Family and friends,
So we didn't actually have a crazy amount of lessons. But all the
lessons we did have were super solid. We taught 7 lessons with a member
present this week and 5 of them were in a member's home. We were really
working on reaching our goals and the Lord provided. I've just been
really humbled to be here and present for so many miracles, but there
have also been some let downs that have tested my faith but we've
persevered and grew lots because of it.
First I'll tell you about Kelsey, she's the bomb. She just moved to
Bozeman and a while ago a friend had given her a copy of the Book of
Mormon but she never started reading it until about a month ago. She
wanted to learn more about it so she referred herself to the Belgrade
Elders and they met up with her. They realized she was a YSA so she
passed her on to us and said that if we invited her to be baptized she
would accept. So we met with her on Wednesday and she did! We're working
with her to be baptized on the 4th of March.
When we met with her for the first time she had read all the way
through 1 Nephi and was just getting into 2 Nephi. When we met with her
again on Saturday she'd started plowing through the Isaiah chapters and
is past chapter 15 now! The past 2 weeks she hasn't made it to church
because her car broke down but we've got a ride set up just in case for
this week. She was so upset each week that she couldn't come. But she's
coming to FHE tonight and is super excited to learn more about Family
History work! She said that she's found what she's been looking for. She
says she has a testimony that God exists and that he loves her but she
says, "that doesn't quite do it for me, what do I need to do to show
that I know he exists and that He loves me?!" So she's golden. HUGE
tender mercy watching her conversion to Jesus Christ.
This week we also met Philip which was really bittersweet. We met him
and a bunch of his roommates and the majority of them weren't interested
but as we left we invited them to all read Alma 32. Philip stopped us
as we were headed out the door and opened the Book of Mormon to Alma 32
and asked us what it was all about, so we told him and he promised that
he'd read it! 30 minutes later
we get a text from him saying that he read it and loved it and so much
of it stood out to him because he's always struggled knowing if God was
really there and he felt like it helped him see how he could finally
learn for himself. He asked us how soon we could meet so we set up an
appointment for two days later and also gave him 2 Nephi 31 to read. He
showed up and immediately just asked if we could sit down and start
talking about what he read. Our Ward Mission Leader was there and the
lesson went awesome! He had super powerful questions about what he was
reading and you could tell that the spirit was teaching him things and
helping him understand things we hadn't even mentioned. He said that in 2
Nephi 31 it taught about Christ getting baptized and that he wanted to
do that as well eventually. So we put him on date to be baptized on March 11th!
We were both unbelievably pumped after. Then the next day we get a text
from him and says that he's way overwhelmed with the whole God idea and
wants to pursue it on his own. We were pretty devastated for a while,
and it still bugs me a little, but we learned a lot of lessons from it.
As we knit-picked the lesson we taught we learned some things we could
have improved on but that just got us more down on ourselves. So as we
kept trying to figure it out and kept praying about it we felt like we
had done what we could with what we had and had done it with honest
intent to bring him closer to Christ. My testimony has been strengthened
that this work doesn't happen on my timeline, if it did everyone we met
would get baptized the next day. But the Lord lets events turn out in a
way that will benefit both us and those we teach in the best possible
way. It hurts, but when there's the most opposition there's also the
most room for growth. So I have faith that the Lord will consecrate my
efforts to both of our gain. Also, I realized that Philip didn't cut off
all ties, he just wants to take a break and pursue things on his own.
Since then I have never prayed harder for someone.
Lots of other things happened this week, but overall I'm just so
thankful that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are aware of my exact
situation. So many things this week with MLC and Zone Training truly
humbled and strengthened me. I have lots of room to grow and am so
excited to meet the man my Father in Heaven is trying to help me become.
Elder Tippetts
No comments:
Post a Comment