Miriam was baptized and confirmed this weekend! I was able to baptize her and then Bishop Odom confirmed her at church yesterday. Her baptism went really well. Miriam has been a school teacher for a long time and so we had Connor Temple give one of the talks at the baptism because she used to be his kindergarten teacher. He's 11 now and Miriam was so happy to see him teach her during the service. Miriam has never been so happy since. She was so ecstatic at church and she is doing a lot better now. hopefully the opposition from her family won't be as hard as it has been. I think that things will get a lot easier for her this week.
After church she came up to me and said "You know when y'all told me that I would understand more and feel differently about my life and other things after my baptism? I really didn't believe it all the way. But now that I've gotten through it, I totally get it now! I know exactly what you meant." It was pretty great to hear that. She will be a great member.
We were also able to start working with Logan and Janet again! They have decided that their way of quitting smoking isn't working so we showed them the 15 step program that will get them both smoke free in 7 days. Elder Smith and I went in there, showed them the schedule of it, and gave them all the materials they need to stop smoking. They've been smoke free ever since! Things are going great with them. We also put Janet on date for the 28th so that she can have a goal to look forward to. She has always wanted to get baptized, but she has to just get over this one last hurdle and she will be baptized on the 28th. I'm really excited to see how that goes.
Elder Smith and I are doing great together. We've been working hard at finding more people to teach, and to help the ones we already have found. He and I are having a blast and we are working hard at the same time. It's been great to be with him and i hope we can work together for a long time. He is practically my best friend and we are doing awesome.
Elder Erich W. Kopischke came for a mission tour. He taught a lot about referral contacting and working with members to find people to teach. He is just a very kind hearted and excited person and the way he spoke was really motivating and helpful. He gave a lot of insight on getting people to come to church and then answered questions from missionaries. It was a really great experience and I got a lot of insight on new ideas to find people to teach. Elder Smith and i have been trying them and they've been working pretty good so far.
I got to see Elder Rodriguez and Elder Nielsen there too! It was cool to see all 4 of us together again haha.
A lot of hard work has been paying off and I am glad to see the Lord helping me out every day to get these people where they need to be. I hope that everyone has a great week this week!
Love,
Elder Sean Bills