Aug. 26, 2013

This week has been absolutely amazing, but very busy! The most lessons we had taught in 1 week was 23 until this week. We taught 30 lessons!!! 17 of those were to our investigators so it was a very beneficial week for us.

I've had 2 very spiritual experiences that I've been apart of on my mission so far.

1) My first blessing I gave was in the MTC to Elder Davidson.

2) My first Baptism!

When we got our bikes stolen, we were walking to our next appointment and street contacted Frank. Frank is 17 years old. He wasn't raised in any religion cause his parents don't believe that religion is necessary in life. But Frank thought differently. He joined a Southern Baptist church cause he said it made him feel good. We talked to him about the Book Of Mormon and he said it was the Bible Part 2! He calls the members of the Church "A.P. Christians" cause we live a higher law. On August 24th, 2013, only a month and a half after we met him, Frank was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I was the one that was able to perform that sacred ordinance!!

To recount the experience,

I walked into the room and saw Frank dressed in white at the front of the congregation. He turned around and was beaming with joy as he saluted me. Elder Hickenlooper (My Companion) gave a talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost. Then we made our way to the font. I walked in to the warm water. It was a small font and came up to the middle of my thighs. I looed to the stairs and Frank made his way into the water. Butterflies filled my stomach as he placed his hand on my wrist and his wrist in my palm. I put my hand on his back and smiled at him then raised my arm to the square. At that instant, my nerves settled and the butterflies fluttered away. I had memorized the prayer but there was a cheat sheet in the font if I needed it. I tried to read over it before I said the prayer but his arm was in the way so I just went with what I remembered and let the Spirit guide me. As I said "Amen", he plugged his none and I submerged him. He almost didn't go under all the way cause of the shallowness of the water. But he was completely submerged and I helped him back up. As he looked up at the witnesses to make sure it was done correctly, he lifted his arms into the air and said very loudly, "YES!!" When we walked into the dressing room, we hugged it out for like 2 minutes. I thought I was going to cry when he said he felt like he was home. I love this kid so much. He made the right decision and he knows it. The Lord will bless him as he continues to grow in the Gospel!

Much love, Elder Harris