GUESS WHAT!?! GOD HEARD OUR PRAYERS!!!!!! WE HAVE A MIRACLE BAPTISM TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 31ST!!!!!!!! God works in mysterious ways! But we are not complaining! So.... here's the story:About a month ago we were walking out to the Pier to meet with a less active (Victoria Philactos) for a lesson. As we walked by a certain man, Jobie Overton, he stopped us and asked if we were the Mormon Missionaries. We said we were. He said he goes up to the church in the Bronx, and that he recently moved to our area. We eagerly grabbed his information and asked if we could meet up with him sometime. We were surprised to see him smoking, so we figured he was less active.
After our mission goal was set for a baptism in September, we decided to text every Mormon in our phone, active or less-active, to ask for their help and prayers in finding someone to teach and receive the ordinance of baptism. Out of 70 members we texted, only Jobie replied with a "God bless....". A week later on August 10th, we sent out a reminder text to all the members and asked if they had anyone we could teach. Again, only Jobie replied. He asked for us to come visit him.
To our astonishment, we found out Jobie was NOT a member, but has been attending the ward in the Bronx since 2006, when someone simply invited him to come inside for the service. He's 69 years old and is preparing to die. It was AMAZING how easily the subject of baptism was brought up. We showed in the scriptures how even Christ had to be baptized, and then he invited us to follow him and do likewise. I explained how we then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost after we are baptized. That resonated with him. He said that was the thing he was missing. We invited him to be baptized on September 28th, but HE asked if we could move it up to August 31st! WHAT!?! Of course you can!!!! We were thrilled! It was an amazing experience to see how ready he was! We are elated to teach him in preparation for his baptism!
And that is just our Monday Miracle. This past Friday (Aug 9th) we were given a year long investigator by the ASL Elders who has a baptism date for September 29th! Javier Lugo is his name! Sunday we had 4 people attend church with us for their first time! FOUR!!!!! I felt happily overwhelmed by the turnout! They all really enjoyed the service and want to come back! That was our Sunday miracle. Tuesday we taught one of those men who came to church for the first time. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he said "it just makes sense." We invited him to be baptized, and he said he would like to... he just wanted to crack the book first (The Book of Mormon). YESSSSS!!!! MIRACLES!!!!
I've been saying the last few weeks that obedience brings blessings,
and exact obedience brings miracles. Umm... IT IS SOOOO TRUE! We have
been trying out best to be more consecrated missionaries, and miracles
are FLYING our way! I stand in AMAZEMENT! What a wonderful week! Sorry for the novel, but I hope it was worth every minute it took you to read it :) I love you! Thank you for your heartfelt prayers back home in our behalf. It helped to change me and the missionary I intend to become, with the Lords help! Continue to keep us and all the missionaries around the world in your prayers! And pray for the hearts of the people to be softened! We have many more who are ready to receive this gospel... we just need to help them along the way!
Love Always,
Sister Weyandt
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