Hola familia y amigos,
I haven´t much time. So this letter is kind of
short. But there is really only the one experience I want to share with
you. On Tuesday, I had a meeting for the leadership and the Assistants to
the President encouraged us to have a baptism this weekend. I talked
about it with my companions and we acted with faith and here is what happened:
I think this week was the hardest week of my mission. But I
learned a lot.
We took up the Assistants challenge to have a baptism this weekend. We had one investigator that could potentially get baptized this weekend. He has had several fechas and always falls through at the last minute. We figured trying to do it in a weekend was something different and might be what he needed. With intercambios that I have had to do, I didn´t get back from the meeting until wednesday night and he could not meet with us until friday.
We planned a really spiritual lesson. We read Christ´s baptism in Matthew, watched a 4 minute video about him, let the Spirit fill the room, and then Hna. Manner invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized tomorrow at 5. It was all golden and he was saying si si si, until he heard the tomorrow at 5.
We took up the Assistants challenge to have a baptism this weekend. We had one investigator that could potentially get baptized this weekend. He has had several fechas and always falls through at the last minute. We figured trying to do it in a weekend was something different and might be what he needed. With intercambios that I have had to do, I didn´t get back from the meeting until wednesday night and he could not meet with us until friday.
We planned a really spiritual lesson. We read Christ´s baptism in Matthew, watched a 4 minute video about him, let the Spirit fill the room, and then Hna. Manner invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized tomorrow at 5. It was all golden and he was saying si si si, until he heard the tomorrow at 5.
He says he wants to be baptized, he just doesn’t feel ready.
We talked to him for a long time trying to help him, because we know he is
ready. In the end we left him with the invitation to pray and ask God if he
should be baptized the following day. We had so much faith that he was going to
say yes with this lesson, but we kept the faith knowing that God would answer
him if he prayed.
We continued on hoping to talk to him the next morning and then put together the baptism. But the next morning he wouldn’t answer his phone. When he finally did, he told us that he felt awful the night before and couldn´t pray. We were devastated, but he agreed to meet us at 7 that night and we thought, maybe we could talk to him then and have the baptism at 8 or so. We didn´t want to give up, we didn´t want to lose faith.
The day wore on and things only got worse. Other investigators started failing us and in the end we were not able to see our investigator who was supposed to get baptized at all that day. But he promised to come to church, so we figured maybe he could get baptized on Sunday. He wasn´t able to make it to church either. We still haven´t seen him. We have a lesson with him tonight though. I hope.
I don´t know why things happened this way. We had so much faith, and we prayed harder than I´ve ever prayed with companions. We even fasted. It was a hard and emotional week. But I learned to keep on carrying on. We ended this weekend exhausted but knowing that we had done our best. We did not give up. I don´t know if our faith was not enough, or why it was the way it was, but I know God is in charge.
I have thought a lot about this experience. Although it hurts, and we felt like our faith was not enough, and that Satan won, I realized a few things. The church is still true. God still loves me. The book of Mormon is still the word of God. Jesus Christ is still my Savior. I have faith that our investigator will get baptized one day, maybe next weekend!
We continued on hoping to talk to him the next morning and then put together the baptism. But the next morning he wouldn’t answer his phone. When he finally did, he told us that he felt awful the night before and couldn´t pray. We were devastated, but he agreed to meet us at 7 that night and we thought, maybe we could talk to him then and have the baptism at 8 or so. We didn´t want to give up, we didn´t want to lose faith.
The day wore on and things only got worse. Other investigators started failing us and in the end we were not able to see our investigator who was supposed to get baptized at all that day. But he promised to come to church, so we figured maybe he could get baptized on Sunday. He wasn´t able to make it to church either. We still haven´t seen him. We have a lesson with him tonight though. I hope.
I don´t know why things happened this way. We had so much faith, and we prayed harder than I´ve ever prayed with companions. We even fasted. It was a hard and emotional week. But I learned to keep on carrying on. We ended this weekend exhausted but knowing that we had done our best. We did not give up. I don´t know if our faith was not enough, or why it was the way it was, but I know God is in charge.
I have thought a lot about this experience. Although it hurts, and we felt like our faith was not enough, and that Satan won, I realized a few things. The church is still true. God still loves me. The book of Mormon is still the word of God. Jesus Christ is still my Savior. I have faith that our investigator will get baptized one day, maybe next weekend!
This week was hard. But it ended with a miracle.
We had an investigator come to church, against all odds. He told us he
wanted to play soccer sunday morning, but he came to church instead! We
were soooo happy for him, and I truly believe this is a miracle from God
blessing us for not giving up on trying to have a baptism.
Con amor,
Hermana
Olsen
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