Hallelujah

This week was the best by far!! I think I say this every week, but I mean it this time hahah!  

To start off, our friend Rogelio was baptized. I will never forget the spirit and peace I felt as he made that covenant to God. Life has put him through the ringer and back, but through the atonement he has come out victorious. It's amazing to witness the change in his life after he turned to Christ. 

About 4 months ago some elders felt prompted to go talk to him at a park. Out of many people, the spirit told them to go talk to him specifically. After teaching him the first lesson and finding out he was actually in our area they passed him off to Inman. And 4 months later here he is, baptized and such a strong member!

I feel extremely grateful to be a part of the Inman ward. They already feel like family. So many of them came to the baptism to support and demonstrate such friendship and kindness to him at church each week. Ahhh it just makes me so happy. These members are already some of my very favorite people in the whole world. We had three of then call us this week asking if we could give them book of Mormons because they wanted to give one to a friend. Member referrals are the best thing ever and are also quite rare. We were like ummm yes of course, haha take two Books of Mormon!! 

We have a part member family, Craig and Dindy who we've been working with for quite a while. Dindy is a returning member and Craig is a hard-core Baptist just like pretty much everyone else down here. Butt Craig comes to church with Dindy every week to support her, but so far isn't interested at all in the gospel. This week we decided to take a different approach, and instead of teaching a lesson we did some service! They asked us to help with some ~transplanting~. Thanks to Lara Maxfield I've done quite a bit of transplanting in my days, so I was adequately prepared. Not only did we transplant, but we also dug some holes. <--My dad's three favorite words!! I'm not even sure what these holes were for, but they wanted some holes dug. So we dug them. Thanks to my father, this was also not a new activity. I never thought I'd say this, but the Maxfield yardwork Saturdays are finally starting to pay off! Thank you parents! 

For a spiritual thought this week, I read a talk this week called "Sunday will come" by Joseph B Wirthlin. He talks of the darkness and sorrow that came on the Friday Christ was killed and contrast it with the pure joy that came with his resurrection. 

He said,

"It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God.

...I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest."

"But the despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind."

Although our trials are nothing compared to the Savior's crucifixion, we too all have our "Fridays" of this life. Those time when it seems like there is just no way we can get back up and start again. But, through the blessings of this gospel, we are all promised a Sunday! Good will triumph evil, and all will be made right. To me, that is one of the most comforting blessings of this gospel.  

Have a blessed week!!