The Things of Most Worth

9/8/14

McKayla's First Baptism! Roxana, and all the missionaries who helped teach her.

Roxana's Baptism - w Hermana Juarez and Hermana Horne!

Roxana's Baptism

McKayla's cool red mission car!

Exchanges with Hermana Durlong.

Thinking of Mom staring at the same great moon.  Awww :)

9/8/14

AHHHH! Roxana got baptized last night! Ah it was the greatest thing! She had been pretty sick all week but she told us Saturday night that nothing was going to stop her from getting baptized. She is awesome.  She was so happy at her baptism. We could tell she was a little nervous, though, but as soon as she came up from the water she had a HUGE smile on her face. Oh it was great. What a good feeling.  

Right before her baptism I had been studying my scriptures and I came across D&C 15:6 which says, "And now, behold, I say unto you, the thing which will be of most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen." What a good scripture.  I love it.  And let me tell you, IT IS SO WORTH IT. All of it... being away from family and friends, the exhaustion, crazy days, all of it is so worth it, just to be able to see the joy the gospel brings to people's lives. I'm so glad I'm here.

We have another investigator, Ruben who is set to get baptized next Saturday, so they announced his baptism at church yesterday. The Stake President was there and spoke at the end, and during his talk he spoke directly to Ruben and told him how great his decision to be baptized was and that he he'll be able to go to the temple someday soon (which is something that Ruben has already asked if he could do... he's so awesome).  Ruben doesn't show a ton of emotion, but when the Stake President was saying that he looked so happy.  It was awesome.  We're so excited for him. 

On a different note, we were at our investigator, Mario's, house the other day and I commented on how I really liked a painting on one of his cabinets.  He said he had done it himself and took us out to the garage and showed us another one and I was basically gawking at it, so he told me I could take it. I was so stoked! He sells these, and granted, it's more of a hobby for him, but still it was super nice of him. So now we have an original Mario Medrano in our room! 

Another cool thing happened earlier this week.  We were talking to people in a parking lot (because we don't go tracting, so this is kind of a substitute for that) and I went up and started talking to a guy who was sitting in his car.  At first he was very non-receptive.  He said he didn't believe in organized religion.  His faith in Christ was just between him and God, which I totally respect. So normally I would have just given him our card and told him to give us a call if he needed anything or knew anyone who would be interested.  But I felt like I shouldn't do that, I needed to talk to him a little more.  So with talking to him I found out that he hated that ministers and pastors get paid for what they do with the offering money that the congregation donates.  I told him about how our church is 100% service paid.  No one gets paid for what they do.  He really liked that. A little bit later he asked me what the difference was between the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  So I told him about it and that in the Bible it says "other sheep I have which are not of this fold" (John 10:16). He agreed and said that it totally makes sense that Jesus wouldn't just visit SOME people on the Earth, he'd want to teach the rest of them too.  So he agreed to have the missionaries come over and talk to him more.  It won't be us teaching him, because he was English-speaking, but it was a really cool experience.  His heart was softened right before my eyes, within a matter of minutes.  It was awesome.

So it's been a good week! I hope everyone at home is doing well:) 

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermana Horne