From: Christa Taylor <christa.taylor@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 1:46 PM
Subject: Cups, Calendars, and Conversion
Date: Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 1:46 PM
Subject: Cups, Calendars, and Conversion
YALL.
I don't know about yall, but 71 degrees and sunny in February is juuuust fine by me! I love Georgia! :D I just love Athens. If you can't hear the bass booming or see a cop, you're not in Athens. ;) There are so many incredibly prepared people here, just waiting to be found. I wish I had another year to find and teach them!
Remember our crazy Walmart miracle, where that teenage girl stopped us and asked for a Book of Mormon? She's getting baptized!! A week from Saturday on the 21st, her boyfriend (preparing to serve a mission) will baptize her. She asked us to do a musical number with the UGA sisters for her baptism. What an incredible miracle to be a part of! :) (Picture of us with her at the bottom)
On Wednesday, we got special permission to watch the film Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with investigators. If you haven't seen it, here's the link. Watch it. It's beautiful.
We had two investigators there, Angela and Jayne. After the film concluded, we asked everyone how they felt during the film. We had a good discussion, then brought up baptism to Angela. We'd already invited her to be baptized, but that day we wanted to give her a specific date to work towards. We had prayed and felt good about inviting her for March 7th. When we invited her, she was quiet for a moment, and asked, "Do I have to be baptized on that day?"
"No," we responded.
"Because I've been praying on it, and I think I've come up with a date of my own."
Pause of anticipation.
She looked up at us. "February fourteenth?"
We were blown away...that's next week! Sister Porter burst into tears, because that meant she'd still be on her mission when Angela got baptized. The Spirit was strong in the meeting, and we were so happy that Jayne was there to witness it. She has a lot of anxiety and depression, so it was good for her to be part of such a spiritual experience.
Friday, during weekly planning, Sister Porter and I melted our brains frantically trying to arrange teaching Angela all the lessons in eight days. It was a heaven-send when she told us on Saturday she'd prayed on it again, and felt better about working towards our original proposed date, March 7th. That will be much more doable, since she needs to quit smoking and we have a lot to teach her. She's incredibly elect. When we taught about the pre-earth life, we asked her first where she thought we were before we were born. She said slowly, "I think...that we were in spirit form...and then God sent us here, and...gave us...a physical form." Ha, well! Spot on! We filled in the gaps and helped her understand that we are literally the spirit children of Heavenly Father, and that He sent us here to 1) gain a physical body that could eventually be a perfect resurrected one, like His, and 2) learn to choose good from evil. She has the gift of humility. She asks questions out of a sincere desire to learn. It's like teaching a child.
We had a wonderful rebuking on Saturday when we met with Jayne. When we all sat down, she said, "I have a question for you. I saw how excited you were when you invited Angela to be baptized, and, well, I was wondering...why haven't you invited me to be baptized?"
AHH! SLAM. After three months of teaching her (she's been taught for over eight months now), a Mission Leadership Council AND a Zone Conference on baptismal invitations, it still hadn't occurred to me to invite her to be baptized. Granted, because of her anxiety and depression, we've been thinking of her as more of a service opportunity than a progressing investigator. But all people are best helped when invited to come unto Christ, and the first step for non-members is inviting them to be baptized. And I had not done that. I felt like a worm!
We sat in stunned silence for a second. I stuttered for a moment, then sincerely and profusely apologized for not inviting her to do the one thing that would help her the most. Then I said, "Well, we'd like to invite you right now. Will you be baptized by someone holding the authority of God?"
She said confidently, "Yes."
Her anxiety and depression made it excruciatingly overwhelming to set a baptismal date right then, so we'll start small and teach the lessons a piece at a time. She'll be ready when she's ready. But I certainly learned my lesson. Who am I to deny an invitation to come to the Savior to someone I don't think is ready? I will never, ever withhold an invitation to be baptized to someone I teach, ever again. You never know who or how the Lord is preparing His children.
Kaylee has been working towards baptism, and all she needed was a day to stamp. So we invited her to be baptized on February 21st, a week from Saturday (Same day as Alexa!). She said, "Yeah. I felt like the next few weeks was about the right time." That was easy!
We had another miracle with her. Last week, she shrunk back in her chair and said, "Guys...I broke one of the commandments. I lied." She said she'd had a great job interview-- one that, if she got hired for, wouldn't make her work till 7am Sunday mornings, like her current job does, and it would pay much better. The only problem was, they were only hiring people already experienced in that field, which she's not. So she bluffed her way through the application and an interview. (It was actually pretty impressive, and comical. She made up answers for how to use machinery she'd never seen before-- and apparently was pretty convincing, since they asked her to come back!) We didn't dwell on the topic long and started teaching the lesson. Partway through the lesson, though, the Spirit nudged me. You really need to encourage her to tell the truth, said Heavenly Father.
What?! That would be so awkward!! I thought back.
You know you need to, He replied.
*sigh* Okay. Just help me know what to say, I prayed.
So, we encouraged her to tell the truth. She squirmed and rationalized, but she knew she needed to make it right. We left it in her hands as to whether or not she'd talk to them, but we were so proud of her for talking to us about it! We prayed she'd have the courage to make it right, even if it meant losing a job she really, really wanted.
This last week, she texted us and canceled her lesson. She had a huge headache because she'd just finished a four hour exam, certifying her for the position she'd applied to, so she wouldn't have to lie. We were so happy for her!! That was a huge leap of faith. She is just awesome. It has been incredible to see the change in her. Her home isn't always a very peaceful environment. But the other night, she spoke in sweet, calm tones, and her countenance was peaceful, light, and happy. She's experiencing real changes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is real!
Last miracle: Chris. We forgot how wonderful he is because it's been a few weeks since we taught him. He was disappointed in himself for not reading much (only FOUR chapters!), but he intently listened and asked meaningful questions. We explained the organization of Christ's Church, the Apostasy (period of time when Christ's Church in it's complete form is not on the earth), and how it was brought back through Joseph Smith using cups. We stack and unstack the labeled cups to represent each part of the lesson. It's a great analogy, and it really began to click for him! The Linzeys will bring him to church next week, and he can't wait to come. I love the wonderful, humble truth-seekers I'm privileged to know and teach!
We've had almost no time to tract, but we try hard to find as we go between appointments. We only had thirty minutes of tracting this week, but we got 15 contacts because we tried to talk to everyone we saw. That has gotten incredibly easier for me as I commit to talk to everyone and not make excuses. It helps me remember that absolutely anyone we talk to could be our next top investigator.
I love yall and pray for you daily. Please pray for:
Angela (quit smoking)
Kaylee (get job that allows her to come to church, preparing for baptism)
Chris (be able to come to church, get some personal issues resolved)
Pam (health for church/lessons and to feel calmness of the Spirit)
Shirley (able to get ride for church)
Karsandra (family health)
& Jayne (strength and peace)
Have a great week! Happy Valentine's Day!
Love,
Sister Taylor
Pictures
Text from Alexa to the UGA sisters last week. :)
Counted fourteen pairs of shoes hanging from telephone wires! Needless to say, we're not tracting there. (Don't worry Mom :) )
Us and Alexa. :)
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