Tomorrow Marks 3 Months!!! What?!

All of the Kersey's have been baptized now :) Wednesday evening we all met at the church at 5. Selena had her interview at about 5:15 and everything went well. Then Latasha and Selena went and got in their baptism clothes. Because it was so last minutes we decided to just do family. We had an opening prayer but no songs or talks. Selena was baptized first and it was so great! I was so glad i was able to be there to see her take that step. She was radiating with light and happiness after the baptism. The best part was she noticed it. I am so proud of her. After Selena's baptism Latasha got in. Latasha is their 8 year old daughter who was afraid of the water last Sunday and didn't get baptized. At first she realllly didn't want to be baptized. She was crying and telling her dad she didn't want to do it. So she went back in the bathroom and talked with her mom for a good 15 minutes and she still didn't want to do it. So we closed the doors to the font and let her talk to her dad. For another 15 minutes they talked and they had her swim around in the font to try and get use to the water. By that time she still didn't want to do go through with it so we were about to let the water out and she was leaving the font. Then she turned around and said she was ready. We opened the doors and her dad said the prayer. Instead of dipping her back like we usually do, he placed his hand on her shoulder and she just went under the water. It was so great to see the smile on her face as she came up out of the water. The whole family start clapping! It was just a really good day :)

Thursday we had interviews with President. I love him and sister McDonough! They really are my parents out here. Each transfer president has asked us to pick a Christlike attribute to work on and this transfer the whole mission is working on Faith. So every night we are to study faith for 5 minutes. We also made goals with him that will help us increase our faith. Our goal is 300 baptisms for the year and we need 50 more. If we have the faith and dedication to work I know we will be able to make it! 

So it is a new rule that sisters cannot be on bikes after dark. But that doesn't mean we can just go inside and not work when it is dark. Which is hard because it gets dark at 5:30 now. We talked to president about it and asked if we could do more service. We are limited to 4 hours a week. But he said it would be fine. So this week we have been working on decorations for the ward Christmas party. It has been fun! 

It is very rare that we receive referrals but Wednesday night we got one! Before we left the church someone called the church. We didn't answer it but someone else who was there did. It was a man who lives in Arkansas. He has a friend here in New Boston who is looking for a church and so he suggested our church. His friend agreed to check it out and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We got his information and went and visited Friday. He is a really nice guy! He said that he has had a lot of interaction with LDS people and they never matched up with what he heard on the tv so he wanted to know for himself. His first interaction with someone who was LDS was with missionaries. He use to drive for Grey Hound buses and some elders were driving next to him and drifted into his lane and hit his bus! Kind of crazy. But we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon asked him to read the introduction and then asked if we could come back and teach him. He was really excited for us to come back! We invited him to church but he had a doctors appointment and wasn't able to make it but he said he will be there for sure next week. We are meeting with him again tonight. 

Waiting for a ride. :)

Sunday was a really good day! The Kersey's were on time to church and had all the paperwork they needed. Bishop did all the confirmations. I love listening to the words they say. I took notes so they can remember what was said. For Sunday school we got to teach the teenagers because their teacher didn't show up. It was quite interesting. Me and sister Brog both said we hope that our attention span at that age was longer then their's was. But i doubt it haha After church we taught the Kerseys. They are so awesome! They brought two friends with them to church. Lucy is 15 and Christina is 11. Both of them have attended other churches and i asked them if they thought there was a difference. Both of them said there was! They like the feeling they get when they are at our church. We are going to the Kersey's Wednesday night and we invited them to be there so we can start teaching them! 

I am so thankful for this gospel and the knowledge i have had my whole life. I was thinking a lot about those who have been able to get baptized since i have been out. All of them are still kids and that really made me nervous. One of my biggest fears is that those i baptized won't stay active in the church and it made me even more nervous that they were kids. Were they really ready?? Then i was reading in 3 Nephi 17 today and Christ has all the children come unto him. There was a quote from my study book that brought me a lot of comfort. "Let us not underestimate the capacity and power of today's children to perpetuate righteousness. No group of people in the church is as receptive to the truth." Just because they are children doesn't mean they are less likely to keep those promises. 

I also read in Alma 32 when I was studying faith and some of my favorite scriptures are in that chapter. Verses 26-27 are the best!! We just need to build on the things that we already know to be true. If we have faith and apply the principles of the gospel, that is when we gain our testimony. The Holy Ghost will testify to us whether the seed we plant is good or bad. 

I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves us individually! Don't ever forget that. Love you all!!

Sister Erika Kelly