Baptism

Greetings!

This week has been very eventful. On Monday we had an appointment with a woman named Samira. Elder Larsen felt like we should get an Arabic Book of Morman for her even though She wasn't really interested. When we knocked on her door she didn't really want to see us, but her friend Jackie who was over at her house wanted to hear more about our church. We talked to her, and by the end of the lesson she even gave the closing prayer. She was so touched by our message that she broke down in tears as she prayed. She doesn't live in our area so we had to give her to some other Elders, but I hope everything works out for her. It's crazy how we were inspired to see a lady who wasn't interested in our message, all so that we could meet Jackie. If we went over there at any other time she probably wouldn't have been there. The Lord will take you on a wild path to meet people who are prepared.

On Tuesday I went on my first exchange with Elder Sandbakken. His companion Elder Wilbur, who was in the MTC with me went with Elder Larsen. It was fun to do something different and serve in a different area for a day. You learn a lot when you have a different companion. Wednesday we had basic training. It was extremely motivating and I learned a lot of things that will help me be a better missionary. Almost everything we learned about was something I needed to work on, so it should really help me. It was great to hear from the mission president and his wife again and have that renewed motivation to take on the world.

I had a really cool experience on Friday. It had been kind of a frustrating day trying to do a bunch of things to get ready for the baptism, so we hadn't really been able to talk to anyone. We went over to Sister Little's house and knocked on the door but she wasn't there. I then decided that I was going to talk to the next person I saw until we either were able to teach them or schedule a return appointment. As we walked back to our car, I didn't see anyone, until my companion had backed up and I opened the door to get in. As I was getting in, I saw this old man with a cane walking across the street, and I had an extreme prompting to go talk to him. I told Elder Larsen we needed to talk to him, so we went over and it turns out that he had a Book of Morman already, and that he had a neighbor who also had one and had spoken with missionaries before. We then taught both of them the Restoration and got return appointments. Theyr'e both kind of crazy so I don't know how sincere they are, or if we'll really get anywhere with them, but at the very least I showed the Lord that I was willing to follow his promptings through the spirit.

Finally Saturday came around, and it was time for the baptism. We had spent a lot of time and effort on it, so it was nice for it to finally happen. Elder Larsen Baptized her and I gave a talk on Baptism. It was an amazing experience, and I was glad to see Siste Little follow the example of Jesus Christ. On Sunday I comfirmed her with the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting and I was really nervous because it was the first blessing I had ever given anybody. Not to mention that it was a homecoming so there were 288 people there. Oh and the mission president and his wife were there. So yeah, basically the pressure was on.

The comfirmation, with the homecoming talk given by Quentin Grillone made for a super spiritual meeting. Quentin served in Chile and talked about the earthquake that happened while he was there, and the challenge of finding out his dad died while he was on his mission. He had pretty much the whole congregation in tears with his experience and powerful testimony. It was an amazing Sunday and hopefully will turn into an amazing week.

We just started teaching a lady named Marcella that I really think will be baptized. Other than that, most of our investigators are really stagnant. We haven't been able to teach the family we met a week and a half ago, but hopefully we will soon. Things are pretty up and down right now, so I'm really working on being more consistant. I know that if I just lose myself in the work and give myself completely to the lord and always work hard I will be happy. It can be hard to always be focused and doing that, but I try my best to forget about myself. My companion and I are getting along great like always and we learn a lot from each other. Keep us in your prayers.

Love, Elder Tilley