Monday, April 14, 2014

FIRST BAPTISM!




What an amazing week!  I feel like I always start out my letters that way, but it is just so true!  I can not believe all of the miracles that I have seen this week.  I will just have to start at the beginning.

Tuesday-  District Meeting as usual.  This one was way good though.  We talked about the Spirit's role in conversion.  It was so cool.  Sister Tanner and I shared how we have seen the Spirit play a role in Sarah's conversion.  It was so cool to get to sit and reflect on that.  I know that Sarah is truly converted because I know that she has felt the Spirit.  And because of that, she has helped me to be able to feel the Spirit more in my life which is such a blessing.  True conversion only comes through the Spirit!

Wednesday-  Full of miracles!  Well for started I guess I should tell you that I got proposed to.  That was interesting.  Like down on one knee and everything.  The whole enchilda.  Now that it is getting warmer all of the crazy people are starting to come out...  Haha it was actually really funny.  I told him no of course.  I did try to share the gospel with him though!  Planting seeds, planting seeds... haha.  Anyways, on to the miracles!  I started out the day with GREAT studies in the morning.  And when you have good studies in the morning, you know it is going to be a good day.  We called this guy named Kojo that we met on the bus a couple of weeks ago and had given a Book of Mormon.  He said that he had read the chapter that we have left with him and would be open to meeting with us!  He is way cool.  He is from West Africa and came here to America about 15 years ago.  His mother died and he wasn't able to go back to Africa to say goodbye or anything.  So I am hoping that once we teach him the Plan of Salvation and that he can be with him mom forever, it will be hook, line, and sinker!  Or whatever the saying is.  Then the Spanish Elders in our area called us and said that they had tracted into on of our former investigators!  Her name is Lenny and she was pretty interesting, but would never return our phone calls and would bail on appointments so we had to drop her.  But they tracted into her and I guess she is ready to start meeting again!  So that was a complete miracle.  I know that the Spanish Elders tracting into her was NOT a coincidence.  Afterward, we had a lesson with Sarah.  Which are always amazing.  We talked about Baptism and Confirmation with her.  This was our last lesson before she got baptized!  So we shared our testimonies with her and the spirit was so strong.  It was kind of bittersweet having a last lesson with her.  But she is so beyond ready.  After Sarah's we had an appointment with another investigator.  He ended up not showing up so we had no idea what to do.  All of a sudden a name of a less-active/part-member family popped into my head and on a whim we decided to go visit them.  Looking back- it was totally a spiritual prompting!  We have been trying FOREVER to get into their home and nothing has ever come of it.  We make appointments that they don't show up for and stuff.  But when we stopped by that night, she let us right in!  I shared Alma 37:36 with her and we talked about prayer.  She is going through a lot right now and I think it was exactly what she needed to hear at the time.  That lesson was 100% by the Spirit.  It was amazing.
  
Thursday- Not much because it was weekly planning day.  But we were able to visit with this guy Fred that we have been working with.  And guess what- HE MADE US NEON CTR SIGNS!!  They are way cool!  The pictures seriously don't even do them justice.  Hopefully I can keep it forever and I will always be able to remember!  They shine brightly in our apartment now haha.


Friday-  The most sacred and special day on my mission so far. SARAH'S BAPTISM!  A lot of opposition- but it was all worth it!  In fact, it was pretty much the worst day ever until 7:00 pm hit.  But I know why there was opposition.  Satan really was working overtime to make us feel discouraged.  All of our appointments fell through that day.  And we met a lot of mean people.  I was almost expecting it because I knew Satan wasn't happy with what we were doing, but it was still hard.  But then 7:00 pm came.  And all of that didn't matter anymore.  The baptismal service was absolutely beautiful.  I will never forget the look on Sarah's face as she came up out of the water and had been washed clean of her sins and made a covenant with her loving Father in Heaven.  The Spirit was so strong.  After her baptism, she bore her testimony.  It was the sweetest, purest, and most sincere testimony I have ever heard.  Sarah really has found out for herself that this is Christ's restored gospel on the earth today and she has already seen how that has begun to bless her life.  When Sarah was driving us home that night, she told us that it was everything she thought it would be and more.  She said that the feeling that she felt as she was baptized was amazing and she will never forget it!  Wow.  What an amazing person and a wonderful example for me.






Saturday-  We did a lot of service and went out to lunch with our favorite, Sis Dominguez!  We went to perhaps the best Mexican restaurant in Milwaukee called El Beso. We also met a new investigator named Turtle.  Haha gotta love Milwaukee.
 
Sunday-  Sarah's confirmation was absolutely amazing.  She is now the newest member of the West Allis ward!  Gosh, do I love the West Allis ward.  I can not believe that after everything, Sarah has now been baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  What a miracle.  Everything about Sarah was a miracle.  The rest of Sunday was pretty awful again... haha.  It was POURING rain all day.  One of our appointments fell through so we were out tracting in the storm.  At one point it got so bad that we just had to find shelter for a couple of minutes.  But we sang hymns together which helped us to feel the Spirit.  It is moments like that that I am going to miss with Sis. Tanner.  Transfers are a week from Wednesday and while nothing is for sure, Sis Tanner is most likely a goner and I will be stuck here in West Allis without her.  :(  But we will see what happens



Overall, my experience teaching Sarah and watching her grow and become converted to the gospel and eventually enter into the waters of baptism is an experience that I will never forget.  I remember in the MTC, Sheri Dew was giving a devotional and she said something like, "The greatest joy we will ever feel is being intimately involved in the process of salvation."  I completely understand that now.  And it is so true.  Sarah has been such an amazing example to me.  We are going to be friends and have the special bond forever!  The effect that she had on me will last for eternity, I am sure of it.
 
Watching Sarah change the life that she had to a much better life embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ has shown me just how important having that gospel in my life is.  I am so grateful for it.  I am so grateful for my Savior and I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to help others come to know Him better. 
 
Keep being the best family ever!  I love you all so much!  This gospel is real!
 
Love,
Sister King

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