Tuesday I was on exchanges with Sister Pinter, and we had a lesson with Claudia. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and then asked her to be baptized! She said yes and asked if she could be baptized on her birthday!! She is so excited to learn more and she is reading the Book of Mormon every day!!
Wednesday we had a leson with Lavonia, she is such a cool person to teach. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and she said that her favorite part was enduring to the end because she says she think thats where most people get lost.... we invited her to be baptized but she said she doesn't feel ready yet, which is just fine!! We as her missionaries will just do whatever we can to help her build a stronger faith in Jesus Christ.
Friday we had final interviews with President Henrie. It was so sad!! That was my last interview that I will ever be able to have with him before he goes home and we get a new mission and a new mission president... It is so cool to see how much your mission president and his wife can really impact you to be not only a better missionary, but a better person.... hahah I told him that I didn't want him to leave and he smiled at me and said that no matter what, he will always be my mission president. Then after the interviews he took out the zone leadership to get lunch. He started talking to the waitress about Jesus Christ and explained what a missionary does... then before she could come back to share her information with him, he stood up smiled and said you missionaries take it from here! Then he walked out... yep best mission president ever!! Good news though I got her information and she is extremely interested in learning more!!
Saturday we had a day fun of miracles! We had a member lesson with a less-active member in the Solemint area but as we were driving to her house she texted and said that she was going to be a bit late because she was still coming back from an appointment. We decided that we would look at the map on our area planner app and see if there were any potential investigators to stop by in the area. We found two and as we were walking to their house we saw a guy walking down the street and we started a conversation with him. His name is Mario and he has been visiting different churches to try and find one that fits best for him but none of them have felt right! We invited him to come to church with us and he said he would. We also got a return appointment and are going to go teach him more on Wednesday! The timing was perfect. He was on his way to work and was very late... we were conveniently walking down the street at exactly the right time... as a missionary I believe that timing is everything.
We had a wonderful member lesson with Sister Rodreguz and she took us out for lunch! She shared her testimony with us on the power of prayer! I love being able to hear the members' testimonies. It really helps to strengthen mine. We had a lesson with Shannon and we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ! Holy cow she is so prepared. She had already read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and she read the testimony of Joseph Smith. She asked all of these thoughtful questions. Then we invited her to be baptized!! She said YES!! Her date is for June 19th! She said that talking to us about repentance and being baptized is the only time that she has talked about religion without leaving the conversation frustrated. The spirit is key to helping people to be converted. Sister Smullin and I are just so excited for Shannon and its funny because we both feel like we know her from somewhere.
After the lesson we rushed to the stake center for our cute little Jack Todd's baptism! He is the little boy that we have been teaching every Sunday since we first go into Mint Canyon over 12 weeks ago. He has a diagnosis of autism. He looked so cute in his white clothes and was patiently waiting to be baptized. We started the baptism and I got the honor to give the talk on baptism. Then Jack went into the font.. well because of seeing all of the people watching him he got scared and he decided that he was now NOT going to be baptized. So they closed the curtians and it was just his family watching and the two witnesses.... Sister Smullin and I were sitting next to the curtain and we could hear Jack's cries of worry and stress and his parents trying to help him get baptized... immediately we started praying individually for him to have the peace to be baptized. Well it wasn't working and we could just hear him getting very very upset. We both wanted to go in there and talk to him to see if we could help, but we weren't sure if we should or not... finally the bishop came out and said Sister Smullin and Sister Howard will you please come talk to Jack.
We were with him in seconds. We ran through the mens' bathroom and found Jack curled up in a buddle of towels dripping wet saying that he hated baptism... we both cuddle around him and started asking him what was so scary...... he just snuggled next to us and said he didn't want to be baptized any more... we started coming up with all these crazy ideas of how we could help him. At one point Sister Smullin and I were both standing in the font with him and his dad helping him to feel comfortable in the water. We offered to let him get baptized in just his church clothes to have his CTR towel around him as he got baptized, anything that we could do to help him feel more comfortable. Finally Jack had had enough and was just sitting in the corner putting his tennis shoes back on..... Sister Smullin grabbed my hand and pulled me into the mens' bathroom again. We knelt down on the floor in the stall, held hands and we said a prayer for Jack to feel peace, and comfort and to remember why he wanted to be baptized. Soon after we ended the prayer we heard Jack splashing in the water. His parents were praising him and saying good boy Jack you got this!! You can do this!! Then we heard Brother Todd say the baptismal prayer and heard the sound of Jack coming back out of the water. We watched an adorable little boy come running out of the font in only his boxers and realized that after an hour of coaxing our little Jack, he had made history by being baptized in just his underwear!!! Then he asked if he could please be baptized again!! He came running up to us dripping wet and asked if we could please dry his hair off.... we were both bawling our eyes out and laughing our heads off. It was cool to see how praying as a companionship was extremely more powerful them praying by yourself. Plus we got to see our little Jack be baptized. Sister Smullin gave a beautiful talk of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then we got to watch Jack happily receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and I don't think I have ever felt the spirit so strong in my life.... It is such an honor to be able to be apart of these life changing moment as a missionary!! Jack Todd will always hold a special place in my heart.
Sunday after church we were visiting part-member families and as we were walking from appointments we ran into L Jay. He told us that he just moved in and was looking for a church. We happily invited him to ours and taught him the restoration. He loved it!! We promised to read the pamphlet and asked if we would teach his grandmother too. We have an appointment with him this Wednesday!!
Can I just say that all in all being a missionary is the best thing that has ever happened to me!! Having that chance to see peoples' lives change and see their love for Jesus Christ grow is such an honor!! If your ever having a bad day just go out and serve the people around you!! I promise that your day will become so much better!!
I love you all and hope you have the best day ever!!
Love Sister Howard
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