This week was bitter sweet: I forgot if I told y'all, but our investigator Melissa who we've been teaching since June, moved into first ward boundaries this week. We were super sad to lose her, but so happy and grateful that she's just a hop and skip away! We can still keep tabs on her, and that was definitely an answer to prayers. We had one lesson with her and Sister Tedone about baptism- she has an incredibly strong desire to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized so that she can become clean and become a new person, experience a "mighty change of heart" (Mosiah 5:2) so she can make promises to God and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and the joy, peace, guidance, and promise of eternal life that comes to those who are baptized by the proper authority and keep their promises to God. She is so excited, and we are so excited for her!! Later that week, we had a lesson at her new home with the first ward sisters about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and she seemed to like other sisters well. This way, they will be able to bring members from the first ward to meet Melissa and create friendships that will help her to become a part of the ward. Melissa accepted a baptismal date in November! AND- she got up on Sunday and went to the first ward at 9:00 in the morning!! That's early for Melissa, and although she was tired, she made that sacrifice and was actually there!!!!! Yay!! We're so happy for her! I'm so grateful for the opportunity Heavenly Father has blessed me with to be a part of Melissa's journey in coming to the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Wednesday, we had a 24 hour exchange with the Sister Training leaders; Sister Saunders came here to Fort Walton with me while Sister Trawick went to Crestview forty minutes away to be with the other sister. It was fun! One of our kind of investigators Eileen took us to lunch to a Greek restaurant, where she is friends with one of the owners. Her friend gave us free baklava for dessert! I love baklava, but I was in a sticky situation! This kind lady had given us free dessert, but I wasn't eating dessert per the agreement with Justin not smoking... so after pushing it around a little with my fork, I asked for a to-go box, then took it home and later gave it to Justin to prove my faithfulness to my end of the bargain. :)
On Friday we sang hymns at a senior center and one of the gentlemen there played his harmonica with us- he was pretty good! It was fun!
This
week I've been studying charity and love, the greatest of all
Christlike attributes. In St. John 17:3, we learn that eternal life is
knowing Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ. I looked into the word "know" and found 1 John 4:7-8
which teaches that God is love, therefore, to know God we must love Him
and His children. God is love; every thought, word, action, decision,
and attribute of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is motivated purely by
perfect love for all of us. As a missionary, I want love for God and
His children to be my pure motivation; as I strive for that, the verses
in 1 John 4 promise that the love of God will dwell in our hearts and
that we will be "of God."
I love you all!
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