All Things Will Be Made Right Through the Gospel

So I have sad news. We met with our investigator who was supposed to be baptized this weekend and things have gone downhill tremendously. Our lesson was super sour. He told us he wanted to push back the date and then he didn't show up to anything this weekend. We had dinner with a member then a bonfire as a branch and church the next day and he didn't show up. And he's not answering anyones texts. But its okay. Agency is real. I've never dropped a baptismal date before so this was really hard for me, but I realize that sometimes things happen and Satan is working so hard to stop this work. All we can do is put "our heads down, square our shoulders, and think positively." (Elder Holland). 

So we set a goal to have a baptism on Nov. 15 and we are super sad that it won't happen, but I really feel like the Lord fulfilled this goal in other ways. For example, yesterday, a less active whom we are working with came to church yesterday and received a calling! My favorite thing ever!  And another less active whom we have been working with this last month bore a powerful testimony during sacrament meeting. He said that "if anyone told me a month ago that I would have born my testimony during church, let alone be active, I would have laughed at them. But now that Ive been going to church, I know that this is where I need to be and this is how I can be happy!" It was like the Lord was saying, "hey I know you are super bummed, but look at this life that has been changed that you were able to witness." He got very emotional during his testimony and so did I.

And the crowning event!!! This Saturday, someone I taught in my last area will be getting baptized. This is some back ground on his story. His name is Kerry. He was referred to me and Sis. Nordstrom by a member in my last ward. We started teaching him in July. He read the Book of Mormon over a year ago but read some Anti-mormon literature and was no longer interested. Well we met with him and in our first meeting, he kept a laptop open between us and him and was super guarded. He brought up a lot of anti material. We talked to him a lot about faith and the blessings of the gospel. He loved the view of families our church has. Over time, the laptop got put away, and he no longer brought up anti material. We taught him for 6 weeks before I got transferred and he moved to Indiana with his family. By the time I left though, we had a lesson at the temple and another lesson with a RC and he said he knew that it was all true. He just wasnt quite ready to be baptized. Well He was moving to Indiana and would be there for a month before he went back to UCLA for school. I knew that his progress would be severely hindered with new missionaries in Indiana (especially because we had made so much progress with him and we were all really close) or he may not visit with missionaries at all. I just really felt prompted that we had to keep the ball rolling by skyping him lessons while he was in Indiana and pass him off officially to missionaries in CA. About 3 weeks before Kerry was supposed to move, I asked the ZL's and they shot me down sooo fast. They wouldn't even listen to me. So I told our Ward Mission Leader and he said if we had 3 more lessons with him, got him to come to church, and committed him to baptism, then he would call the Mission Pres and get special permission (he is bff's with the mission Pres). So that's what we did. In 3 weeks we accomplished all of that. By the end of those 3 weeks, He was so ready to get baptized. I got transferred and the sisters skyped him and now he will be getting baptized this Saturday!! What a miracle that I get to be apart of and have been able to witness. Moral of the story is dont give up on promptings from the spirit especially if people tell you you are crazy. Second, Lord will make up all things.

I have realized this last week amidst all the disappointments and hard things that this is the time when I need to rely most on the Lord. This is His work and it is according to His will that all these things are possible. When I feel like I have no energy or strength or patience left, it is the Savior in which I need to turn to and it is through him that I can receive the strength to carry on. We are on the Lord's errand so we are entitled to His help.