Well it's certainly been an exciting week! We had a serious heat wave this past week, and since my companion and I didn't have very many teaching appointments, we spent most of the week outside in the heat trying to find people to teach. At first, I was questioning how I would be able to survive the over 100F temps with humidity, but then I realized that at least I'm not in Taiwan where most of my MTC buddies are where the heat is constantly at those temperatures during the summer. I chose to look at the whole situation as a confirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me quite personally and knew that if I was to physically survive my mission I would need a cooler climate. Thank goodness I'm in Canada! Give me cold weather any day! (Remember I said that and remind me when I'm complaining about tracting in blizzards)
But in all seriousness, I have been so grateful this week to my Heavenly Father. Our investigator Gilbert is preparing to be baptized at the end of the week. We have been so excited for him and really amazed at his faith. However, this past weeks he read some confusing information online that twists what we believe and left him a bit questioning his decision to be baptized. My companion and I have been praying all week that we would be able to address his concerns and help him to be able to tell fact from fiction on his own and continue to prepare for baptism. We were pretty nervous to say the least. But this Sunday, God really did answer our prayers. First, in Sacrament Meeting at church, one of the members gave a wonderful talk (sermon for those of you unfamiliar with Mormon lingo) that addressed Gilbert's concerns perfectly. Later, some other members met with him to get to know him better and help integrate him into the ward. He voiced his concerns with them and they talked through them with him. This all, combined with a pre-baptism interview with the Bishop, left Gilbert at the end of the day with faith stronger than I had seen in him before. It was a miracle in so many ways.
Fun story of the week: This story isn't actually mine. It belongs to a member of our ward, but I thought it was great and worth passing on. For the past several weeks, the Hill Cumorah Pagent (a pagent all about the events that take place in the Book of Mormon) has been running in Palmyra, NY, only about an hour and a half from where I live. This was the last week of performances, and a family from our ward went down to see it on Friday evening. As they were leaving, they had to walk through the group of protesters that camp themselves outside of the performance every year. One protester was getting particualrly nasty towards on of the members of this family and then proceeded to yell at him "SHOW ME THE POWER OF YOUR GOD!". No sooner had he spoke, than a huge gust of wind came in and blew over almost all of the protesters tables, signs, etc. Apparently the man looked absolutely shell-shocked. There's a bit of me that really wishes I could have seen his face. What then followed was one of the nastier storms that I've seen in my life (the storm did reach me, as well as the pagent area). Call it an coincidence, or call it a sign from God, but either way, I appreciate the irony and find it an absolutely hilarious story.
Hope each of you has a fantabulous week! Keep cool!
Sister Makena Bauss 包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei
But in all seriousness, I have been so grateful this week to my Heavenly Father. Our investigator Gilbert is preparing to be baptized at the end of the week. We have been so excited for him and really amazed at his faith. However, this past weeks he read some confusing information online that twists what we believe and left him a bit questioning his decision to be baptized. My companion and I have been praying all week that we would be able to address his concerns and help him to be able to tell fact from fiction on his own and continue to prepare for baptism. We were pretty nervous to say the least. But this Sunday, God really did answer our prayers. First, in Sacrament Meeting at church, one of the members gave a wonderful talk (sermon for those of you unfamiliar with Mormon lingo) that addressed Gilbert's concerns perfectly. Later, some other members met with him to get to know him better and help integrate him into the ward. He voiced his concerns with them and they talked through them with him. This all, combined with a pre-baptism interview with the Bishop, left Gilbert at the end of the day with faith stronger than I had seen in him before. It was a miracle in so many ways.
Fun story of the week: This story isn't actually mine. It belongs to a member of our ward, but I thought it was great and worth passing on. For the past several weeks, the Hill Cumorah Pagent (a pagent all about the events that take place in the Book of Mormon) has been running in Palmyra, NY, only about an hour and a half from where I live. This was the last week of performances, and a family from our ward went down to see it on Friday evening. As they were leaving, they had to walk through the group of protesters that camp themselves outside of the performance every year. One protester was getting particualrly nasty towards on of the members of this family and then proceeded to yell at him "SHOW ME THE POWER OF YOUR GOD!". No sooner had he spoke, than a huge gust of wind came in and blew over almost all of the protesters tables, signs, etc. Apparently the man looked absolutely shell-shocked. There's a bit of me that really wishes I could have seen his face. What then followed was one of the nastier storms that I've seen in my life (the storm did reach me, as well as the pagent area). Call it an coincidence, or call it a sign from God, but either way, I appreciate the irony and find it an absolutely hilarious story.
Hope each of you has a fantabulous week! Keep cool!
Sister Makena Bauss 包爱蕾姐妹 Bao Ailei Jiemei