April 18, 2011

Dear everyone!

So we had a great week! Diana was baptized on Saturday, and confirmed
yesterday. It was a great experience. I wished we could have had
some more support from the Branch, but I don't think that Diana
noticed how few people were there. We got there an hour early to set
up chairs and make sure that the font was being filled, which the
building coordinator said he'd take care of it. It takes about 90
minutes to fill. When we got there, the doors were all locked and no
one was around. We called the guy, and he was like, "oh, you have a
baptism this morning... i forgot... I'll be right there..." YIKES!!!
So he finally shows up at 9:30 to unlock the font (we don't have a
key because it's not our building, it's the stake center) and get the
water pouring. Needless to say, we started the baptismal service a
little late, and the water was running through all the talks and the
musical numbers and everything. Despite that, it was a wonderful
experience, and afterwards, when I asked Diana how she felt, the best
word she had was, "stronger, like I can take on anything now." It was
great. Baptisms never get old!

We picked up some new investigators this week too. We've started
teaching a hispanic family whose English is not so great... LOL. But
they don't want to be taught by the Spanish Elders, either... They
prefer to learn about the gospel at the same time as learning
English... which means that we move kind of slowly. They have one
son, Brandon, who is in High School, and helps us interpret for them.
It will be an interesting experience to teach them.

We also had a neat experience to re-teach me, and my companion, the
value of diligent effort. Last week, during planning, we both
distinctly, individually, received the prompting that we should tract
Parkhill, which is an extremely long street in Colusa. So last week,
we tracted there for 2 days and found no one. Even after speding
about 3 hours on the street, we were only half finished. So this
week, when we had time, we continued tracting on Parkhill. On
Wednesday, we planned to tract there for two hours. We got mostly
finished with the street in the two hours and had only one side of the
street for about 5 blocks left. Our next appointment wasn't till
later. So I asked Sister Barfuss if she wanted to just walk back to
the car, or if we should knock back to the car, and finish the street.
She surprised me by saying that we should knock back. She hates
tracting. We still hadn't found anyone to teach on the street, and I
was beginning to think that the Lord was just giving us an excercise
in receiving revelation. We had one door left. And no kidding, that
is where we found a new investigator. At the last door on the street.
After about 6 hours of knocking on that street, we found a wonderful
guy named Ramon who had great questions about the restoration and the
apostasy and the Book of Mormon. We taught him about the Book of
Mormon and committed him to read a few chapters before we come back
this next week. He's excited and wants to know more.

It's just really a testimony to me about the power of revelation. The
Lord really does know each of us personally, and he knows who we are,
what we need, and how to get it to us. Most of the time, the answers
to those prayers come from someone else. Two weeks ago, Heavenly
Father knew that Ramon would need us to knock on his door. So he set
us in motion to be in the right place at the right time. It's
wonderful to be the answer to prayer, and also to see someone else be
the answer to my prayers. I'm so grateful for this experience that
I'm having. To be here, right now, where I know the Lord needs me has
really grown my testimony.

Thanks for everyone, and for all that you do. I love you all like
crazy, and I can't wait to hear from you.

Love, Sister Reid