Come FOLLOW me as I FOLLOW Him: Let's play some ketchup shall we?

This week's blog title is specifically for Kaitlin. I sure miss her, but I know she is doing great things while serving the people of Italy.

Well first thing is first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!!! I'm sorry that I didn't send you a card last week. You can expect one this week fo sho. Miss you like crazy homie.

Okay...I can't believe that I spent my last email talking about the bad stuff when there is SO much good to talk about! We have people walking on water over here!!!! Okay so maybe not like our good pal Peter, but they are jumping in it, still a miracle nonetheless.

Every month (I think I have said this before) we meet as a zone and our zone leaders announce the "zone focus" and the action plan to get there. Then we go through each companionship and talk about the investigators that will be baptized that month and set a companionship goal for baptisms and a zone goal for baptisms.

Sister Jin and I have talked a lot about what we want to accomplish this transfer and we are calling for MIRACLES let me tell you. We have a goal of baptizing EVERY week this transfer!

That's practically unheard of, especially in the Corona ward. Remember last transfer? Yeah…we know we are requiring a lot of ourselves. It is only possible for us to meet our goal if we work TWICE as hard as we are already working, but we had a quick companionship inventory and are relying on the Lord for this one.

When it was our turn to set a goal at ZDM (zone development meeting) we said 3 baptisms for November. We knew that we set a higher personal goal, but 3 seemed reasonable and we don't want to let anyone down. So, we knew Justin was getting baptized yesterday and Elizabeth this Sunday, but we had no idea who would be our 3rd, 4th and 5th for the month.

Then like magic it all started to come together...

One of our ward members called us and said that her cousins daughter, Courtney (13 years old) wants to be baptized and just needs to take the discussions....THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN! Courtney doesn't actually live in our ward boundries so there was a teensy little bit of drama about which missionaries were going to teach her.

After everything that had happened lately, I didn't care I just wanted her to be taught and there to be no conflict. After a few days of going back and forth, we were eventually able to teach her and keep her! :) The only fellowship/family that she has is in our ward so it makes the most sense.

Our first lesson with Courtney was a very emotional one for many reasons, but when we told them that not only can we teach her, she can also attend church in this ward, be baptized in this ward and continue to go to church after she is baptized in this ward, she was ELATED! Her and her mom both started crying. I practically cried through the whole thing…tears of happiness, of course. :)

Well very long story short, she is getting baptized on the 17th!! It is the most perfect date for her and for us. :) We are VERY excited!

Still...Sister Jin and I didn't know who else we were going to teach. On Saturday we talked about it and realized that we are going to have to find someone solid this upcoming week or else we wont have a baptism on the 24th because they have to attend church 3 times before they can be baptized.

We were also a bit bummed because we knew we were only going to have 3 investigators at church and we really wanted to hit the standard of excellence this week. We have gotten so close the past few weeks, but always fall short with investigators who attend Sacrament meeting. :(

That night we met as a zone to start our fast together. Our zone goal for baptisms this month is 21 and we all REALLY want to hit it. So, we all fasted for our investigators and that we would find more.

Well, as you all very well know I love fasting and have a HUGE testimony of it... and just when you think it couldn't get any stronger.... :)

On our way to church Sister Jin and I recieved a phone call. It was from Joseph (a former investigator that we dropped) and he asked if we could find him a ride to church! He said that morning he woke up feeling like he wanted to go to church and that he actually felt like he wants to go to church every week...THAT ALSO DOESN'T HAPPEN! So we were SO excited because we had 4 investigators at church!

But wait, that's not all…

There was a family, an older couple (mom and dad) and a younger couple (son and daughter-in-law) sitting in the row in front of us during sacrament meeting, but no one had ever seen them before. The parents got up and bore their testimony and in it included their gratitude for their son (who has been less active) and his wife who is investigating the church!!!

So after the meeting we quickly zoomed around the isle and instroduced ourselves and asked if there was a time this week that we could meet. She said "yes!" and told us that she started taking the discussion in Colorado and was planning a baptism, but moved so it never happened….

Okay fine. We will baptize you. :)

Oh yes, there's more...

Last night at Justin's baptism, well first let me say this…Justin is going to be such a strong member. He does the most missionary work in our entire ward. He is incredible. I have a soft spot in my heart for him. But, he invited EVERYONE he knew to his baptism and so it was PACKED and mostly with non-members!!

Sister Jin, Justin and Nat

One of the very first girls we met was Chance. We had heard from people in the ward that she has asked a lot of questions about the church. So, I asked my sweet friend Amy at the end of the baptism "where is Chance? I want to baptize her?" which she responded "Oh she'd totally let you!" So we have an appointment with her this week! :)

There it is folks. The blessings that come from having an eye single to the glory of God, working with everything you've got and being strictly obedient.

I love this gospel. It is the only way we are really able to get a little taste of heaven here on earth. I mean Lehi even said so! We must partake of the fruit so we can taste of it's deliciousness and then we must share it with others.

I love you all!! I am so grateful for all of your letters and packages and prayers. I promise you they are working!!

xoxo

Sister Nelson

PS. I have thought a lot about the advice that Luke gave me before my mission "if you are not having fun you are doing something wrong". So this week I have really taken it to heart. Each day we have to read 3 pages out of the WHB (white handbook) and instead of reading them, I sing them... Sister Jin loves it. Oh and I also only talk to her in a British accent. It gets quite funny, but today she covered her ears and said "shut up! you are giving me a headache!" hahaha we are having a blast over here. :)