Rachel = baptized!

Aloha. This week was pretty crazy. Lots of good things and lots of less than good things happening. The rough parts weren't anything to be worried about though. We just had some rough experiences with investigators. You probably remember me telling you about the guy calling us up a few weeks ago saying he wanted to be baptized. There really was only one thing that could have gone wrong, and it ended up happening this week. When he was meeting with missionaries a few months ago, he was set for baptism but he had some complications with his girlfriend, and then some more issues came when she left him. That's basically what ended his contact with the missionaries. And when he called us up about a month ago, all of that was out of the picture. but a few days ago, from out of nowhere she came back into the picture, and we've lost contact with him since. his baptism was set for this weekend coming up. so that was a big disapointment this week for sure. but hey, the church is still true.

and the work rolls forward. this week Rachel was baptized! woot woot. it was great. it has been a very humbling experience to work with Rachel at times. i've probably told you a little about her, i think we talked about her on the phone on mother's day. but if you remember kristena who was baptized a couple months ago (kristena had lost her parents in the car crash), rachel is a close friend of kristena and that family. so rachel had always sat in on our lessons with kristena because there's always a ton of people at the house. after kristena's baptism, we asked rachel what her thoughts have been about everything that had been happening and what we had been talking about. she said she felt like it was from god and wanted to strengthen her relationship with God, but didn't think her family would be very supportive. but the turning point was when kristena spoke at a mission fireside last month about her conversion story, rachel was really inspired. and the next time we went over, she had told us that she told her mom she wants to get baptized. her family was not happy. they basically disowned her and kicked her out of the house (she's 21). so it was rough, it broke her heart, but incredibly she never let it slow her down. she knew what she wanted and was going for it. it was faith-building for me to see, and i'm sure it only solidifies everything for kristena's own testimony and the rest of the family. it was a great baptism service, and she asked me to do the confirmation yesterday in sacrament meeting. that was my first time doing a confirmation. it was very special.

so all things considered it was a great week. another highlight was that i went to young womens this week for the 3rd hour of church. we're still working with elizabeth (she's the girl who came up to us at the end of cyaira's baptism and said she wants to be baptized), she's doing incredibly well. but she wanted someone to stay with her in young womens to help her get to know some more of the girls. so elder barfuss and i went with her (he's from the other companionship in the ward). it was weird. i felt out of place. i felt....pretty? nevermind. it was weird though.

well that's about it for the week. hope everyone's doing great. don't forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers every day!

much love,

elder lamb