Iaorana tatou

Is it really Monday again?

Things are moving along here in Mahaiatea. First of all A- accepted a baptismal date!!! On Tuesday our district helped him plant flowers and some fruit trees, which was lots of fun. On Thursday he introduced us to his friend J-, who we've now started teaching! A-'s already a great missionary. Anyway, we had fixed the next lesson for Saturday, but on Friday night we decided to stop by anyway. We wanted to engage A- for baptism again but wanted to do it when J- wasn't there. Well J- was there again but we decided to share our message about the temple anyway. One of A-'s main concerns is that he doesn't feel ready because he doesn't know everything about the gospel yet. At one point the conversation went a little like this: "So A-, baptism isn't the end, there's much more to learn, through enduring to the end, such as continuing to come to church and going to the temple." "There's more after baptism? You see, I'll never learn all this!" "No, it means that you don't have to learn everything before you are baptised! You get to keep learning! You don't need to know everything right now." "Oh... I didn't think about it like that." Then we found out that he hadn't ever heard the baptismal interview questions, so we went over them with him and he saw that everything he needed to know he knew already, and the only thing standing between him and baptism was coffee and his free agency. It was funny with J- right there, who we hadn't even taught the first lesson, supporting A- in this decision and reasoning out the pros and cons with him. And in the end A- accepted for the 19 of November and Soeur Lu- and I bought ice cream on the way home to celebrate. I'm so grateful for the Spirit that guided us to know what to say.

We have one other investigator who will be baptised the 19 of November as well. His name is J-, another J-. He's actually from the Cook Islands so we teach him in English, only his accent is hard to understand and it's actually harder than teaching in French. But he's excited to be a member and we're so excited for him!

I haven't got much time left but I challenge you with something that President Bize focused on in his email this week. Obedience brings miracles! This week, let's try a little harder to be obedient to the Lord's counsel, whether it's big things or little things. We will see that he will bless us!

Lots of love,
Soeur Ladd