KELLY! I got your letter. And your pictures! Reegan is SOOO cute. I can't wait to meet her, and I loved your letter. I can't believe I have not received so many letters from you! Sorry to call you out on my blog, but desperate times call for desperate measures...right? I love you! Can’t wait to see you and Reegan in person! Love you! Miss you!
And I’m super excited to see Kristy. She just sent me a letter, and it was good. I hope she is well. I’ll write her back ideally today. We’ll see if I have time.
We’ll be hanging out with the Tufts today. Ha-ha, I love them. And you'll LOVE them. She is just like you. Quilts and everything! She is like Aunt Christine too. A mix of you two.
Samuel’s room looks GREAT! That’s awesome that you have that room for sewing. What a good thing. That room was useless with two beds in it. So there you go!
Jacket potatoes.... mmmm! I love them. They are great here. I’m excited for when I get home, the salsa. I have to be honest, the salsa here isn't great. I haven't found cilantro ever while I’ve been here. Weird, right? Oh well. Such is life.
We have worked SUPPPPPER hard this week. And it's been AWWWEEEESSSSOOOMMMMEE¬!!!!! This week has seriously been the best.
We’ll start with the best thing. MAH! He got baptized 23 July 2011, and we are THRILLED. Seriously. Thrilled. It was an incredible baptism. So powerful. Neither one of us gave talks. Mah chose everything in the program without us, and he asked us to do a musical number. So sister baker and I did an arrangement with piano and violin of Be Still my Soul. It was beautiful. I wrote a part for the violin...kinda a descant for one of the verses. It took forever without a piano with us, but it was wonderful! It sounded really great, and I’m proud that I was able to write something that actually sounded good! fabulous. And the whole baptism just went great. A great turnout. president and sister Ogden came, and so did the AP's and so did about 4 other sets of missionaries...all with investigators. And Mah just shone. He was SO happy. I’m so excited for him. And he just loved it, and it's something he's been waiting for for SO long. It’s been about four months since we first started teaching him, and he wanted to get baptized since the second week I think. Since then, he's progressed dramatically, and his English has really improved. It’s wonderful!
Then on Sunday, the confirmation was amazing. He was so happy. I thought he looked happy before, but after receiving the Holy Ghost, he literally glowed. He’s changed, and he's all over a happier and more peaceful person. I didn't even think that was possible. Mah is awesome, and he will do great things. Last night, he showed us a letter that he wrote in April and was going to give us, but after praying about it for about a day, God told him not to give it to us. And the letter was a letter telling us that he didn’t' want to meet with us anymore. I’m so glad he prayed about it! And he continues to pray all the time, and listens for the answers, and then follows them. He is an example to me.
So that's the biggest news of the week. It was completely wonderful!!!
But other wonderful things happened this week as well. We’ll start with Monday and work through.
Monday: Marcela got surgery on her nose, because she had a cyst in her nose, and so she got it removed. So she has to be home from work for a month. Normally, she never stops working, so this is a really good opportunity for us to be able to help her, and to teach her more. Because she has to be home! So she had that.
And then that night, we had a lesson with Mah, and his friend Hadi. We watched the Lamb of God with them, and then at the end of the lesson were leaving the church, and Hadi asked when he was going to get baptized. We thought he was joking because he has barely been taught anything, but he wasn't. So we said that we have to teach him more, and then he can decide. But we set a tentative date. He can't really set a date until he talks to president and has an interview with him. But at the baptism, he talked to president for a bit, and he told president that he wants to get baptized, so that was exciting. I think president will come to interview him in a week or two. But Hadi is great, and has really seen a difference in Mah through the gospel, and Mah has been teaching him, and still teaches him. Mah is awesome, I tell you! So that was exciting!
Tuesday through Thursday: helped Marcela A LOT. It was good for her, because she kept getting out of bed to do housework, and to cook and stuff, but it just made her feel worse. So we were there to help with all that. Which was good.
Friday: was AWESOME. Well, actually I started out in a bad mood, and I didn't really know why. It wasn't normal. I was trying to figure out why I wasn't happy, and then the rest of the day, miracles came left and right. I figured out that Satan was just trying to bring us down, and not listen to the Spirit. But I got out of it, and the rest of the day went GREAT. We had a lesson with Bureh and his family. Bureh is the one from Ghana, who is really cool. Since our last meeting, he has read and prayed, and has felt good about it all. And then at the end of our lesson (the plan of salvation) Sister Baker and I both felt prompted to invite him to baptism. He said that it's something he would like to do. He is going to be able to not work Sundays after this month, and will work towards 10 September! We are thrilled! But he's set for the tenth. We are thrilled! In honor of Benjamin Clarks birthday! We'll have a baptism.
Well, actually two on the tenth...because after Bureh's appointment, we went to Sister Blair's house. She is the grandmother of Sarah Hamilton, the sister who served in Oakland that thinks she knows papa. Anyways, we were teaching her the plan of salvation, and at the end, we talked with her about how baptism is such a critical step to gaining salvation. We talked with her a bit about it, and then invited her to get baptized. This time it was different, and she said that she thinks she can do that. And that she feels good about everything. But that she'll pray about it to make sure. At the end of the lesson, she gave the most amazing prayer. It was so heartfelt and sincere, and it was just really good. We are thrilled for her. And she's going to be baptized on the 10th of September too!
And then of course, Saturday was amazing. Mah was baptized. Hadi wants to get baptized. All was well and happy. Everyone was thrilled for him!
Tuesday through Thursday: helped Marcela A LOT. It was good for her, because she kept getting out of bed to do housework, and to cook and stuff, but it just made her feel worse. So we were there to help with all that. Which was good.
Friday: was AWESOME. Well, actually I started out in a bad mood, and I didn't really know why. It wasn't normal. I was trying to figure out why I wasn't happy, and then the rest of the day, miracles came left and right. I figured out that Satan was just trying to bring us down, and not listen to the Spirit. But I got out of it, and the rest of the day went GREAT. We had a lesson with Bureh and his family. Bureh is the one from Ghana, who is really cool. Since our last meeting, he has read and prayed, and has felt good about it all. And then at the end of our lesson (the plan of salvation) Sister Baker and I both felt prompted to invite him to baptism. He said that it's something he would like to do. He is going to be able to not work Sundays after this month, and will work towards 10 September! We are thrilled! But he's set for the tenth. We are thrilled! In honor of Benjamin Clarks birthday! We'll have a baptism.
Well, actually two on the tenth...because after Bureh's appointment, we went to Sister Blair's house. She is the grandmother of Sarah Hamilton, the sister who served in Oakland that thinks she knows papa. Anyways, we were teaching her the plan of salvation, and at the end, we talked with her about how baptism is such a critical step to gaining salvation. We talked with her a bit about it, and then invited her to get baptized. This time it was different, and she said that she thinks she can do that. And that she feels good about everything. But that she'll pray about it to make sure. At the end of the lesson, she gave the most amazing prayer. It was so heartfelt and sincere, and it was just really good. We are thrilled for her. And she's going to be baptized on the 10th of September too!
And then of course, Saturday was amazing. Mah was baptized. Hadi wants to get baptized. All was well and happy. Everyone was thrilled for him!
And then Sunday! Mah was confirmed. And it was an amazing confirmation. The blessing he was given talked about missions, and temple marriage. And I felt the spirit so strong throughout it, I really feel like he is going to stay strong. I’m so excited to see where Mah's life goes. He’s going to do great things.
Then Sunday night, we went to Marcela’s house. We sat with her, and read some scriptures with her in Czech, and then asked her to explain them. This was about baptism and everything. Then she was quiet. She looked at me, and said, why do you want me to be baptized? Before I answered, she answered her own question and said "you want me to be happy". I said yes, and I know this is the way that she'll be the happiest. If she really puts her life into the gospel. Really LIVES it. Reads and prays every day. When she LIVES the gospel, she will be happy. Then she asked "what do I have to do before I get baptized? I already just quit smoking. I’ll stop drinking coffee and tea. What else?" We told her we just have to teach her everything and that she has to read and pray about it. Then she said, "I want to get baptized before you leave". So we set 15 October. Woo hooo! That’s Taylor's (Chinese) date as well! So now we have 4 solid people with a baptismal date, and Hadi who wants to have one. We are SOOOO blessed.
Basically, life on a mission is great. Things are going so good, and I just DO NOT want to leave Harborne! At all!!! We have transfers next week, so I won't be emailing until Wednesday. But I really hope we both stay here. There are so many things happening in the upcoming 2 transfers. I hope the Lord thinks I should stay here! Ha-ha.
Overall. Life is GOOD. This gospel is TRUE. And I am so HAPPY! I’m so grateful for the week. And I hope this next week proves to be just as good!
I love you so much! Thanks for everything. Thank you for your prayers, and all you do. I love you DEARLY!!!
Love HUPDARO
SISTER Annie CLARK!
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