MY FIRST BAPTISM!!! DECEMBER 10, 2018

Hello!

Hope you have had a great week, because I have! It has been really good!

Tuesday: We did some knocking and found this super nice guy named Jeric.  Immediately when he opened the door, he invited us in, and we just talked with him a bit about the Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. We then did service for this less active woman named Pinky. She wanted us to come help her organize her cupboards and we were there almost 3 hours. It took so long, but we definitely helped her. Then we went to the church and Ian got interviewed for baptism by our District Leader, Elder Call. They came out with big smiles on their faces and from there we were set! We then had a lesson with Mike and he told us he loved the blessing he got on Sunday, it was really cool and he felt it helped.  And last we heard he hasn't smoked since! So keep praying for him to keep it up, he is doing awesome! We set a new baptism date for the 22nd (great b-day present for Marie!) And we set it around his wife's work schedule so she could be there! He really wants her to be there so she better come!

Wednesday: Exchanges! We had District Council and from there we switched with the other sisters in our district. We did lots of tracting. I was with Sister Burton, the STL, and she was super nice! We found 7 potentials in Corry and Northeast, farther parts of our area but equally important parts! So we will go back and try them again later this week. I had to lead out both these days, since it was my area which was a little nerve wracking but worked out great!

Thursday: Sister Skinner and I went and did some OYM'ing on Penn State Behrend campus. We handed "Light the World" cards and candy canes out to people and got a few phone numbers. We also did some tracting. Then had a lesson with Mike! We just read 3 Nephi 27 with him and answered questions he had about stuff. He is so cool ah I wish y'all could meet him! He looks tough from the outside but he's a softie. And he's starting to smile more and is more comfortable asking us questions and just talking with us which is great. We also did our BOM Facebook class at the church with our ward mission leader that night.

Friday: This morning the sisters left.  It was fun having them sleep over for 2 nights! We did some weekly planning and then went and had a lesson with Jeric! (See Tues) which was awesome! He said he's been wanting to go to a church. We had a great lesson with him and he even said the closing prayer! It was sweet, he was so nervous to pray in front of us, and afterwards he said his heart was racing! We gave him a soft baptism invite - we asked if he believed what we told him was true and he said he wasn't sure yet, but he definitely wanted to learn more and we asked if he came to know it was true, would he get baptized, and he said he definitely would! So that was cool! Next time we will formally invite him to be baptized! He's awesome! We also had our Ward Christmas Party that night which was nice. Good food. :)

Saturday!! Great day!! We left our house at 7 am to go fill up the font because it takes almost 3 hours to fill! We then got ready and did some studies and printed programs and got everything ready. And then at 10 am we had the baptism service for Ian! It was so sweet, SO many people came, we ran out of chairs!! Ian's grandma has been a member of the ward for a long time and Ian has come to church with her off and on for many years, so he has had a lot of support. It was awesome, everyone there was so happy!! Especially Ian, it was sweet. He had his friend who is a priest baptize him which was sweet. And then he gave a nice testimony, I teared up. At the end, he looked right at Sis Paskett and I and said "I'm so grateful to be baptized, I'm really feeling the spirit right now" and that just made my heart so happy. I was conducting the music and during the closing song he just looked kind of over some by the spirit and it was so sweet to see. All the work and the effort we put into his lessons was worth it. Ian is baptized and is so happy about it!! We are so happy for him! The rest of the day was great, we did some finding and had a lesson that night which went well.

Sunday: Church was good, Ian was confirmed and the blessing was just beautiful! He again looked so happy, it was great. Mike came to church again! Oh and he came to Ian's baptism! That was great for him to be there and see one. It was a good day.

This week was good. Ian is baptized! We found lots of potential people to teach! We found Jeric who is super cool! It was a great week and I couldn't have done it without your prayers. Thank you for praying for me, I have so many people cheering me on, I know I can do all things!!

If you get the chance, there is a wonderful talk by President Nelson called "joy cometh in the morning" from 1986. it was exactly what I needed to hear, and I would highly suggest reading it!! Here is a quote I loved, "The gospel of Jesus Christ offers hope. It declares joy to be part of our divine destiny. And to experience joy in the morning becomes our special challenge." Joy is a part of our divine destiny!! And the gospel is what offers such great joy.

I love you all SO MUCH!! I hope you have a GREAT week!! 

Love,

Sister Bates ❤