Dear Family and Friends,
This past week had been such an amazing week, but not without its normal stresses. In the end, everything turned out great and finished with a powerful spiritual weekend.
It started with our awesome family home evening plans with William and a member family falling through after the canceled on us 20 minutes before we we supposed to b there. We then decided to have it at the church with William, and called Sister Marble to see if she wanted to join us. We had no clue what we even wanted to go over, and we were brain storming in the way to the church. It wasn't until we pulled into the church parking lot when we figured out what we wanted the lesson to be on. We wanted to teach about the Holy Ghost and how he communicates to us. For the activity, there was one person who would be blindfolded, and they would have to find a picture of Christ that was hidden in the church building. Then there would be one good voice, and everyone else would try to lead the blindfolded person in the opposite direction. Everyone got to be blindfolded once, and only two people fell off the right path, but they were both able to get back on. Elder Ware was one of them, and we got him to walk outside the building. This lesson turned out to be exactly what William needed, because he had every intention of coming to us that night to put off the baptism. It really helped him, and the rest of us to see how important that it is to follow the correct promptings that we receive.
I don't remember much of what happened on Tuesday. We thought that we had found some solid investigators that loved every word about the restoration? But we haven't seen them since Wednesday.
On Wednesday was exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Ware went up to Palm Harbor while Elder Gherkins came with me. It was really cool to be with Elder Gherkins again, since he was my district leader in Sarasota. He is the one of the missionaries that came from the Sierra Leone Mission because of the Ebola outbreak. He is actually going home next week, which is really weird to think about.
Thursday was a day of Priesthood blessings after we did our weekly planning. Only problem was is that I was out of Consecrated oil, and Elder Ware doesn't have any. So we had to find member who had some and borrow it from him. It is such a great blessing to be worthy to use the Priesthood authority given from God to bless the lives of others. I love seeing the faith that people have to ask for a blessing from our Father in heaven. I know without a doubt that His Priesthood power is real, and that it has been restored back on earth for us to be blessed with today. We also gave William a blessing that evening to help him know what he should do. He wants to push back the baptism because he doesn't think that he is ready, and he is afraid of making mistakes afterwards. He was told that he was taking everything way to fast by some friends, and he wasn't sure what to do. So we knelt down in the middle of his driveway and said a prayer with him. It was such a cool experience. He then change his mind and we went to the church so that he could try on his baptismal clothing.
Friday was another day of exchanges with the Gulfport elders. Elder Stuart came up with me to be in St. Petersburg. We had some really good lessons throughout the day. William also had his interview for baptism, and President Healey came and did the interview with him. It was great that he came because he really made William feel comfortable.
Saturday was the baptism, and it as so incredible to see William in the water! Kevin, who is a recent convert and an amazing guy performed the baptism. He himself was baptized about a month ago, so that was really cool to see him doing it. William ended up getting dunked five times. The first two was because he didn't go completely under, and the other times the pray was said correctly. But eventually it happened! Afterward we had the ward Christmas party with a small nativity scene. There was such a great turnout there, especially of nonmember family and friends that came.
William almost gave us a heart attack in Sunday. He was late to church and we tried calling him several times with no response. He finally picks up his phone and said that he slept through his alarm. Even though he was late, he still received the Holy Ghost at the end of fast and testimony meeting. It was such a spiritual sacrament meeting with so many testimonies being shared. Sister Marble gave an amazing testimony about missionary work. He just got released as being a wars missionary, and is now is the second counselor in Relief Society. But there is no way that we are going to let her off of the hook that easily. I just love there family too much for that to happen. William loved the moment he received the Holy Ghost, because he couldn't hear anything else besides Brother Marble speaking and giving him a wonderful blessing. We later went to the marbles home for dinner and had some really good Navajo tacos. They gave William a gift of some pictures they put together and congratulations card signed by everyone in the family and by us missionaries. He loved the gift so much, and you could tell that it meant a lot to him. William then came with us and watched the Christmas devotional, in which I cried for the third time today. Especially when they were talking about the neighborhood getting together for the four year old boy and having every holiday crammed into one week! If you don't know what I am talking about, then you should go and watch the Christmas Devotional on LDS.org.
Last thing. HAPPY 24TH ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!! I really have the best parents in the world, and I love you so much! I am so blessed to have such great parents who love and care for me so much! I wish you the best, and I hope that you have a great anniversary today!
Love,
Elder Leavitt
Sent from my iPad
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