Well
this week has probably been one of the hardest weeks of my
mission...but
I've never learned so much so fast. Last week while we were weekly
planning, I felt really inspired to set a goal of having 3 baptisms
with Adriana, Melanoa and Heppy. BACKGROUND: Adriana is the 13 yr old
girl who the missionaries have been teaching since April or May and
who's dad finally gave her permission to be baptized a few weeks ago.
Adriana has the purest desire to be baptized...she truly just wants
to be forgiven of the things she's done in the past and be perfectly
clean. She wants to do what she knows will make Heavenly Father
happy. Melanoa and Heppy are sisters and are 12 and 9. They are
members of a less active Tongan family in the English Ward who wanted
sisters to teach them. They were supposed to be baptized about a
month ago but every weekend something has come up...they've moved,
were out of town, their brother had a football game, so on and so
forth. At the beginning of the week, We promised Heavenly Father that
we would do everything we possibly could in our power to make these
baptisms happen. I have never worked so hard or desired to reach a
goal so bad in my life as I did this week. With Melanoa and Heppy it
was really hard because they live farther away and their parents are
never home for us to talk to and their mom works nights. But we tried
every single day...several times a day, to contact their parents.
With their moms difficult schedule we had to find out from her kids
what times she was awake and set alarms sporadically throughout the
day for us to call her. But when We'd finally talk to their mom and
she would tell us that she would get back to us after she talked to
her husband and then never would. It was so frustrating. We kept
planning the baptism like it was going to happen though and had
everything set up but when it came down to it...it wasn't able to
happen. But, because we worked as hard as we did to teach them and
plan their baptism, we were able to
find out the real reason why their parents kept pushing their baptism
back and are able to help them and their family so much better now.
Ok now Adriana. Where do I begin. Well we
have taught Adriana pretty much every single day for the past 2 weeks.
We have talked to her dad whenever we saw him and reminded him about
her baptism. We told him that he could choose whatever hour he wanted
on Saturday from 10am to 9pm to have her baptism and we scheduled it
for 4pm on Sat. So on Saturday morning, as soon as we got back from
Tampa we went and visited Adriana and made sure everything was all
set for her baptism. It was 11am and she was already getting herself
ready for it haha. We made sure everything was all good with her
mother in law to take her and she was like yup! 4pm we will all be
there! 4 pm came around and we were waiting at the church, font
filled, hno chacon dressed in white ready to baptize her, president
and his wife there and no Adriana. We waited anxiously in the parking
lot for 15 minutes until I just decided to go with president and his
wife to Adriana's house to see what was going on. When we got to her
house Hermana Gonzalez ( pres wife) and I walked up and Adriana's
whole family is just running around outside, Adriana is sitting
solemnly inside and her dad is outside working on his car. When we
came up he acted like nothing even happened he just basically said oh
sorry I got busy, I have to fix this right now she can't get
baptized. I said it will only take 20 minutes and I can promise you
this 20 minutes will change her life. He wouldn't budge. We ended up
agreeing on her to be baptized at 830 am the next day on Sunday
(again he chose the time) and when the next morning came around, we
filled up the font, went over to Adriana's house and no one was even
making an effort to go. I guess between the time when I'd talked to
her dad and then, he had made the decision that Adriana was not ready
to be baptized. I felt like someone had stabbed my heart when they
opened the door and said she wasn't going To be baptized. We ended up
talking to her mother in law for a while though and really got to
understand what their concerns were and why they didn't think she is
ready to be baptized. Now we know how to help Adriana better, even
though I'm not really sure how much longer we will be able to teach
her because they are moving. But through all these experiences I
learned that I need to work as if every investigator was going to be
baptized that week. I've
never
worked so hard as I did this week to help bring others to christ, and
in doing so my love for these girls grew so much. I can only imagine
the love that our Savior has for them. And because we set and truly
believed in that goal, I feel like we were able to
accomplish
what Heavenly Father wanted us to. Because of our fasting and prayers
and hard work we were able to discover what these girls and families
really need. I also learned a lot about agency. All that Heavenly
Father has asked us to do is to use our own personal agency wisely.
It's all we can do. I cannot make other people's decisions for them I
can only control my own and my own effort. Even if things don'thappen
the way I want them to, I know that if I can say I did everything I
possibly could, then everything happened the way Heavenly Father
wanted them to and His way and His will and His timing are always
perfect. I was having a hard time after Adriana didn't end up getting
baptized, because I just love her so much and I know this is what she
wants to do and what Heavenly Father wants her to do. But I just had
to come to the realization that God has a plan and it's perfect. I
trust in His wisdom more than my own and know that everything that
happened this weekend is for as Nephi puts it "a wise purpose
that I know not". But even though we didn't not hit that goal
this week, in reality I know that we did because we learned the
things that Heavenly Father wanted us to learn.
-
Also The metro training we had this week in Tampa changed my mission.
It was just 2 days of training from a set of sisters and a set of
elders (elder knowlton was one of them) and maybe 5 or 6 other sets
of missionaries but I learned so so much. We talked a lot about
how
to more effectively study, work with members, teach by the spirit,
and so many other things. I think the power of learning by the spirit
was the most important thing I learned. The Spirit really is how
Heavenly Father communicates with us and teaches us the things we
need to
learn, to become who He wants us to be. I have such a strong
testimony of that.
-
Today was the end of my 3rd transfer in the Mission and with that, I
had to say goodbye to one of my very best friends Hermana Newbill
this morning. She is finishing her mission and will be flying back
home tomorrow. I have been regretting this day pretty much since the
day we got put together. Hermana Newbill is one of the best people,
and best missionaries I will probably ever meet. Words cannot
describe all the things that I learned from her and her example to
me. I know that we were put together for a reason. I wish everybody
had the opportunity to become as good of friends as I have with
Hermana Newbill...everyone's lives would probably be 10 times better.
Man I love that girl so much. My heart is hurting just writing this
so I'm going to stop before I start sweating out of my eyes again.
But yes Hermana Gibson and I will be staying here in Bradenton for
another transfer and I will be finishing training her. I am so
excited to see what this next transfer holds. I love you all and hope
everyone has agreat week, merry almost Christmas!
Love
Hermana Baugh
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