Unexpected Baptism

Dearest Family,

What a happy week! Life never slows down as a missionary.

Last P-Day we took a ton of fun pictures. I will try to send you some. Maybe this week, but maybe next week. Also, mom, I gave a neat training at our VC sisters training meeting on building confidence and a true identity. I am attaching a copy (I wrote it on the VC computer, so I have a digital version). I put a lot of time into it, so hopefully you like it. DiMK stands for Daughters in My Kingdom. BD stands for Bible Dictionary. PMG stands for Preach My Gospel.

So last Thursday was a crazy one. We took a bunch of fun pictures. I will hopefully have time to send you some.

Then that night we had a lesson with a part member family--Cecelia, the one that doesn't really know english. Well, we didn't have a car that night, so we did some crazy stuff to get some rides. But the lesson went really well. We read from the Book of Mormon with her, and she really got a lot out of it. She read in Spanish, of course. After the lesson we saw we had a missed call from our Ward Mission Leader, but we didn't listen to the voicemail until much later--our mistake!

It turned out that Bishop Vance and Brother Hermann (Bishop and ward mission leader) went out together to visit some people. Then Bishop Vance got the impression that now was the time to go visit Sandy and invite her to be baptized (she is our investigator. Her husband joined in February. We have taught her twice since the elders turned her over to us, but we like her a lot). So our bishop in his street clothes headed over. When they were almost there, he called to let them know he was coming. They crawled out of bed to see him. When he knocked on the door, he said, "Sandy, you know why I am here."

"Yes, I do." She said. They both knew he was there to get her baptized.

So they started with an opening prayer to bring the spirit and read 2 Nephi 31 together. After they read it, Bishop Vance told Sandy that it was time for her to pray about baptism. She agreed. They knelt down, and she started to pray. In her prayer she said, "I am praying to know if I should be baptized...I already know. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." They got up, and agreed that she should be baptized. Also, they didn't want to wait. She was ready NOW, and the elder that baptized her husband is going home this week, so if she wanted him to do it (he's an Assistant now), they had to do it that weekend (remember, this was Thursday).

So after a crazy amount of phone calls, everything was arranged. We met with her on Saturday to cover a couple of commandments, and then she was interviewed by our District Leader. It almost didn't happen because her grandson broke his shoulder really badly and she had to go to the hospital with him, but everyone was flexible, so it still happened. It was crazy because we randomly were at the church, where the lesson and interview were going to take place, a half an hour early (we were going to study there). Right as we pulled in she called to ask if we were there yet because of the whole situation with her grandson--she needed to meet with us NOW. So we did.

The night before our Relief Society President gave us a list of team ups we could invite to that lesson, and at the bottom of the list of 10 names was Sister Stewart. I just felt right about her. So did Sister Harding. We didn't even talk about it or stop to consider it was the spirit guiding us, we just did it because it was right. So we called her, and she could come.

Of course she was late to our moved up lesson, but she was able to share her story at the end of the lesson. Turns out she is a convert (we had never met her before, so we knew nothing about her), had been Methodist (Sandy was Methodist), and had followed her husband to baptism (so is Sandy). To top it off, they both are married to men named Jim and are about the same age. It was too coincidental to be accidental. That was a miracle. It was excactly what Sandy needed.

So the baptism happened Sunday morning before church. She was baptized at 9am and confirmed at 11 am. Elder Sanders--her original missionary--even got to do it. The baptism was packed. It was perfect.

I had a moment when I worried that we had rushed into it too much--we couldn't even personal vouch for the fact that she knew what the Word of Wisdom was--but then I thought back over all of the miracles that happened that made it possible, and I realized that if God hadn't wanted it to happen, He wouldn't have provided such a miraculous way.

So what a weekend. Everything was done on the fly, but no one but us and a few others knew. It was perfect.

Then on Sunday was President's Devotional and I got to hear the testimony of David Thacker from Overland Park. He bore his powerful testimony. It was amazing. He has truly been changed, and already is going out with the missionaries to teach. He gave me a hug, which was super awkward.

On Monday I did an exchange back to Lee's Summit! It was really fun to see that I still know my way around there. I was with Sister Wilson, a new missionary. She reminds me of myself and we taught really well together. We had a great day. Her companion is a lot like Sister Harding, so they had a great day, too. It was interesting to see that it would be easier for everyone of our companionships were switched, but we are learning so much more this way. It was still a fun day, and I was able to encourage Sister Wilson and help her see how well she is doing.

On Tuesday Sandy did baptisms for the dead! wow! How neat. :)

Yesterday we had another awesome night. We are flooded with referrals at the moment, and we were able to contact two yesterday.

The other big news is that transfer calls came this week, and of course, Sister Harding and I are staying. BUT, they closed a sister area in the VC, leaving us with only 14 sisters! That has never been done before, and I can't even start to explain to you how much that impacts scheduling. We had a meeting with the Assistants about it and how we would make it work, and they got to see the whole process of us digesting the news and processing all of the impacts it would have. They looked a bit in shock. They have no idea how much goes into scheduling the center. We are going to bring in a full-proselyting set of sisters to help on the weekends, and we literally are going to be short staffed for most of the rest of the week.

Honestly though, I am excited about it. It is a big challenge, but it is a chance for the sisters in the center to step it up and be better. We have to do better and be better this next transfer. We also had two of our really awesome sisters brought back into the center. Two of the three difficult sisters were transferred out. So I really think things will go well.

Well, I am out of time, but I love you. :)

 

Love,

Sister Atkin