Querida Familia y Amigos
This week, the elders passed off an Argentinian family to us because the wife doesn't speak English very well and wanted to be taught in Spanish. They are such a great family! They have two children (4 and 9 years old) and had been thinking that they wanted to start bringing them to church. The husband, D., told us that he had been thinking about his father's death a year ago and was still upset about it when the elders knocked on their door. When he saw them he felt very good about them and he remembered his uncle who is a Latter-day Saint. He said that many people had knocked on his door, but he hadn't felt good about anyone until the elders. When we were in the lesson with him he told us about his uncle's family. He said that he saw his cousins serve missions and saw that they were good people. Many members of his family used bad language but he never heard bad words in his uncle's house and he saw that one of his cousins who had disabilities was thriving in school because she had such a supportive family. He said that he could see that although his uncle was a poor man, he was rich with his family. This family is so prepared to hear the gospel and we are grateful for the example of D.'s uncle
We've had quite a few investigators that have had the same questions in different forms: "Why should I be baptized?" Or in other words, "What if I mess up after I am baptized? Is it better that I am never baptized than that I get baptized and make mistakes afterward?" As a missionary I am listening and it is so clear to me, "Be baptized! Have faith!" But this has been a very difficult question for me to answer as a missionary. As I've searched for ways to answer this question, a process which continues, I have been lead to Preach My Gospel where there is a quote from Dallin H. Oaks that says that we baptize to open the doors of the Celestial Kingdom (D&C 76:50-51). With baptism by the proper authority we have a chance, but without baptism, we can guarantee that we will not be there. When that idea became clear to me, it changed the way I think about a lot of what I do as a missionary. I am so grateful to be baptized and for the blessings that come when we make covenants with God.
Funny story for the week: Hermana Fillmore and I went tracting in some townhouses that we had never been to before. We saw an elderly man in the parking lot so we went out to talk to him. It turns out that he didn't speak any English but we think he said he spoke Russian. Anyway he started talking to us in his language and we're pretty sure he said he wasn't Christian. My companion tried to give him a pass-along card for the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. He pointed to the picture of Jesus and said in English, "Pagan man!" Then in the middle of what he was saying he turns to my companion and slaps her (not hard). We were both surprised and startled. She looked over at me and then he turned to me and slapped me. What! Then he started laughing. The "conversation" ended shortly afterward. We still laugh about it every day.
Con Amor,
Hermana Kinghorn
