President Porter said something interesting a while back. He
said he loves getting emails from missionaries about how hard their week was
because those are always the weeks where the greatest blessings come.
(D&C 58:2-4 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 also talk about this) Those
hardest weeks always seem to be the highest baptizing and those are the weeks
where missionaries and investigators grow the most. I felt that was
very true for me this last week. I really had to learn how
to rely on the Savior. This companionship has been very rewarding and we
have been developing a very strong relationship. With God behind us there is always hope and
power to conquer every foe, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or
spiritual. The only way to stifle God's grace is by not trying. So as long as
we are just doing our best with what we have, we will always be entitled
to His divine help. We may make a mistake over and over and over again, time
and time again, falling on our faces day after day, but He knows how to heal
us, pick us up, dust us off, and set us on our feet again. Life is stressful,
but it needs to be because that's how we grow and progress. Elder Arveseth
and I have been doing really well the past couple days. "Trials
make champions because opposition makes Gods!" (2 Nephi 2) that's a quote
Elder Arveseth and I came up with during a rather revelatory gospel discussion
before church one day. Haha but all in all I know we had a rough middle of the
week because the adversary knew perfectly well what miracle was in
progress for the end of the week, E…'s baptism!!!!
E… was baptized, and what better time than Easter weekend and
Rachel's Birthday!?!?! (Rachel by the way looks like a totally different little
person than the one I last saw).
But holy cow the baptism was the greatest experience of my
life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It started right on time, 25 minutes late.
Which really ain't too bad for the branch :). Besides, we needed
the extra time to top off the font anyways. The power of God was
definitely made manifest during the ordinance. A senior missionary couple,
Elder and Sister Nelson, that didn't speak Spanish said it was one of
the most spiritual services they had ever attended. (And Elder Nelson has
served like 3 missions!) They also took us out to dinner to Olive Garden after
the baptism, which is exactly what they did for me and ELder Gibb after J…'s
baptism.
It has been really cool to participate in the baptisms of this
family. E… wanted me to baptize her because she felt like I had come back to
this area to baptize her. As I said last week it was a complete miracle that
God opened up this opportunity for her at this time. I don't have words to
express the feelings of the baptism and confirmation. Right before the baptism
we sang the hymn, "Oh Mi Padre" (Oh my Father) which she chose and is
one of my favorites. I was almost in tears as we were singing. When
we finished the song and she and I had stood up to walk towards the font I
could see the tears in her eyes. It warmed my heart with complete
amazement that Heavenly Father has allowed me to be a part of
all this. His plan is mysterious and amazing. One of the witnesses
for the baptism testified of the spirit he felt as she was submerged in the
water. I to can testify of the same spirit that I felt as she came clean out of
the water. At the end of the service she shared a very emotional and
powerful testimony about her conviction of how greatly this gospel
has and will bless her and her family. She bore her testimony that she is
here in the church and here to stay! Wahooo! So next stop? Temple and Endure to
the end! I know that this Easter weekend was the spiritually healing that
she and we all needed. The power of the Savior's atonement is so amazing.
As far as Easter goes I missed the egg rolling tradition but I
did have a great time at the M…”s home. We watched the "Because of
Him" video and shared testimony's of the Savior and ate a nice
display of protein: "Carne Asada", hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and
sausage :) It was fantastic. Thank you by the way for the Easter Package!!!
That was quite awesome of you all. The Nerf gun is perfect. We have
another one just like in our apartment, and now we have two! And where there
are two Nerf guns there are Nerf wars :) So thank you! Just know that I am
very very content, so very happy with all that I've been learning about myself
and my Savior. You are the greatest family ever and I love you TONS. Have a
great week! I'll send some pictures!
Elder
Graf
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| President Loechinger of the mission presidency flew his plane down from Dayton Ohio to interview E..., which was a very spiritual moment as well. We picked him up from the airport and snapped a few pictures while we were there. |
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| Easter Package!!! |
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| I called Elder Gibb and made sure he came down for the baptism.
Her youngest son isn't old enough yet and her daughter is waiting and praying for permission from her dad to get baptized.
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