Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission // April 2014-October 2015

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Week 8 - First Baptism!!

I'm already half-way through training!! What?? I only have 6 more weeks with my trainer so I'm going to make them count. 

I studied about prayer and faith this week. In the Bible Dictionary it says under prayer, 

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God...then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part."

I've also been learning how to let the Spirit guide my words while I pray because God knows what I need better than I do. As I rely on the Spirit as I pray and Harvest they mean so much more. In 3 Nephi 19:24 it says,

"And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire."

This week was filled with miracles!! I don't even know why we are so blessed.

To start, our investigator Bonnie got baptized! It was amazing to see her transformation that happened all within two weeks. When we found her while Harvesting she was not happy to say the least. As we started meeting with her she realized her true identity as a daughter of God and her faith increased drastically. She expressed her fear of water and didn't know how it would be possible to get into the pool, but she knew that God would give her the strength to do it. Her faith in God overcame her fear of water and she entered the waters of baptism on Sunday. She didn't quite go under the first two times, and I could see how nervous she was. She took a deep breath and as she went completely under the water and came back up (the third time) she had a big grin on her face! She said to us later, "I feel so clean on the inside." God gave her the strength to overcome her fears as she exercised her faith. 

While we were Harvesting last week we met an older Latin man named Cesar. We invited him to come to church on Sunday and he came! He said that he loved the feeling of "bother hood" he felt there. He didn't, however, want to be baptized. As we met with him on Monday we explained to him why baptism is so important and how Jesus Christ set the example for us to be baptized. It just clicked with him. He said, "How does this baptism thing work?" We taught him all about it and asked him if he would be baptized this next Sunday (June 1). He said he would do it! We felt inspired to teach him about the Word of Wisdom as well. He said, "You are going to laugh. I ran out of coffee AND cigarettes today!" He agreed to give up his cigarettes and coffee right then in order to prepare for his baptism. God truly is preparing people.

Why I loved Sister Biggs this week: She truly loves our investigators. She's always thinking about what they need to learn next and how she can serve them. She even made my bed this week and always tries to find ways to serve me. She's a good "mom" for me. (She's my "mom" because she's my trainer...I'm still a baby haha) 

Last week the Elders in our ward had a baptism with their investigator Bruce, who is 17. I introduced myself to him on Sunday and he goes, "Hi I'm Bruce...and single"...Aaaaaaahhhhh awk. I go "...and I'm a missionary" And laughed and walked away. Later the Elders re-assured me that they set him straight. They told him I was basically a nun. great. haha 

Anyways I love you all SOOOO much! I pray for you daily.  

Sincerely, Sister Matheson

p.s. We were walking through a parking lot when a ton of baby ducks came running towards us. They kept following us as we went door to door. Luckily no cars came by and ran them over like last week...
 




 

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