The first thing about it is that MIRIAM IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY. We had one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had in my life on Saturday night. We went over there with Troy to see how they were doing and how the opposition from her family was going.
We got on the topic of her cousin that needs help with some stuff because he is involved with a lot of negative stuff. We walked a lot about a few things on how she and Larry could help him. Miriam told me that she wanted to share a Book of Mormon with him and talked about how maybe if she showed what has helped her then he will read it and find out if it can help him. When I saw how strong her testimony was I felt prompted to ask her about baptism and why she hasn't quite found a day to do it yet. At first I was fearful to bring it up and we moved onto a different subject so it was a little hard to bring out what I was thinking. Eventually the Spirit kept pestering me about it until I just absolutely knew that I had to say something.
I asked her why she hasn't quite made the next step after asking her if she knows if this church is the right one or not. She talked about the opposition of her family and everything and I expressed to her how I felt about what she should do. I talked a lot about how having the gift of the Spirit is one of the most important thing that she can get right now in order to have strength with her problems. I bore testimony about baptism and I told her of how much of a great lady she is, and how she doesn't need to wait any longer to have these blessings.
When I did that I felt the Spirit so strongly and I could see and feel that my words had an impact on her. She then came to the realization that she no longer would let anything get in the way of her getting baptized. She said she was willing to do anything to get baptized and then I committed her to be baptized this Saturday!!!!!
Now obviously they have to do a few things first like get married. Well her and Larry decided to get married on the very next day, at church, in Bishop Odom's office, as soon as they could. ON SUNDAY RIGHT AFTER SACRAMENT MEETING THEY WERE MARRIED. I signed the Marriage License as a witness with Elder Bassett. They are now married and now all she needs is the interview and she will be baptized THIS SATURDAY.
I have never felt the Spirit so strongly in a lesson like that. I could see Miriam change in a split second and she has never been happier since! She even gave one of the most heartfelt prayers I've ever heard when we left to ask for strength to follow through with all of the opposition in her life.
I have never seen so much faith in someone before in my life. She is dropping everything to get baptized and taking a huge leap because she has the hope of happiness after it is all over. I still can't believe what happened!!!!
And none of that would have happened if I hadn't listened to the prompting of the Spirit. I would never have even thought about bringing it up the way I did, and talking the way I did to her. It was truly one of the greatest miracles that I've ever seen. The Spirit has given me so much inspiration on my mission and it has been the best blessing out here.
In other news, we got the call that Elder Bassett is being transferred. We didn't really expect it at all, but that's how things go. I will most definitely miss him. He and I may have been very different from one another, but we have had more success than I've ever had with any other companion. We still got along and we have taken the time to understand each other so that we can work together. It hasn't been the easiest experience and it's been stressful at times, but I had a great time with him. I wish he could go to the baptism this Saturday too. He has helped me learn a lot and he has helped me know my own self better.
This is weird to say, but being with him as made me realize that I'm probably going to need to always have a companion or a team with me in order to be my best self. They help me want to do better, and they can cover for me when I may not 100% be into what I am doing. So getting married one day will probably help me out a lot haha! I'm glad that he has helped me learn all of these things and I will miss him.
I'll be staying here and picking up my new companion on Wednesday. I'm still DL right now and that has been going great too. Our district is staying mostly the same except for Elder Bassett and Sister Hart leaving. I've loved this district the most and I'm sure it will still go great this next transfer!
Also it was free donut day at Krispy Kreme on Tuesday so we all got a free donut!
Hope everyone has a great week!
Elder Sean Bills