My first baptism!

Our baptism went well and he´s excited to move forward in the Church and learn and become a part of all he can. We taught him about the priesthood on Monday and he´s excited to prepare to receive it. In his confirmation the bishop talked about him growing in the Church and eventually having a family. He´s 52 years old and single, but in his prayer on Monday he asked God to help him, if it was right, to have a family. He´s pretty incredible and will be a great member of the Church. What a blessing for my first baptism.

I´ve been thinking about baptism a lot lately and a missionaries duty to challenge and testify. We are supposed to invite our investigators to be baptized in the first lesson and challenge them with a date no later than the second lesson. We are to talk about baptism from the very first meeting. If we as missionaries understand our true purpose and have a true desire to share the blessings of the gospel with others, we won´t hesitate. It is not up to us to decide who is prepared to receive the gospel and who is not. Only God knows that. We need to understand that we teach the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31) and that the Doctrine of Christ is faith, repentance, baptism, the reception of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The baptismal challenge is not for people who have already been taught the Gospel. It is for people who haven´t, to motivate them towards heaven. Unless they understand that it is necessary to be baptized by proper authority to be saved, we´re just good people talking about God. Faith must lead to action. If we really have a desire to share the blessings of salvation with others, they won´t feel like we´re just trying to get them baptized. It´s not that we want them to get baptized. It´s what God wants. I´ll get off my soap box now, but that´s what I learned this week. Every person who came to this earth came to follow Christ and His example. How are they going to do that if they don´t know how, where to find it, or that they even need to?

I´m trying to eliminate my fear of talking about and challenging for baptism. I´m trying to have more faith in God and do His work the way He wants it to be done. Only in that way will there be true success and true conversion.

Of course I have more to say, but no time to say it. I love you, and everyone back home. I feel your prayers and faith in me more than I can express. Thank you for everything.

Love,
Erin