A*y got baptized and it was awesome! The spirit was so strong. Her
husband, N**hi, is a member but wasn't active until A*y started coming
to church but he was able to BAPTIZE A*Y! It was awesome.
Yesterday we felt prompted to go by President A**rus' (he is the first
counselor in the stake presidency which is crazy because he's in his
30's and has 5 kids under the age of 12) home because we had heard
that he was going through some health problems. Foolishly I walked in
thinking that we would go in and help President And**s with what he
was going through. As we sat and talked with P. An**us his children
kept coming in and out and he would let them be loud and jump on him
and he even brushed his little girls teeth for her! Every time that
one of them would come in he would tell them they needed to go to bed
and then he would tell them that he loved them. Then his wife walked
by and announced that she was going to bed. President And**s started
singing all these songs about her butt! Hahaaa. She shouted back,
"sisters, ask him if he knows the words to 'I Am a Child of God'?".
President An**us lovingly said to us, "I do but at least if I sing the
other songs I get a smile out of her". We asked him about
his health and what we could do to help. He responded so humbly by
telling us a little bit about what was going on and said that he
needed to refocus on taking care of himself and his family and that
everything would be okay. He quickly changed the topic of conversation
to missionary work and how we can help the recent converts to stay
strong in the gospel and to continue to progress spiritually. (He is a
seminary teacher and a freaking scripture wizard). He told us that we
could ask him any question that we wanted (which was an answer to my
prayer because I kept coming up with questions to ask him but I didn't
want to be rude and grill him the whole time that I was there). Of
course my first question was how him and his wife met....even though
I'm a missionary, I'm still a girl! Then I asked him " how are you so
in tuned with recognizing he spirit?" Then I asked him how he made his
marriage work? He said "I work at it every day. It is hard but I love
her so much and I make sure that she knows that I love her every day."
He talked about the power of the priesthood in your home. He said
"sisters, I know that you both will go home and get married. I want
you to know that being single is better than settling for someone who
is less than what you deserve. Give your children the power of the
priesthood in your future home." Then he talked about his health
challenges and how one night he went into each of his children's rooms
while they were sleeping and put his hands on their heads and gave
them each a fathers blessing that begged Heavenly Father to give his
children the strength and the ability not to be effected by what he
was going through. He then said, " The priesthood power is a very real
thing but there is no difference in me putting my hands on my
children's heads in the name of Jesus Christ and my wife folding her
arms and praying in the name of Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father hears
both of us." He then shared with us the story of the loaves and the
fishes. He said, "Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fishes and blessed and
brake them and what did that give him to feed the 5,000? It gave them
MORE THAN ENOUGH. Jesus Christ and his mercy always provide us with
more than enough. All of my best effort plus Jesus Christ makes me
more than enough." Then he said, " think about your investigator A*y
who was just baptized and confirmed. Would you ever look at her and
think that she isn't good enough to enter into the celestial kingdom?
NO, because you know that she is doing her best and that Christ will
make up the difference. It is so easy for us to love Christ's
Atonement and to teach people about it yet when it comes down to it
how much do we use it? Sometimes it is so easy to teach and so hard to
do."
I just thought this was one of the most profound conversations that I
have ever had. I know that the Lord is so aware of me because we were
guided to President An**us not so that we could help him but that he
might help us. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and I
am grateful for it every day. I love talking about the gospel and
allowing my testimony to grow every day. I love being a missionary!

A*y's Baptism!!

Exchanges with Sister Mann!!