:6-7. It's the small and simple things that bring miracles in your life.
An example of this would actually be this morning. We left the apartment really early this morning to go on a run for some exercise. When we were outside about to start, I noticed that neither of us had our nametags on. I told Elder Evans that we should go inside to put them on even though it's dark out and no one will even see us. (You have no idea how much I love wearing this... haha). As we were leaving the apartment for the second time the thought came to me, "grab three pass-along cards." I was just about at the door frame and thought, "no one's going to even be out here this morning. The moon is still going up..." Nevertheless, I turned around and grabbed two of them and started walking out. I felt two in my hand as I reached the door and was beginning to put them in my pocket. "No. I told you to grab three of them." I was like, "c'mon seriously? Nobody is even out here!" I couldn't do it though. I turned around and grabbed one more card and ran out the door.
Well, guess who saw three people this morning on the jog? It was incredible. Small and simple acts bring about miracles. I see them everyday.
The church is true. I don't know why my Heavenly Father is so good to me, but He is. He lives. I know He does. And I know His Only Begotten Son lives.
I absolutely love it here. I'm so happy.
Elder Welch
Elder Welch's Mission President has created a calendar for the missionaries to follow to read through the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Tyler has extended this challenge to all friends and family who would like to follow along. He said he would love to hear of your personal experiences and testimony as you read through the same scripture passages together.
Please leave a comment on this blog with your email address if you would like me to send you the calendar.
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