Well, I've just about finished my first transfer in the mission field. I had my first baptism on Saturday, D. She's 11 and we're hoping to be baptizing her mom soon. I honestly don't really feel like it's my first baptism, but I did get to confirm her (in Spanish!) on Sunday. I didn't get any good pictures, sorry. Next time I won't trust a nine year-old to get me a good picture. :)
After the baptism, we got a phone call. It was a man named A who had just moved into a new house and had found a Restoration pamphlet with our number on it. He'd read some of the pamphlet, liked what he read, but wanted to know who Joseph Smith was. We told him we'd be happy to come over to his house and tell him about Joseph Smith. We did so yesterday with the second counselor in our branch presidency. It was a good lesson and he said he'd read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We're following up with him on Wednesday.
Remember how I told you about Richard a couple weeks ago? He got baptized on Sunday as well. Imagine if we hadn't stopped to talk to him!
Last week I mentioned going to contact a referral (the one with the dogs). When we contacted him, we gave him a Book of Mormon. We finally got to teach him (very briefly) on Saturday, and he'd read the first sixteen chapters! We had forgotten we'd even given him one. He works kind of far away though so he doesn't get home until around 8, and it's been hard to catch them (him and his wife) home on weekends. But they have great potential!
We were hoping to have a baptism this Saturday, but we're not so sure it's going to happen. He's going down to Mexico Sunday night to visit his father who's sick. His family are all members except for his oldest daughter, and we haven't seen her for awhile. I think she's a way working or something. And he has been progressing very well. The only problem is that he's been having a struggle with drinking. When we found out a couple weeks ago that he would be going to Mexico for most of March, we decided to set the goal of having him be baptized on March 2. But he couldn't drink at all for the two weeks before that date. Yesterday, we went over to their house to have a Family Home Evening, but he was in the other room talking to his dad and we didn't get to see him. My companion saw a beer on their kitchen table. O has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He's seen how the gospel has affected his family, and he has expressed a desire to be baptized. He went to the baptism on Saturday, and he really just needs to overcome this last obstacle. Please pray for him. He needs Spiritual strength, especially as he visits Mexico these next three weeks.
We're also teaching a lady named E and her two children. E was going to be baptized 10 years ago, but her husband wouldn't let her. She's no longer married to him, and we're hoping to baptize their family on the 9. They let us confiscate their coffee, they've been going to church and reading in the Book of Mormon, and we're having dinner with them tonight with our Branch President. I'm excited!
I wanted to quickly share something from my personal study the last couple days. I started studying about hope. We always hear about faith, hope, and charity, but hope seems to be fairly ignored, probably for a couple reasons. For one, we see hope and faith as basically the same, and for another, in our daily use of the word hope, it holds a lot of doubt. Here's an interesting thing. In Spanish, the verb "to hope" is "esperar." That also means, "to expect." Esperanza, the word for hope, is also "expectation." And so it is in the scriptures. Hope is not a doubtful thing. Quite the opposite. Hope is a certainty, an expectation for the promises of God to be fulfilled. Faith is believing that God CAN answer prayers. It's believing that it's possible to go to the Celestial Kingdom, to speak by the Spirit, to work miracles, or to be forgiven of sin. Hope is to expect those things. When we don't have hope, we're in despair. Preach My Gospel says hope is manifest in confidence, enthusiasm, and optimism. You cannot have hope without faith, but I believe that you can have faith without real hope. However, strong faith is always accompanied by hope, by that expectation in God's promises. The scriptures talk about "a lively hope" or a "perfect brightness of hope." And how do we develop hope. Read Alma 22 and you'll have an idea. It comes through repentance, prayer, and study of the scriptures. And then, when we have faith and hope, when we know that we have a remission of sins and we will inherit Celestial Glory, then it is so much easier to develop charity and a desire for all men to have that same hope that you have attained.
The Apostle Paul always ended his letters saying something like, "May the grace of God be with you" or something about grace. I think I'm going to end mine with hope.
Keep your hope burning bright,
-Elder Ryan Lofthouse-
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