Laurence is still awesome. We had a great lesson on baptism on Tuesday. We spent time discussing what an ordinance and covenant are, and the importance of the Priesthood authority. We asked what was standing in between him and baptism, and he told us he has some questions he'd like answered. Basically he wants to know the "fine print" so he knows what he's getting himself into. We acknowledged his desire, and then we touched on the difference between knowing in your head, and knowing in your heart, and that the latter is what qualifies one for baptism. He then shocked us all by telling us he felt he already had the knowledge in his heart! Man, he's really been prepared to receive this gospel. Saturday we had dinner and a lesson with him at the Svedin's house. We talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Laurence is very sincere, and he says he wants to be 100% there and committed to keeping that covenant with God. We've talked before about repentance and how we all break the covenant, but that didn't seem to satisfy him. Sister Svedin shared a sweet testimony about the sacrament, and that's what did it for him. We could feel this sense of relief as it finally sunk in that he doesn't have to be perfect, just willing to try. He asked about the baptism service - he's thinking about it! He is well on his way there. We shared before with him about the Word of Wisdom, but it didn't click that he had to quit smoking before baptism. We went over D&C 20:37 with him, and the only qualification he is lacking is being smoke-free. That was also a relief to him that he meets those qualifications that the Lord has set. He's been trying to hold himself to higher standards, and with those, he'd never be ready in his mind. He said he feels it (baptism) coming, and he's excited. He's down to 0-3 cigarettes a day, and we committed him to pray for a day that he would be smoke-free and a day to be baptized in February. At church Sunday, we didn't see Laurence. During the opening song I checked the phone, and he had left a message. S. Latu went out to check it (since I had to say the prayer). It turns out that his car ran out of gas about a mile from the church. So he started walking. He called to tell us he was on his way but would be late. He made it there before the sacrament. Afterwards he told us that 4 people stopped to check if he needed help, and one nice family on their way to another church, picked him up and dropped him off at our church. What great blessings! The Lord truly does provide a way if we're willing!
We finally met with Linda again, after her and her husband being so sick. We sensed her frustration in not getting anywhere even after a year of study with the Mormons. We decided to share Pres. Uchtdorf's talk and the "good, better, best" principle. She looked into it too much and kinda over-analyzed it. But her reaction was her applying the principle we were trying to teach. She told us she needed to get back to reading and discussing the BOM. That's her foundation. That's awesome. The problem is, she's reading and studying the BOM to learn about the people and why they thought/believed that way, rather than reading to learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel. Hmm. She's a tough cookie.
During Christmas time, we participated in Christmas Jubilee. Churches in the community provide gifts and set up a "store" for less-fortunate people to come and "shop" (for free) for gifts for their children. S. Latu and I hosted a mom named Krystal and helped her pick things out and wrap them. We dropped in to see her this week and began teaching her. She has little to no knowledge of the Bible or main characters such as Moses, Noah, etc. We taught her a little about God and then some about prayer. She's never prayed out loud before. He's so humble and open when she doesn't understand something. I feel the gospel can really bless her life if she'll take it. We went back Friday and watched Joy to the World with her. She didn't understand what a prophet was, so we tried to explain and teach her. Even that was a bit above her comprehension level. She kind of grasped the idea, but we have to go to the very basics with her. I'm excited to start teaching her more and see the light of the gospel take root.
Laura is still doing well, though she hasn't been to church in a while. We taught her about faith on Wednesday and repentance on Thursday. She has progressed so much since we first started meeting with her. She's getting answers to her questions. She's understanding what she reads. She's receiving revelation. She's so excited to share with us things she learned from the BOM or from her pondering. We asked her about the growth of her faith, and her eyes just lit up. Oh, she's growing so much! She told us that she's understanding the things we teach better, in addition to understanding the BOM more. She won't make the Jan 8th baptism date, but at her rate of progression, I can see her getting baptized this month or early February. She's so in tune with the Spirit and wants to learn.
We also met with Destiny Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday we shared the story Hands Against the Rock. She began to apply that story to her own life. She shared with us her application, and it even went beyond the things S. Latu and I had come up with. We then shared a tree analogy - we're frail trees that bend in the wind, so much so that our leaves get dirty in the mud. The repentance process is not just to clean our leaves, but to strengthen us so that we don't bend so much next time. That brought out that she has a narrow conception of repentance. Her view is centered on the apologizing, rather than on turning our hearts and will to God. It was a nice intro to our Thursday lesson on repentance. Her in-laws joined us via Skype. It was interesting. It was kind of distracting, and we had to talk louder than normal so they could hear us. I think it would work better if it was the investigator (rather than the member) that we talk to through Skype. But her mother-in-law was able to share some pretty insightful comments about repentance. I don't think Destiny was able to fully grasp the full meaning of repentance, but at least one important thing was learned. I shared with her an example from teaching physics: In physics, there are a bajillion different kinds of problems. My students wanted a step-by-step for each type of problem. That's ridiculous, and impossible, so we teach principles that can then be applied to any type of problem. Without learning the principles and concepts, when faced with a new problem, we get stuck. Destiny was able to realize that she was wanting specific instructions for each type of situation, rather than learning principles. So now she's excited to learn principles. Hallelujah! Hopefully we can get somewhere with that now! :)
We met with Br. Workman again and taught the parable of the 4 soils. We were able to pull a lot from it, most notably that Christ focused a lot on the not good ground so that we can problem solve and figure out why our ground isn't good and then we can fix it. I really like the Workmans, and they love having us, and they come to church often. But I don't see him feeling a need for this gospel right now. He's not looking for anything. Hmm.
We contacted Janet & Fudge, a referral from the Bunch family (less active), on Sunday, and we went back to see them Friday. They are such good people. She's really religious, and Fudge believes, but doesn't go to church much. She told us she hopes that once our new chapel is done (literally right across the street from them) that he'll try it and go. She had her Bible on the table Friday and so we got to talking and she shared about her church and then asked us about ours. They invited us over for dinner next week!
Saturday we were finally able to see the Bailey family again. I love them! We just pop in, usually Wednesday nights, and they drop whatever they're doing and gather the family around. Only Br. Bailey is a member. But they have raised their kids with a strong faith. They always love our lessons. They are so smart! We talked about the Atonement with them and how important it is to helping us return to our Father in Heaven.
Sunday we got to see the Lermas again finally. We planned to address his real intent and have kind of a DTR. Bro. Roberts (her uncle, also a member) was there unexpectedly, so we were thinking of maybe switching our plan. Then Br. Lerma asked if we remembered that we were supposed to cover the 3 kingdoms. So, we decided to teach that. It was neat because Bro. Roberts was totally unaware of our lesson plan,.but as he was sharing his comments, he brought up the concept of real intent/commitment level as one of the distinctions between the terrestrial and celestial people. It flowed nicely. Br. Lerma is a pretty laid back guy, so it was hard to tell how he received the lesson.
Sunday we went out trying to find a bunch of less actives. Either they weren't home or they had moved. Finally, the last one we tried was Sister Dellinger. She welcomed us in and we had a really good visit with her. She's had a lot of health problems that were at least part of why she's less active. But she reads her scriptures daily and her testimony is still strong. She told us she's been feeling small nudgings moving her closer to coming back to church. She said our timing was perfect. What a sweet lady. Hopefully we'll be able to begin regular visits with her and her health and work schedule will work out to allow her to come to church.
During President's interviews, he told me that S. Latu is probably going to train, so I'm pretty sure I'm leaving. We'll find out next week. I had that feeling anyway, but Pres. gave more credence to it. Whatever the Lord asks, I'll do because it's not about me. k
sister humpherys
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