December 9, 2013

Dear Family,

WHOA!!!!!!!!! That is super fun with the freezing rain!!!! We do not have that here. Especially since it is summer. We got rain yesterday, and it was one of the strangest things because summer here should be super dry.

Cool story of the week. We are teaching a part member family. The husband, Victor, has been inactive for 10 years or more and his wife, Gladys, is not a member. We have eaten with their family lunch once. and dinner once. We went to teach them the first lesson to the whole family this time and emphasize the priesthood. She got baptized in another church when she was 15, so she did not understand why she would need to get baptized again. We had a great lesson, but at the end when we invited her to be baptized she said, "I have been baptized already." Our hearts kind of dropped. Her husband tried to explain too, but she was firm still. We did not know what to do, so we invited her to kneel right there and pray and ask God if she needed to be baptized again. Well, she started praying and she said, "Father, I have a broken heart and a contrite spirit now. If I need to be baptized again, tell me." Then she started crying.

After the prayer she explained how she felt such happiness and like a hand was one her head during the prayer. She said that she had never felt like that, and felt such great happiness. It was amazing!!!!

This happened after we went the ENTIRE day contacting (we street contact almost always) and NO ONE wanted to listen to us. It was kind of hard. It seems like we go all day long every day, and at the end is when we find people that want to listen. I think the Lord is trying to teach us perseverance because everyday it is the very end of the day that we find people. I guess that can be true in life too. Sometimes we can try our very hardest, and we still have to wait to see the result. It does not mean that our efforts were in vain, it just means we needed to persevere to get the best result. In the end, it all works out as we trust in the Lord.

I am also learning that it does not matter if others accept my work, or think that I am doing a good job. It is the acceptance from the Lord that we are all looking for. Even though we do not have baptisms and investigators in the church every week, we feel and know that the Lord sees our work. He knows that we are working our hardest and that is what matters. We also know that we will find those golden investigators as we keep on looking. We just have to find them!

I hope that things are all going well for yall in the cold!!!! I have to say I do not envy your weather right now.Keep up the good work!!! Invite someone to church this week, or to a family home evening or dinner!!!!!!!!!! It will strengthen your faith, I know it!!!!

With a lot, a lot, a lot, A LOT, OF LOVE,

Hermana Taylor