she's at an 8

I don’t even know where to start. Basically, right now is the happiest time of my entire mission, and in all reality, right now is the happiest time of my entire life. I can’t express how much I love being a missionary. Oh man, I’m tearing up in the library right now just thinking about it. Do you know what I am doing right now? I testify about Jesus Christ everyday. Before I left I had to give a talk on the atonement and I was completely puzzled by what the atonement was. I knew what it was but I didn’t really grasp what it was. I remember trying to piece together explanations from all the philosophies I had been taught in college. I tried to create an intellectual expression of the divine role of the Savior. I knew it, but I didn’t feel it. I think I understood the atonement a lot more as a 14-year-old than I did as a 22-year-old college grad when I left on my mission. So in college I created an intellectual framework of my testimony, but since I’ve been on my mission I feel like I am actually apply what I’ve learned and creating something much more substantial with in myself. I’m grateful for the knowledge I gained in school and now I’m grateful for the chance to apply that knowledge.

A man who has wanted to get baptized for years but hasn’t been able to because he can’t get a divorce and because his girl friend has been very against the church just called us a while ago and asked if we could come and teach his girl friend about the Book of Mormon. We’ve taught her twice and she’s said that she’s not ready to be baptized yet, but that she probably will be once she learns more.

An older man in our ward who is a convert of 2 years told us that we should go see a women named Kristi. He is a wonderful man but he’s very intense and kind of pushy, doesn’t listen real well and we usually try and steer our investigators away from him because we’re afraid he’ll scare them away. But I’ll tell you what, this last week he a doctor’s appointment up in San Antonio and he had a neighbor take him up to it and the whole way he bore his soul to her about the gospel and the blessing that it is in his life. And then of course he told her to talk to missionaries and if she did talk to us then she would be forced to get baptized and that there was no turning back otherwise she would be cast off to outer darkness. Sigh. But guess what! She agreed to meet with us because she said that as this man was going off about the gospel she felt something warm inside of her. She said she got the goose chills. I love the Spirit! We try to offer the gospel on a china plate instead of flinging it in their face, but if we do our best the Spirit will make up for the rest. This man prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel and two days later he was presented with an opportunity and he took it and did the very best he could to share the convictions of his heart and Kristi felt something. Cool…

We are teaching a man named Luz. He’s not super interested but then his friend came to him asking questions and seeking answers about God. Luz let him borrow the Book of Mormon we had given to him and showed him the promise at the end of the book that says if you pray about the book you can know if it’s true. The friend, Jaime, started reading with a critical eye, but then decided to pray about it. He did and he received an answer that made him actually consider that this book could be from God. So then he called us and asked if we could teach him more. After recovering from severe shock we agreed to do so.

Then we met with Rebecca last night after church. Our last appointment had been talking about baptism and she didn’t really know how she felt about it. We called her before church and she was still deciding whether or not she wanted to go. She had mentioned that she wanted to go back to her other church that she went to10 years ago, “but it’s really weird. I can’t find any information about that church anywhere in the phone book.” We were silently thanking the Lord for that. She decided to go to church for the first hour. Lucky for us the Bishop was speaking and he devoted his entire talk to the 13 articles of faith. After that talk she decided to stay for the rest of church which was awesome! After Church Rebecca was asking Sister Dodge if she could replace Coffee with Big Red…we will have to talk to her more about the danger of addictions, but the fact that she is even considering given up coffee is so sweet! We celebrate every little victory. That night we had decided to back off on the baptism thing for a bit to give her some space, but I of course was dying to know what she was thinking about it so I asked, “On a scale from one to ten with one being you don’t want to get baptized and 10 being you do want to get baptized where would you fall?” She answered that before church she was at a four, but she learned so much about our beliefs and understood so much more about authority she now considered herself to be an 8. She’s and 8!!!!!! All night long we were dancing around the apartment. “She’s an 8, she’s an 8!” It’s still going to be quite a process before she’ll feel ready but she’s a lot closer!

I have tons more stories, but not enough time. Basically we have had so many miracles this week. I love it. How many of these miracles will make it to baptism? I’m rootin’ for all of them (I’ll always be a greenie at heart), but in reality I will only see one or two get baptized, but someday the others will probably join them! I love being a part of this work. I finally feel like I understand the importance of baptism. It’s not about changing churches, it’s the first promise that maps out the rest of eternity.

Love, sj