The 11+ Miracle Baptism and Sisters Rock Out in the Trail Center

Dear Family,
Love you!
This week has been a pretty good one. I think that I am pretty much adjusted back to being a Trail Center Leader companion. Sister Watson (Elder Watson’s wife) was telling us a while ago that in her mission call letter it says "You are called to be wife.". That is her calling in the mission, to be wife to the Trail Center Director. That is kind of what I feel my calling is to be right now: companion. And that’s fine.
So, this last week I had my first official baptism! The funny thing about saying that is that no one baptism can really be labeled as my baptism or their baptism. It seems like missionaries try to do that a lot. Really the only difference is when you actually get to count the baptism in your numbers. Every baptism comes as the result of many different people's influence and input, even many different missionaries. You have the missionaries, the ward leaders, ward members, people who come on teams ups, people they meet at church, friends, etc. Even within the missionary category, you may have more than one set of missionaries who teach them because of transfers of exchanges, they probably have come to the Trail Center and another sister has taken them on a tour, etc. There are so many involved and each one can have such a great effect that it would be easy to count every baptism as "yours". That is one thing that I love about the Trail Center. our circle of influence becomes much greater when we not only get to teach and inspire and bless those in our area, but also investigators that missionaries bring to the Trail Center, members that are travelling through, nonmembers that come into the Trail Center, etc. It is great! I love it!

The main focus of our time this last week has been preparing Katie, Lindsey, and Samantha for their baptism on Saturday. Katie is the mom, Lindsey just turned 12 this last week, and Sammy is 9. We definitely felt the pressure of making sure that they were really ready for this step and prayed many times about whether we should postpone it to give them more time to really gain a deep conversion, but over and over we felt that they were ready.

Katie and the girls had an awesome baptism on Saturday. We were able to see many, many miracles that made everything work out that day. There were so many that I made a list of them:

1. We didn't have any baptismal records, but were able to break into one of the other sister's apartments (after much effort) and get some.

2. We needed keys to our church building for the interviews and were able to find the Lakeview sisters and borrow their keys.

3. We got to the interviews 7 minutes early

4. Katie and Lindsey and President Kuntz were in a little room in the building with the door closed and we had no idea they were there, but we found them!

5. Everyone passed their interviews!

6. A man walked into the church building and asked if he could rent the building for birthday party. We took his info and called him later to tell him you have to be a member to use the building. He said "Well how do I become a member". Ha ha. We are going to teach him in a few days.

7. Lindsey was at a friend’s house when she was supposed to be being interviewed because of some poor communication, but we were able to find her and she was interviewed

8. Our ward mission leader fed us lunch! Yum!

9. We were able to find enough baptismal jumpsuits for everyone

10. The font finished filling up 5 minutes before the baptism

11. We needed to get into the library to copy the programs, but didn't have keys for the library. A man randomly showed up with keys 15 minutes before the baptism.

There were more miracles, but I am running out of time to write them :)

It was amazing to see how Katie and the girls changed so much in that last week before their baptism because of the atonement. Their baptism was a very powerful experience for them and they are so excited to be members of the church. They were so excited that when we came out of the building after the baptism, they were yelling "We're Mormon!"

It is amazing to see how individuals can change and what they power of the atonement can do. It truly blesses lives. On Sunday, they were confirmed and Katie and Samantha bore their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting. We were a little nervous because Katie tends to be a bit of a talker, but they both bore beautiful, powerful testimonies. It was probably the most rewarding part of their baptisms, along with standing with them next to the font as they came out of the water, so happy and united as a little family. It was a great experience.

So, wow. What a crazy week. I spent most of the rest of it on exchanges with Sister Pinchak, going between our two areas. But, it was a fun week. We enjoyed it!

Love you!

Love,

Sister Melly