1st Baptism!!

Good Afternoon!

Life as a missionary is pretty crazy specially when you are in this young single adult branch, but this week was extra crazy! I have never done a baptism before on my mission so preparing someone for it was all new! Luckily my new companion knows lots. All week we had lessons with Taylor to prepare her for her baptism. I learned that even though you decide to be baptized doesn’t mean you are exempt from having trials. She is such a strong girl and has pushed through so many trials to be baptized! Sister Olson and I have been so blessed with the people we teach! We are teaching two people that are progressing so well. It is amazing to see how fast people can progress even if they have never had a stich of Christian background. As soon as they put their faith in Heavenly Father he is able to reveal so many things to them and allow them to retain so much information. We teach a really cool girl that has been coming to all the activities and always having such great questions. On Sunday she was having a rough day because it was her sisters three-year death date. She asked me if we could have some kind of prayer or something after church because she was really struggling. A thought came to my mind to ask her if she would want a blessing. She had no idea what that was so we explained what it was and asked our ward mission leader to give her one. Immediately after the blessing was over she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said what did you tell him how did he know how to say all those things? We explained to her that it was the spirit and she said she had the most peaceful feeling ever and didn’t want it to go away. It was so touching to see that the priesthood could give her such a peaceful feeling when she was feeling so sad before! Sister Olson and I have been working super hard this week and it paid off we were able to break the record for most members at our lessons in our area! It was super cool to see our hard work pay off. Unfortunately with lots of hard work and lots of cool weather I ended up with a bad cold! I was kind of bummed out because when the baptism rolled around on Saturday my voice was practically gone! I was still able to give my talk at it and they seemed to be able to hear me! The baptism was so awesome I know I’m being biased because it was my first but I couldn’t of been happier my heart was so full to be sitting there knowing that if we didn’t talk to this girl on the street she wouldn’t be there. The really cool thing was Taylor brought three of her friends to her baptism and one of them was the girl that was with Taylor on the street when we contacted her. She was the first person to respond when we contacted them and she told us she was NOT interested she didn’t believe in god and she didn’t want to listen to us! So as you could see I was very excited to talk to her on Saturday when I saw her there. She was a really cool girl and enjoyed being there! Sister Houde was able to come and it was so cool and weird to see her again. She didn’t have a nametag on and everyone kept calling her Anna I was like no it’s Sister Houde it will always be Sister Houde! She gave a really great talk and after Taylor bore her testimony about how thankful that the sisters found her and that she was so happy to say that she is finally a Mormon. I am so thankful to be a missionary even when times get hard and your boogers freeze automatically when you go outside! Its so worth it =) There is never been a happier time in my life. Serving my heavenly father is so rewarding and I’m so thankful for all your support. I love you all tons!!

-Sister Dick