Gabriel's Baptism

Hello!

As always, Sister Sherksnas and I have had a very busy, productive week! Time is literally FLYING by, I feel like every other day is weekly planning!

This week we have been getting Gabriel ready for his baptism!! He has been "jumping for joy," all week long, waiting for his day. When Saturday evening finally did come, of course, Satan had to try one last intervention. We had to do the baptism in a different stake because ours was occupied for a stake musical. So we had asked the Sisters in that building how to get into the building. All they gave me were codes... so we got to the building an hour before the baptism and of course all the codes they gave us were wrong aaaaaand we needed keys to get into the font. So long story short, by the time we get the font open and start filling it, it's 5:30... the baptism is in half an hour and it takes an hour and a half to fill the font! God is a God of miracles though. We cranked the water, meaning we had to use cold water mostly. Within 25 minutes, the font was full and the water was even quite warm. It was definitely in God's plan that Gabriel would be baptized! Nothing can frustrate Heavenly Father's plans!

We also had the chance to set a baptismal date with a young woman we are teaching named Alisa. She has so many questions and she is searching for truth. Well if someone is looking for truth, this is where to find it! She has some opposition from her family, they are strong Baptists, but she wants to find out for herself if this is what God wants her to do. She is very sweet and has been through a lot in her short life. We are excited to be a part of her progression back to Heavenly Father.

On Wednesday we went to an appointment we had set up the week before when stopping in on a potential. His name is Kuka, he is Samoan, and he has a strong belief in God. We brought a Samoan lady from our ward and they got along really well! He said he was even happier to see us because we brought Sister Fanoga with us! We talked a little bit about how truths that have been lost are now restored to the Earth. We told him how families can be together forever, that "til' death do we part" does not have to exist. He said that would be amazing if it were possible and he liked our theory. We told him it was 100% possible. Understandably, he was very intrigued by that idea! I am excited to see him again this Wednesday!

We also got to go on exchanges this week! It was a lot of fun, I really do love exchanges. This time I was with Sister Allen, she is the best. I really learned from her just to be happy! No matter what may be frustrating you, no matter how tired you may be, you can still wear a smile on your face and have an optimistic outlook. I want to be that and have that. We got to do quite a bit of teaching as well as pick up three new investigators in the Sister Training Leader's area! It really was a day of miracles.

Saturday was a very busy day! We got to meet with an investigator that hadn't met with us in a long while, she had kinda dropped us... Her name is Sheila and she has 2 young kids. Most of our lessons, she has seemed distracted and kinda like she didn't quite 'get it'. This time we were able to help her connect to our message more fully through asking inspired questions and really listening to the spirit, trying to discern her needs and teach accordingly. This was another wonderful opportunity to talk about eternal families. Those really are my favorite moments when teaching; being able to tell someone they don't need to say goodbye to the ones they love.

And then later that evening was Gabe's baptism, so it was kinda hectic haha.

Yesterday at church, we had 2 of our investigators come to church, Mandy and Kerry. They are the Sisters who have baptismal dates. They are so sweet and are starting to actually read the Book of Mormon on their own! Kerry said she even reads the restoration pamphlet to her younger sister before bed! It is a miracle to see this change because Christian religion, praying, and scripture study have not been a part of their lives until now. I love seeing the change the gospel brings in people's lives!

Gabriel was also confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday, that was a really great experience. I wrote his blessing out for him from the quick notes I took and remembered. Gabe talks a lot about 'his path' and it talked about it too! I thought that was cool. Also when he sat down next to me again the first thing he said was, “what's next?” I love it! The temple is his goal and he wants to get there ASAP. 

After church, we went by to try some potentials, none of them were home, but we did get to meet two men as we were walking down the street to our car! Heavenly Father is funny sometimes. There was absolutely no parking where we were going so we had to park all the way down the street. Well it just so happened to be that the men we found were right by our car! So that was a miracle. We will see them this week.

The church is true!

Love

Sister Holt

Gabriel's Baptism!

Having fun with the district on P-day