Message in a Bottle: Alliances With God

Happy Mother's Day! There's not a whole lot to talk about this week, but it was good. Skype with family was fun. Not a whole lot of other news, but I'll give you what I've got.

We started the lessons with the thief's little brother this week. We'll see how that turns out.

I didn't mention this but when we fasted last week we broke it with Nadim*. Nadim says the same exact prayer each time. This time when he broke our fast, he said the exact same prayer as usual, but this time he threw in "Bénis-moi afin que j’arrête toutes les mauvaises choses sur la terre." Best quote!

We taught Aimee, and it was not at all what I was expecting. Not far into the lesson, she interrupted us and brought up baptism again. This time, instead of telling us that she wants to be baptized and asking questions about how she can do it, she just told us that she didn't want to get baptized anymore, that she wanted to keep her religion. If you've been following her progress, you'll know that that is super contradictory to everything that we've done with her. I think she's REALLY scared of her husband and what he'll do if she tries to get baptized. We'll still work with her and try to help her out, but it's not looking too good right now.

This Saturday we had a baptism. Do you remember Luc, the inactive (active now) that we've been working with? We blessed his baby in church, and I baptized his daughter, Tehani* this week. Not a convert baptism, but that doesn't at all mean that it isn't that special or important. The morning of the baptism it started POURING! The ground was completely flooded. We started the baptismal service and the rain and wind only worsened. Then we walked through the rain with umbrellas directly in front of us because the rain was going horizontally. So we were completely soaked long before we entered the lagoon for the baptism. But it all worked out, and the spirit was strong. I almost felt like I was baptized myself. That's just a great feeling.

Early morning before the baptism.

At the baptism

The baptism of Mahana doesn't look completely certain right now. Her husband who is "inactif" just needs to come to church with a tie for a few weeks and then he can get the priesthood. Then he can baptize her. As for her, right now she's afraid of how her family will accept her baptism. She still hasn't told anyone, but she decided (on her own) to fast for help. A real testimony right there. She really wants to do it and sh's praying a ton.

We're also still teaching her brother Taaveti, and I think that her getting baptized will motivate him to do the same. He only needs to pray to know what we're teaching is true, then... baptism!

It's really cool to see some of these people act on their faith and make the changes necessary pour their salvation. It's also really sad to see some investigators release their grip on what they should know to be true and stop progressing. No matter what happens, my testimony doesn't waver. My testimony is only getting stronger that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to the earth to bring to pass the plan for our salvation, that par his Atonement we can recieve salvation and have eternal life, that there's more to life than in between birth and death.

Have a great week everyone! Continue in the faith and don't let go of the iron rod!

Elder Lewis