Hey Family!
Well the baptism for Ashley went really well this Saturday! We had a good turn out and everything went smooth. Her dad, who is inactive for work reasons, was able to be there also, which was really good. He wasn’t able to baptize her but he was still able to be there to support his daughter. I will make sure to attach a couple of pictures down yonder.
One other highlight of the baptism was the Hermana Gladis was able to be there. We are still teaching her but we have backed off of teaching everything with a baptismal date. Rather we have invited her to go to the temple with us so that she can get her own answer. Where better to get your answer then in the temple. The percentage of investigator who go the temple and then later get baptized are really high. This last week we have taught her a little about what is the temple using the bible. We also read the book of Jonah with her. The short and sweet version is that he is commanded to go and cry repentance to the city of Nineveh or they would be destroyed for their wickedness. He doesn’t want to so he flees. He is in a boat fleeing when a huge storm starts. The other people in the boat tell Jonah to start praying also, but he tells them that he is the reason for the storm and that they should throw him overboard, so they do. He gets eaten by a whale then spit out. Being humbled he goes to the city of Nineveh and preaches repentance and the people believe and they are spared. Then Jonah is angry with God for sparing the people and not destroying the city. This short book mentions the temple a couple of times and we learn the importance of doing what the Lord says to do when he says it. Or, if she does receive and answer in the temple she needs to follow it.
Jose and his family are progressing well, it is kinda hard to find all of the family in the house at the same time to be able to teach them all at once. They are planning on coming to one of the sessions of general conference with us this Sunday.
It also looks like Rafael will be going to the temple with us. He did talk to his pastor this last week, his pastor told him to think about how many years he has in the same church and how God is not a toy. But he still wants to receive his answer.
We have also started teaching somebody named Josefa who is the “girlfriend” of an inactive member named Francisco. We had taught Josefa a little about a month and a half ago without seeing any progress so we dropped her. Then two weeks ago they showed up in church together with the desire to get married and return to church. She wants to hear more and has desires to be baptized! They want to be able to go the temple also on the 13th of this month when we go as a ward. We are seeing more and more of the Lord’s miracles. We have also been teaching a kid named Axel, he is the son in an inactive family that we are working with. He has gone to church twice but it is still a little hard to get his mom to come around to the idea of going to church again. His dad died or was killed in the somewhat recent past. So, we are putting the goal for him and his mom that if she is reactivated and he is baptized they can go to the temple together and he can do the baptismal work for his dad.
Moses 1:20 Says, “And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.” That God of glory is our Father in Heaven. No matter the temptations or difficult times that we are going through, we can call upon the God of glory and He will help us. I love you all tons!
Love, your brother and son,
Elder Marks
Well the baptism for Ashley went really well this Saturday! We had a good turn out and everything went smooth. Her dad, who is inactive for work reasons, was able to be there also, which was really good. He wasn’t able to baptize her but he was still able to be there to support his daughter. I will make sure to attach a couple of pictures down yonder.
One other highlight of the baptism was the Hermana Gladis was able to be there. We are still teaching her but we have backed off of teaching everything with a baptismal date. Rather we have invited her to go to the temple with us so that she can get her own answer. Where better to get your answer then in the temple. The percentage of investigator who go the temple and then later get baptized are really high. This last week we have taught her a little about what is the temple using the bible. We also read the book of Jonah with her. The short and sweet version is that he is commanded to go and cry repentance to the city of Nineveh or they would be destroyed for their wickedness. He doesn’t want to so he flees. He is in a boat fleeing when a huge storm starts. The other people in the boat tell Jonah to start praying also, but he tells them that he is the reason for the storm and that they should throw him overboard, so they do. He gets eaten by a whale then spit out. Being humbled he goes to the city of Nineveh and preaches repentance and the people believe and they are spared. Then Jonah is angry with God for sparing the people and not destroying the city. This short book mentions the temple a couple of times and we learn the importance of doing what the Lord says to do when he says it. Or, if she does receive and answer in the temple she needs to follow it.
Jose and his family are progressing well, it is kinda hard to find all of the family in the house at the same time to be able to teach them all at once. They are planning on coming to one of the sessions of general conference with us this Sunday.
It also looks like Rafael will be going to the temple with us. He did talk to his pastor this last week, his pastor told him to think about how many years he has in the same church and how God is not a toy. But he still wants to receive his answer.
We have also started teaching somebody named Josefa who is the “girlfriend” of an inactive member named Francisco. We had taught Josefa a little about a month and a half ago without seeing any progress so we dropped her. Then two weeks ago they showed up in church together with the desire to get married and return to church. She wants to hear more and has desires to be baptized! They want to be able to go the temple also on the 13th of this month when we go as a ward. We are seeing more and more of the Lord’s miracles. We have also been teaching a kid named Axel, he is the son in an inactive family that we are working with. He has gone to church twice but it is still a little hard to get his mom to come around to the idea of going to church again. His dad died or was killed in the somewhat recent past. So, we are putting the goal for him and his mom that if she is reactivated and he is baptized they can go to the temple together and he can do the baptismal work for his dad.
Moses 1:20 Says, “And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.” That God of glory is our Father in Heaven. No matter the temptations or difficult times that we are going through, we can call upon the God of glory and He will help us. I love you all tons!
Love, your brother and son,
Elder Marks