May 27th, 2019 Letter #81

The couple didn't end up getting everything figured out with the papers and there wasn't much we could do while we were in Xalapa (which was the crucial time) so things didn't work out this week. The good news is that some members are starting to get antsy because they've seen them plenty of times at church and want them to get baptized, so they're starting to take some initiative and I expect that soon everything will be resolved. There are 5 in the family. The kids are 6, 8, and 10 years old respectively. 

I really liked a couple things from the leadership conference. One of my favorite topics was about conversion. "1 And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it. 2 Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they truly repented of all their sins. 3 And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end." Moroni 6:1-3 .A lot of missionaries lately have been focusing too much on numbers so in the conference we talked about how if somebody is going to get baptized they should also be ready and converted. Our retention efforts should also be increased greatly. I expect to see a lot of improvement in the integrity of the work if we can successfully get this message through to the missionaries. Apart from that I mostly just participated with comments. 

One miracle this week was something that happened on Sunday after church. For several weeks we have been teaching a particular woman. She knows a lot of members, she has gone to church every week since we first met her, she always accepts invitations to read and to pray, she has even started to study "Come, Follow Me" every week, but every time we had invited her to get baptized she had said that she wasn't ready and that she would let us know when. We were running out of ideas about what to do with her, because we had run out of lessons to teach her and felt like she was more than ready, but we kept visiting her 1-2 a week just to make sure she didn't lose interest. Now to Sunday: Typically we have baptismal services on Sunday after church so that as many members as possible can attend and support. This woman has been to one or two services already so she knows the drill. After church she asked me, "Is there going to be a baptism today?" And I told her that most likely there wouldn't be one until the 9th of June. So she asked me, "And when are you going to baptize me?" I stood there for a second surprised then basically said, "Whenever you want." And she requested that we baptize her next Sunday. So we will. That made me pretty happy. 

My companion is really good about serving others and bearing testimony whenever he gets the chance. 

Another little miracle that brought the Spirit was that on Saturday we had a couple of free minutes so I said to my companion, "Let's go reactivate." We headed to the house of a family where the mom and sometimes the dad are the only ones I see in church in order to invite their kids to church. The kids were pretty surprised when they called their mom and we told them that we had come not for her, but for them. We proceeded to talk to them and long story short the son, daughter, and son-in-law were all in church the next day. 

One last thing that was pretty cool this week: There's an Elder who's a secretary that I saw when we went to the Leader's conference who was in my district when I was district leader in Xalapa and in my zone when I was Zone Leader in Martinez. He sent me an email today saying the following: 

Hey! Elder Finlinson!

It was really awesome to see you this week!   Super quick I just felt inspired to say you are just an awesome missionary and still such a great example to me. I am really grateful for our friendship and I really cherish some of the memories that were made in Martinez in Ejidal. Thanks for being such a good leader and always helping out and doing the right thing. I am profoundly grateful for all you have taught me, and always remember you have such a strong spirit about you.

Always remember you are always worthy, especially know of God´s help and love! Know you are doing better than you think you are and know you are doing great!

I love ya tons! Remember if you ever need anything, I´m always ready to chat on Lunes (Monday)! Have an amazing week!

That was nice of him. I suppose that should be more than enough for you to read this week so I'll sign off.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson