Dear Mom,
My birthday was great! Thanks again so much from
all of you! The Jensons ended up surprising me with a cake, and the
Felver's had us for dinner. We also found a new investigator this last
week. Speaking of this week, we have seen some major miracles. More
than I have ever seen in my whole mission!
So I don't usually like to start counting key
indicators, but just so you get an idea of what really happened this
week... We have 7 people who have started to prepare for a baptismal
date between now and September 20th and another one that is setting one
by this next Sunday. We have had so many teaching apts this last week
that we can no longer cover the whole area on our own. This week we
have set aside Tuesday and Thursday to go on splits with the Relief
Society so that we can cover two places at once... Also, I don't know
if I have ever talked about our investigator, Tera. She is 17 and has
been coming to church for about three months, but even though she has
been progressing, it has been slow. Well last week she decided she
wanted to be baptized before girls camp (that is next week)... So we
are putting on a baptism here this Saturday for her. We have had to
teach her so many principles these last few days just to help her get
ready. Also, her mom, who hasn't been active in the church pretty much
all of Tera's life, came to church for the first time yesterday! The M's also came to church, and Sister M is praying about a
baptismal date right now and is going to tell us on Sunday. Karen and
Nate both came to church! It was Nate's first time. Yes, Aug 2 is
still the date. Right now it is looking unrealistic, but after this
week boy do we ever believe in miracles! Thank you for your prayers for
them, they are obviously helping! By way of update for Josh... He is
doing swimmingly, and asks all of the right questions. He even invited
his friend to sit in and listen, and now he, Devan, is taking the
discussions!
Wow, I just spewed a lot of information at you all
there... I hope you caught it all. We have been going nonstop all week
long. Thursday we didn't even have enough time to stop and eat lunch
for 10 minutes...
The Branch BBQ was this week, and that was also a
pretty big miracles. We had over 100 people attend, and boy does
Brother F smoke some good meet! His pulled pork is fantastic!
My birthday miracle was with Daniel and Marissa. They are a
Marshallese family that the Elders had found a long time ago, and found
out that Daniel was a member, but no one ever did anything about it. So
we went back and met with them. Marissa had told us that she had never
let the missionaries in, but said after we shared the restoration with
them that she would have had she known what happened. As Sister
O'Banion rehearsed the first vision to them, Marissa kept whispering,
"Oh, there is two... Two..." She had made an amazing discovery
regarding the Godhead, and was overwhelmed. That lesson quickly turned
into a lesson on temples and the importance of being sealed. Both her
and Daniel want that so bad! They have a long way to go, but they both
seem eager to work for it. We are so excited to continue teaching
them. Marissa is preparing to be baptized on September 20th right now.
I love you all! Thank you again for the great birthday! I had a great day!
If
there is one thing that I have really come to understand on my mission
is that our Heavenly Father wants to bless us with miracles everyday.
All we have to do is be obedient and ask.
Love,
Sister Bakker
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