This week was just fantastic, but all the weeks are kind of running together in my mind, so if I say something that I already said that happened last week... sorry haha.
1. Santiago got baptized!!! Santiago lives in Bolivia, and I have been working with him since December. He had been taught by missionaries before, but they had stopped teaching him for some reason, and he came to mormon.org and said that he was still interested. I soon found out why the local missionaries had stopped teaching him - he has a lot of really intense doctrinal questions about Mosaic Law and the Levitical Law and the Higher Law.... basically all the laws you can think of that exist in the Bible. Anyways, I decided that I wanted to try teaching him, and for the last few months I have really been studying the Bible. We were able to find answers to his questions, and as we invited him to read the Book of Mormon, he began to answer his own. We taught him the first three missionary lessons about the Restoration, God's Plan for His children, and the things we do to be able to live with Him again, as well as some of the commandments. When we felt he was prepared, we called the local missionaries, they weren't super excited about going back over, but they were awesome and they went and met with him and emailed us and told us that he's so prepared and so much more receptive. A month after sending him to local, he got baptized. And that was Saturday!!! We were so excited to see Santiago get baptized, and thanks to the miracle of modern technology, these two Sister missionaries in Utah got to watch a baptism in Bolivia. How cool is that?? (Also, sorry Mom - still waiting on pictures from the Elders)
2. This week we had a media blitz in the teaching center - the teaching center is where we go to teach all of our investigators (like Santiago) living all over the world! The media came and did a little clip on what we do and how online teaching works, we invite all of you to watch it! It's on the front page of lds.org, and it's really cool. I'm not it, but I know everyone who is! Thanks to the media blitz, a member came onto mormon.org and asked for the proselyting missionaries (that's us!) He gave us the contact information of a friend living in Colombia, and we're going to be teaching him! We really encourage all of you members to participate in missionary work, this is the work of salvation and like the scriptures say - some are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it. Help your friends and family find it!
3. We got to go to a local ward this week and give a talk! Two companionships went, the first two sisters spoke on their own about member missionary work and what we do on Temple Square, and then my companion and I went up together and taught the congregation the first lesson, or the message of the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong, and when my companion shared the first vision and her sweet testimony with all the English she knew how to use, we could see so many people wiping away tears. We also did a musical number, the other two Sisters sang and I played the piano for them. It was a nice arrangement of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" We got a lot of member referrals that day too :)
So this week was fantastic and those were some of the highlights. I'm excited for this new transfer and for General Conference again at the end of the month. It will certainly be a historic conference with the sustaining of the prophet and the call of two new apostles.
I love you all! Have a great week!! And don't forget to be a member missionary :) And for those of you receiving this email who aren't familiar with the church or who aren't members, I say what Alma in the Book of Mormon says in Alma 5:62. Come!
--Sister Black
No comments:
Post a Comment