I am here again sitting in the Papakura Internet cafe and happy as can be. I am a servant of Jesus Christ what more can a guy (Elder) ask for? This week has definitely been one of miracles and blessing which come only through obedience, hard work, and a complete love for the people. James was able to baptize his 2 children. What a great blessing it was to see a man that was in the font just 2 weeks prior now preforming the sacred ordinance that he was a part of. It was a moment to remember and one that is in my journal (that is for mom and Estee). Also I had the privileged of baptizing Jacob Aurthur Francis Dyer-Wright St. Clair, yes that is his full name and it was a mouth full to say, but worth it!!! He is doing very well and we just pray that the ward will welcome all of them with open arms and continue to take care of him long after we are gone.
Aunt Cassie I love Tongan people that is great that you have one in your ward serving they are usually humble and very spiritual!!! Tell him I love him as a fellow servant of Christ!!! What is his name? Estee I am interested to see where your new job will take and lead you. Mary-Kate thanks for the email and I love and miss you both as well, but I am glad that things are going well. Keep Hughie in line for me and remember when I come home it's back to having an extra mouth at your house hahah or maybe two ;)
Now I want to share a MIRACLE of all MIRACLES. So Saturday after the baptism my companion and I were at the redhill elders flat eating dinner, and as we were leaving my companion said lets go see IRI (iddy). So I said ahh yepp sounds good. We went and she invited us in. We began asking questions, and following up with her prayer and her reading. She had only prayed and miss placed her Book of Mormon. So we asked her a few bold questions like "What do you expect to get out of us coming around, and When you know what we teach is true what will you do." With a puzzled look she couldn't really answer. I then asked her what is in her head what is troubling you with what we teach. She explained that she can not believe that God has a body and that he is our father. After showing her 10 plus scriptures out of the Old Testament she still wasn't picking up what we were throwing down so to speak. The reason we were using the old Testament is because she is Islamic and they don't believe that the New Testament is correct. I then Had a prompting that came like a baseball bat to the face. "Elder What are you doing she needs a testimony of the Book of Mormon not of the bible" I then redirected the con\versation to how did you feel when you prayed she said nothing really. My companion then noticed where I was going so we taught her the steps of prayer and said ok now we are going to get on our knees and you will please offer the prayer and ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is true. She said ok very nervously. They we asked why is it important to you to know that the Book of Mormon is true. She said, "It it is true then Joseph Smith is a prophet, and what you teach me is true." We were blown away. Before we had her pray I bore the most humble spiritual testimony that I could, and then said ok now pay attention to how you feel. She began her prayed asked to know the truth said amen, and we all sat there in silence the spirit literally was like a fire burning!!! We asked how do you fel she said relief and complete peace. What does that mean to you, we asked. She said I know that it's true, I know what you are teaching is true. It was a MIRACLE. God will fulfill his promises if we pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We then talked about how Christ was baptized and asked if she felt it was important to follow his example she said yes and then we committed her to be baptized on April 10th she agreed, and we closed with prayer and left. We got in the car and were screaming the whole way home. Talk about fill with gratitude for Heavenly father first giving us the prompting to go and then the words and promptings of what to say and do. I know he ALWAYS fulfills his promises, but we must do our part. When we got back to the flat we called President Porter and his wife to tell them about it and the 3 baptisms, and they were very happy President then said ok Elder that is a good start now go get to work. HAHA I love the strong relationship I have with him and the way that he pushes me to do hard things!!! He was worried as well about her being Islamic, because if they are Islamic by culture we can't baptize them, because our lives will be at risk, but she is only by religion so all is well no worries!!!
Family and Friends I leave you with my testimony of this great and Eternal work. It is the Lords work and his is with us day in and day out as we do all we can. Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet of God, and "he has done more save Jesus Christ than an other man to bring about the salvation of Souls." We have evidence of his work or fruite of him. IT is the Book of Mormon which he translated by the power of God. The Church of Jesus Christ was restored through him with the same power that Christ apostles had the Priesthood. What a blessing it is to have that power and Authority in our Church. What a time to be alive, and to be a missionary. I love yous all I pray for you and as Aunt Cassie said I am doing so well because I have so many people praying for me. Thanks for all the love and Support have a great week, and have some Mexican food for me!!! I love yous!!!
--
Elder Matthew Lee Stucki N.Z.A.M
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.JPG)
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment