Watching the Lord work in the lives of my investigators is an amazing thing, and it never gets old. To see them change, and to watch their countenance light up with the Holy Ghost over the course of a few short weeks or months is special. I want to quickly update you on the progress of some of our investigators.
Dominick continues to come and love church. He is a 6'2 black guy with the build of an offensive lineman, with the SWEETEST afro you have ever seen. He committed to be baptized our of "curiosity," but hoping to deepen his commitment, we taught on the covenant of baptism and gave ourselves to a lot of prayer. The way he now understands the covenant is really cool. He finds the promises we make to God to actually be the blessings God gives to us. He said, "You mean if I do the little things like read and pray and come to church, I get to have eternal life, comfort those who stand in need of comfort (His personal favorite) and be a witness for God?!" Such a cool lesson haha Love that guy. We had a ward party and watched "Meet the Mormons," and afterwards we asked him how he liked it. He said, "It was.... Interesting." "What do you mean by interesting" we asked. He replied, "It makes me want to be a Mormon." Elder Alley looked at each other like, "AHHHHHHHHHH" haha. What a guy. Love him to death.
Michael also is doing soooo well. We finished his lessons this week and said, "You know Michael, you could get baptized next week if you want to." He was way excited about that and we moved his date to Saturday. So happy for him. We went over the interview questions and he passed with flying colors. He is so much happier now when we first met. Elder Alley and I have sweet handshakes with him now, so now we are on that level of progression.
Lastly, Breana and Jerry. We sadly had to hand them off to the neighboring area, but they are so excited for this weekends baptism. There may be some complications, but the Lord will smooth them out. We had one final lesson with them, and the sweetest spirit was there. Since taking the lessons, they have not only grown closer to God, but closer to each other. I wish you all could have heard, seen, and felt their testimonies at the close of that meeting. It will be an experience I won't forget.
During the opening prayer in that lesson, I had a cool moment. I opened my eyes, and looked at my name tag, and began to flash back to all the times I had gone out with the missionaries before my mission, and how I longed to be one of them. I then had a small realization. I am one of them. This is my mission. These are my investigators. I am what I have dreamed of being since I was 8 years old walking around with my "Future Missionary" name badge. How can I not be happy? Sometimes, we get so caught up with the pain and the stress of life that we get tunnel vision. We focus on the narrow perspective we have without opening our eyes to see where we are. The Lord will take care of those who serve him. There is no reason to be a micromanager in the work of the Lord, for no matter how much we do, it wouldn't be enough... without a Savior. His grace and atonement transcend not only our sins, but our everyday burdens. I see it everyday in my work. The load of being a zone leader for 36 missionaries, carrying a full proselyting load in a large city, and the personal problems and weakness we have, have been overwhelming at times, but somehow it all works. The zone is successful, the work moves forward, and I have energy sufficient for the day by some miracle far outside my own capacity. When you do your best, the Lord makes everything work, if not immediately, then over the time. May we all then broaden our vision, and we will see not only how far we have come, but the Lord's hand in our getting there.
Elder Wheat
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