Tuesday, July 2, 2013

July 1, 2013 - Last Letter home - He will be home on July 3rd!

Hi Everyone!!!

Glad to hear from all of you. I hope that the floods have receded a bit and things are returning to normal(although it did take a year for Noah). Too bad about camp for the girls.

We had a good week in the mission. 26 baptisms this week (I think that's the most ever) and 78 baptisms total in June (definitely the most ever in a month). It was incredible to see, the whole mission absolutely killed it. On a smaller scale, Brother Baker was confirmed Sunday, which was a great experience. He may receive the priesthood next week and then give the priesthood to his son, who just turned 12. He's doing great, thanks for keeping him in your prayers.

We had a few interesting moments this week. As usual a few crazy people (there is one part of our area that is pretty sketchy), but also some spiritual highlights. Sandra accepted a quit date for coffee and smoking today, and her and Tabitha have accepted to be baptized on July 21st, now they just need to get an answer as to whether the Book of Mormon is true!

We went by one investigator and after the lesson asked her if she had any friends or neighbours we could go by. She said "the only person I know is the nice lady next door, but she wouldn't be interested". We decided to knock a few doors around her house anyway, and the neighbour she had mentioned answered the door. Turns out she is a single mom of three boys (21,17 and 15), and she has been searching for answers from God and in the Bible about her purpose in life: SUPER interested. We helped her move out of that house and into another one this last week; a few members even came to pitch in. During the move she would ask us questions and she seems genuinely interested. She also has a longtime friend who is a member. Just goes to show you: usually we do NOT know whom the Lord is preparing around us. He expects that we open our mouths and invite and He promises that He will provide as we exercise our faith. I am very glad we decided to try despite what we had been told; we are all children of God and deserve the chance to listen to this message.

Another quick experience. We went by a part-member family who ended up not being home. So we knocked a few doors to the left. I felt like we should also knock the door on the corner across the street. We did, and then felt that we should continue. I said a quick prayer  "God, I want to follow impressions I get, but I also don't want to wander around wasting time when we should be stopping by other people we had planned. If you really want us to talk to someone here, please let it be the next person to answer the door." Next door, no answer. The door immediately following turned out to be a member family, the mother is less active, we had no idea they were living there. We talked to her at the door for a little bit, left our testimony with her, and got in the car. Nothing immediate happened because of the experience, but I wonder if the Lord wanted her to hear something at that moment.

I know that this is the Lord's work, and he is pushing it on! I hope that you have a wonderful week, love you lots!

Elder Gedlaman



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