Mon, October 11, 2010 5:27:37 PM
This week we baptized a teenager named Alexandra. When we first met with her we promised that if she did all of her part, she would be ready to be baptized on the 16th. Things were going well and she had a lot of hope but then issues happened with her family. They wouldn´t allow her to be baptized in the church and a lot of other stuff like that. Then later she cancelled all of this week before her date for other reasons and stuff and though we had an appt with her for Friday, we had eliminated her in our minds as a valid option for this Saturday. We were more thinking.. someday soon maybe then, and we had forgotten the promise we´d made. Friday she didn´t have time for a lesson and an interview so our district leader Elder Clark went ahead and interviewed her. And still at this time I had no idea what was going on - after all, it was all in Spanish. I thought that he was just touching base with her to see if we would be able to continue to have lessons with her. Up till about the last 5 minutes of the interview, it wasn´t happening. Then they prayed and guess what? She got her answer. She was to be baptized at 2 o´clock the next day; we were so excited and peaceful at the same time, humbled cuz the Lord taught us a lesson - to have faith in Him and the fact that He fulfills promises. He had prepared her just in time to be baptized. But then.. the baptism was cancelled and postponed for the next day. I wondered why the Lord would have it that way.. one day off? I settled that maybe it was just His will and perhaps it was just the being ready, not actually the ordinance itself. So we go off to other investigators, kind of bummed a little bit but still feeling good that she would be baptized Sunday. We had just made an appt with one of our other investigators when one of our ward missionaries comes running up ¨Hermanas! Alexandra is in the church right now and so is Mosiah! (<-- the teen to baptize her) It´s time to baptize right now!´ (In Spanish of course). And so we run to the church, put together a program with the youth that were there for mutual, and she was baptized. On the 16th. Lesson 2. I felt bad for forgetting the Lord.. a second time. He works in mysterious ways, always with purpose. I am thankful for His patience in me and for the opportunity to be taught every day.
Today I´m going to talk just a second about faith. Yes, you´ve probably heard it all, but oh well. Tough cookies. Go Facebook or something if you don´t want to hear it. We´ve been teaching many who are waiting for a sign to be baptized. This reminds me of something I heard in the MTC, talking about Jesus Christ, ´He asked me to come to the edge, and I wouldn´t. He asked me again to come to the edge, and I still wouldn´t. He asked me to come to the edge once more, and I did. And He pushed me. And I flew.´ There are many things we´ve learned about faith this week. None of it is new, but it has given us a new level of testimony in this principle. Faith is a principle of action. We know through the scriptures that testimonies don´t come until after a test of our faith (Ether 12:6). There are many scriptures and words of prophets that testify of this. So what are we waiting for? We have to act according to our faith so that the Lord can trust us with His mysteries - so that we can receive personal revelation and be guided in our difficulties. The Lord will help us, but do you think He should just reveal everything to someone who won´t even do anything to seek Him?
We are saved by the grace of God, but only after we have done everything we can do (1 Nephi 25:23), not through our words only or stagnant belief. And so I hope to encourage those out there to not just wait for things to come your way. Acting in faith is like a catalyst for bringing happiness faster. And we are that we might have joy. Most of the time we probably aren´t going to realize all the things the Lord´s done for us until afterwards. I know that if we walk by faith and trust in the promises the Lord has given us, the Lord will bless us beyond what we can comprehend. And after you receive an answer, trust the Lord. He will see it through.
Love you all!
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