Hi Family!
This week has been really good and tiring! We have been working very hard and diligently to find the elect and the Lord has blessed us! It's also been raining everyday, so we are soaked with sweat or rain everyday, it's been a blast!
The first miracle that occurred was on Thursday night right after interviews with you. We were running late to our lesson with Robert and Jen but we were still able to visit with them for about 20-30 minutes. We went in and taught the Sabbath Day and the Word of Wisdom. During the lesson, their wayward daughter, Nicole, came home and was walking past us and I felt inspired to invite her to listen, so we invited her and she said, "sure!" After teaching the lesson and committing Jen and Robert to live the Word of Wisdom and to stop smoking, I asked Nicole how she felt during the lesson, she said, "I felt really good, it's been a while since I've talked about Jesus and Heavenly Father and it feels really good and peaceful." We testified that it was the Spirit that she was feeling and invited her to be baptized with her parents, she promptly accepted! Her dad's face went into shock because it was the last thing he expected her to agree to. Then after that spiritual experience Jen spoke up and shared a story of how earlier that day she went to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes like she does everyday, but for some reason she decided to call Robert up first and ask if there were any at the house, Robert said that there were so Jen didn't buy any. As she walked out of the store she said she felt really good and that she was feeling the same way during the lesson. She told us that she knew God was a step ahead of us and was already working with her to stop smoking. It was an incredible experience to see that God truly is in the work and that He is always ahead of us!
One more miracle that occurred was on Saturday night when we went to see a Recent Convert. She has a son who was baptized with her but her 16 year old daughter, Britney, was not baptized. She was there during the lesson, and after we chatted for a while, we said that we would like to teach a lesson, immediately Britney exclaimed, "Oh please, not another lesson about baptism!" She has been pressured a lot by previous missionaries and family to the point where she didn't want to hear about it, but we continued and taught the Restoration. During the lesson I was wondering on how to help her progress towards baptism without explicitly bringing up baptism. I thought of the story of Alma when he returned to the city of Ammonihah through a different passage, he went about the work a different way while being just as effective. After we taught the lesson, we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how you can come to know of all truth by reading it. I turned to Britney and said, "Britney, today we will leave a simple commitment. We won't push you to be baptized, we just want you to read from the Book of Mormon and to come to Church so you can find the answer on your own. so will you read from the Book of Mormon and come to Church and pray and ask if this is all true?" She looked really shocked that I hadn't pushed her to be baptized, and she said, "yes I will read and come to Church and pray about it." After the lesson Elder D'Addabbo was stunned, he has been working with her for about 3 months and she had never committed to come to church or to read from the Book of Mormon, she had always completely rejected. The Spirit is real, and the Spirit is truly what guided us to know how to help Britney progress without pushing, but still being effective. It was amazing to see!
I have been studying in Alma this week and this morning I came to Alma chapter 5. In verse 14 he asks, "have you received His image in your countenance?" I really pondered on that and wondered exactly what that meant. As I was thinking, it came to me that when others recognize us as representatives of Christ it must mean that we have His countenance. Others will see Christ within us. Just last night we were harvesting and shared a brief restoration lesson after the prayer, we testified that it was true and that God had truly sent us to them. The wife looked up and said, "I believe that, there is something in your eyes that tells me it's true." she recognized the light of Christ or His countenance. As I furthered my study in that chapter, we can receive that countenance by being diligent and by being obedient.
I love you guys a lot and hope you have an amazing week!
Love,
Elder Spencer Bailey
p.s happy birthday Mike! Hope you had a great one and that you got my bday card:)
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