Transfer 7

January 21, 2014

First of all, Happy Birthday yesterday to Alex!! Glad to hear it went well, I was excited to say it on his actual birthday but we forgot the library would be closed.
It's the last week of the transfer which s really weird but last time I talked to President he said there's not much use in making me learn a new area when we're not sure how much longer I'll be here.

The Baptism on Saturday was fantastic. There weren't many people that came but it didn't make a difference. Alice is just the funniest, we had to stop on the way to the font to say one last prayer. We chose two of the biggest guys in the ward to baptize her- at her request, and they did such a good job. We left the doors closed until she was in because it was a little bit of a struggle because she's scared of heights, like when she was a kid she would walk/crawl backwards down hills.. So with the two mens help we got her in and then she was so nervous, it was the loudest baptism I've ever heard with the deep breathing and whimpering, but she was holding it together really well. (After they said they could hear us laughing behind the closed doors but what can you do, she's funny! As she felt how warm the water was she said, "I'm gonna pee!") Then they got her dunked and she was out of the font in no time, she moved up those steps faster than we've ever seen her move. We got to stay in the back with her while she changed and it was really cool we kept asking her how she felt and all the could say was, "I feel great! I don't know how else to say it, I feel great!" Then at one point we were all just quiet and she said, "Before you ladies came to my door..." and then didn't say anything! But the spirit came in the room SO STRONG! It was really cool. The confirmation went really well too, no broken down cars this time. It was a moment where the Spirit didn't necessarily burn, but everything felt right in the world, it was peaceful.

Sister Gatlin who I always talk about got up the courage to talk to Bishop on Wednesday and then got her Patriarchal Blessing on Sunday!! So happy for her! She will never stop telling the story about how the first time the missionaries came to her door she hid, but the second time she let them in and how grateful she is that they didn't give up on her. There was a talk a few weeks ago about how that's the same for home and visiting teaching.

So we have been working a lot with Johnny, he is actually letting us come over twice a week (ideally we would be going over more than that) and Toni (his wife) said he hasn't let any missionaries do that since the first two that almost got him baptized the first time. He has really been changing, he is more sure than he has ever been. The phone call has been made for the guy (an old missionary) come down and baptize him. We are going for Feb 1st. It was a HUGE turn around, first he wouldn't pick a date, and then he picked end of March. It came down to just helping him learn the relationship between us and our Heavenly Father and the ultimate goal in this life, to return to Heavenly Father. After he expressed how he really wants to be with his family forever! Yayyyy!

We are going to have to do loooots of tracting now that Alice is baptized, so if you pray for us, pray for us to find the elect please.

Ohh one more thing. We have been meeting with this lady since I got here and at first we thought she wasn't a member and then found out she was excommunicated and it's been crazy. She is really big on angels and talks always about how her ancestors are trying to talk to her and I have shared with her so many times the spirit of Elijah scriptures and finally this week she was like, I got it! It's all about Genealogy! They want their work done! I was just really glad we didn't give up on her. She's coming back around. She will want to do the work for them herself in no time.

Okkkk welp I hope everything is going well! Talk to you next week! 

Love y'allllll,

Sister Stevens