Family!
First off, baptism of
M----- this week! It was amazing! She gave an amazing testimony
after her baptism! I'm so glad that I got to stay here to be a part of
it. Elder Chandler and I spent all of our time together searching and searching
for someone to baptize in our area. We had been promised that by the end
of that month we could find someone to baptize. We found lots of people
in that time, but no one was baptized... until now!
We were spies this
week. A family in our branch moved away about five months ago, and they
moved back about 1 month ago. In that 1 month, they hadn't contacted
anyone from the branch. We were worried about them, so we headed out to
find them. We went to their old neighborhood, contacted one of their friends,
and from her learned the general location of their house. We went to that
area and walked around the parking lots until we found their cars.
Because of where their cars were, we were able to narrow down where this family
lived to about 10 doors. As we were trying to decide which it was,
someone came out of one of the doors. She turned out to be a member from
the Beavercreek ward, and she told us which apartment they had moved
into. We knocked on their door, but there was no answer. That day
was Mexican Independence day, so we went to a nearby store, bought a piñata,
filled it with candy, then left it on their doorstep. We got a call from
them a few hours later, and we were able to go visit them that night!
Contact made!
E----'s mom decided to
get baptized out in New Jersey. She has been meeting with the
missionaries out there for a few weeks now, and now that she has read the whole
Book of Mormon and 100 pages of the Doctrine and Covenants, they told her that
it is time to make a decision. They told her that she needed to pray to
know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if she should be baptized. She did
just that, and she had a dream that same night. She dreamed that she was
in a church. She went up to the pastor and told him she had a tough
decision to make and that she needed help. He had her sit down on a
chair, then he placed his hands on her head and gave her the gift of the Holy
Ghost in the exact way it is done in the church. Afterwards, she felt
very peaceful. When she woke up, she opened up the bible randomly to see
if she could get more of a confirmation. Of all of the scriptures she
could have read in the bible, she read in 2 Chronicles 15:3-4. I'll let
you read it. She took that as her answer that she had found the truth and
that she needed to be baptized! Miracle!
We got to participate
in the branch campout this week. We went the night before for an hour,
then we went in the morning to help with breakfast and play soccer with the
members and investigators that went. I never thought I would go camping
on my mission...
This week one of the
members gave me the name "The International Man of Mystery."
I'm not really sure why she picked that name. She says it's because
of the talents I showed over the past week that she had never seen before.
I played the piano for the baptism, and I translated for a high councilor in
sacrament meeting. That's all I can think of.
I learned this week
that in a small branch there is no escaping choir practice, even for the
missionaries...
That's all I've
got. Hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Foote
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| Elder Foote and the Pinata |
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| Elder Foote and Elder Taylor at the Branch Camp Out |
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| Our Mexican Independence Day Party |
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| Out Doors at the Branch Camp Out |
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| Sunrise in the Ohio Wilderness |
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| Don't Use Dish Soap in the Dishwasher |