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
