Hey everyone!
So, this past week has been pretty good. Moreso that past two days though; they have been SUPER legit! That's really all I wanna talk about today =P
All throughout the week we have been trying to implement shorter, but more frequent, lessons. We did a pretty good job! We had a couple more teaching opportunities than we had in the past because of it. Which is awesome! But, all of that led up to Saturday and Sunday. So, as of Saturday, Kassy had been back and forth between wanting to get baptized on the 27th and not because of her anxiety issues and her wanting Brandon to get baptized. **Brandon to baptize her. Not "Brandon to get baptized."** Like I have explained in the past, Brandon has had kind of a rough past and knew he would need to talk with the Bishop, at least, before anything could happen. So we were kind of waiting to see if Brandon would be able to baptize her, and if he could, when he would be able to and all that stuff. If he would be able to baptize her within 3 weeks she would put it off. If it was going to be longer than 3 weeks she was going to go through with it on the 27th. Now this is where Saturday comes into play. Saturday morning we heard about a baptism that was happening that night at 6:00. So we called and invited Brandon and Kassy because she wanted to see one happen before she got baptized. They are excited that we invited them and happily accepted the invite. Awesome. Well now, we have to figure out how everything is going to work cause we normally have dinner at 5 and we are outta there by 5:45. That doesnt give us near enough time to bike up to the place of the baptism which is 5 miles north of where we are. So we moved dinner to 4:30 and thought that would give us plenty of time. Wrong. The family we ate with loves to talk.... We didnt get out of there until 5:30. We had our suits in our backpacks so we just started to book it to this baptism. It's about 5:45 and we are just barely half way there, we were going to be late. Well, Tim Barber, a member of the singles ward I used to cover flies by us, takes a right turn at 30mph and yells my name. I didnt know it was him at the time and I thought it was just some other missionaries yelling at me so I kind of ignored it. He yelled again and I decided to stop and see who it was. We turn around and find out its Tim, who happens to be going to this baptism as well because he is speaking at it. He offers us a ride and we take it. We lock up our bikes and hop in. Go to the baptism and it is Jessica! A girl that Elder O'Toole and I taught when we covered that ward! Awesome! Anyway, we walk into the chapel and Kassy and Brandon are there. We go through the whole baptismal service and Kassy felt the Spirit super strongly. She wants to get baptized ASAP because of everything. Now the only dilemma we were facing was with Brandon being the one to baptize her. So we make a whole bunch of phone calls and nothing turns up, as far as an interview goes. So we finish up the night. Sunday comes around and we go through all of our church meetings and we make some more phone calls. Turns our, Bishop Skinner is in Chile with his son and wont be back until Thursday. Crap! So we call up the Stake Exec. Sec. to see if the Stake President is available. Stake Pres. calls us and tells us he can meet with Brandon between "Now (4:50) and 5:30" because he had family comin over at 6. We called Brandon up real quick and he tells us "I will get ready to go right now and head over there!" Great! Brandon goes over and has his interview. Mind you Brandon has done some things that REALLY got him into trouble. We go into our dinner appointment at 5 and get a call halfway through from Pres. Clegg. He left a voicemail. As soon as we get out of dinner Brandon calls us. "Hey what's up fellas?"
"We just got out of a dinner appointment, what's up?" Immediately after I said that the Spirit hit me harder than it almost ever has in my life.
"I just wanted to call and let you know that I was completely and totally honest with the Stake Pres.. We had a good talk and he told me I was cleared to Baptize Kassy in Saturday." At this point I'm on the verge of tears and have the biggest smile on my face. "He said that, normally, with someone in my circumstances I would tell them they would have to wait 3-4 months. With you I feel you have done everything you need to to qualify to perform this ordinance."
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD FOLKS!!!! I cannot tell you how ecstatic Brandon sounded and how awe-struck I was. I had just witnessed a miracle. Literally. God's hand had been in this from the very beginning. It was amazing. So, this weekend, Kassy Pritchard will be baptized into the Alameda Ward of the Tempe Stake. Taking upon her the first ordinance of the Gospel and one of the first covenants she will make in her life.
I know that Lord has a plan for all of us and that he will prepare us for anything. We need to subject ourselves to His will. Do as He asks of us and embrace His plan for us. We all need to take the necessary steps of repentance now. "Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance," as the prophet Alma teaches. I love you all and miss you much.
~Elder Daniel Peterson
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