Called to Serve

8/6/12
Well. I have more miracles for you!!!

Are you ready.....

........

JOHN (aka Matt) GOT BAPTIZED!!! :D

Yes. You read that right. BEST. DAY. EVER.

If you remember, about a week before I left Lee Summit, John told us he wasn't sure what he wanted to do anymore, and he was very confused. He grew up in the Nazarene church, and they are like his family. He loves them and he didn't want to disappoint them by leaving. He said, however, that he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon was true. He said he needed time to pray and figure things out. The last time I saw him and we talked with him was on his driveway and it was right before church. Even though it should've been a very distressing moment, the Lord filled me with so much peace as we talked. I didn't understand why, I just trusted it and hoped.

After that day we didn't hear from him again, nor did we expect to.

Last Monday I got a letter from Sister Crystal telling me that John was getting baptized on Saturday. She said the Sunday after I left he texted them out of the blue and said.... "I've been doing some thinking.... can I get a ride to church?" She said they've been working with him ever since and his commitment level has drastically increased.

I got to go back for the baptism on Saturday. Of course I cried the whole time. It was SUCH a beautiful day. It brought me more joy than I know how to express, to see my friend enter the waters of baptism, and offer the first fruits of repentance, covenanting with our God to serve Him. Afterward I talked with him and he said he sat on a rock in the woods for hours meditating and praying and finally came to the conclusion this was what he needed to do. He recently turned 18 so he's now in the singles ward but they've really adopted him in. It's amazing because from the very beginning we felt inspired and directed to make our ward John's family. The room was full the day of his baptism. Everyone was there, including many people from the singles ward. Sister West and I cried the whole time. He made me promise to come back and go with them all to do baptisms in the temple. How awesome is that!? To go with a friend to the temple for the first time... could there be anything more joyous? We get to go 2 times a year so we're going to try and get all of our Recent Converts in Lawrence and Lee Summit, to meet us all there on the same day.

I'll send you pictures next week.

Here's the other miracle for the week.

In Independence I took a man named Frank and his friend Kaitlin on a tour through the V.C. Kaitlin was a member, Frank was not. Frank and I connected well and enjoyed our time spent together. In the end I gave him a B.O.M. with my testimony in it. They said they'd come back in to see me, and I hoped they would, but doubted that I'd ever see them again.

Fast forward now to this last Sunday. (Yesterday). Sister VanCamp and I were on splits because we cover two wards. She was in Lawrence 1st Sacrament meeting, and I was in Lawrence 2nd Relief Society meeting. After the two meetings we met back up and she told me some man stood up during fast and testimony meeting and said he was getting baptized in a few weeks. We were talking with a couple people, and were so confused by it. As far as we knew, he lived in our ward boundaries, and was not working with any missionaries.

Well we left the chapel and as we walked out I saw Frank and Kaitlin in the Foyer. I was so excited to see them! I ran up to them and said hi. He told me he was getting baptized, and Sister VanCamp said, "yes I enjoyed your testimony." It all clicked in to place that this was the mysterious man we had all just been talking about.

He said that he had been talking with Kaitlin in the last few months and she had taught him everything and he wanted to be baptized but he didn't feel comfortable meeting with missionaries so they had just talked to the stake president and they wanted to see if he could be baptized without taking the lessons. Then he said, "but you understand me and how I learn, and I would feel comfortable if you were doing them." We have a lesson scheduled for every night this week so he can be baptized as soon as possible. (He wanted to just get them all done yesterday... but we didn't feel that was a good idea.) Hahah. It was amazing!!

I love our Savior and I'm so grateful he's allowing me to watch my friends come closer to Him every day. Being a missionary is the best.
P.S. We just saw Tonya and her brother in the Library and they're doing great.