Baptism!

Hola familia y amigos!

   Yesterday our investigator Reyna was baptized!! She has been super positive from the start, but that doesn't mean it was all easy with her.There are ALWAYS obstacles. And they are necessary, too, to be able to determine if the investigators have the faith to conquer the obstacles. A week ago, Reyna texted us saying she wasn't going to go through with her baptism because she wasn't prepared and just wanted to hear the word of God. We went to visit her and she said has been really sick and was gonna move back home with her parents so she could receive treatment. We talked about the importance of baptism and assured her she was ready. We shared the story of the apostles who were fishing when Jesus showed up and told them to follow them and they instantly dropped their nets and followed him. We asked her if she thought they were prepared to follow Christ and she said no. We explained that we never really feel prepared, but when God calls us, we follow, and that God was calling her by way of His missionaries. We encouraged her to pray and asked God if she should get baptized and she said she would. The next visit, I think it was Thursday, we asked her if she had prayed about her getting baptized. She said yes. We asked her how she felt and what God had indicated her and she said with a smile on her face that she needed to get baptized. We were so happy that she received an answer to her prayer. She then proceeded to tell us that there was a job opportunity near where her parents live and that she was going to leave the next day (Friday) to move back home and start working on Monday. What? :O It was quite a shocker. We asked her why she couldn't stay here and she said she was her parents' only daughter and that they needed her there and she also needed to the job to be able to earn money. We asked her if she could leave Sunday afternoon after her baptism and she said that she needed to be there the next day to arranges some things for the job before Monday, so we agreed that she'd go home the next day and come back Saturday to be able to attend a baptismal service that afternoon (she had only been to church once and had to go to church at least once more and attend a baptismal service to be eligible for baptism) and that she'd be baptized after sacrament meeting on Sunday. She ended up not being able to go home on Friday because she didn't have money for transportation, so she stayed, went to the baptism Saturday afternoon, went to church on Sunday, and was baptized afterwards. She was able to be confirmed right after her baptism. She'll be moving back home this week. Oh, here's the catch: where her parents live, there isn't a church. The closest branch is like an hour away in bus. She said if their was a church there that she would go every Sunday and that she wants to prepare for a mission, but there isn't. It's so crazy to me to realize there are some places here that still don't have the church cuz it's starting out in Nicaragua. I just hope that she keeps reading her scriptures and is one day able to move somewhere where she can go to church. We weren't going to deny her a baptism just because she was moving. We knew it was not a coincidence that she moved in with her aunt for just enough time for us to prepare her for baptism. And she really does have a ton of faith. We were so glad she was able to take that step to follow Christ and that now she'll have the gift of the Holy Ghost with her to carry home to her parent's house. 

    Sadly, we had to drop Luis and Mercedes and a few other families this week.  So we're gonna have to work hard on finding a lot of new people to teach.

    I didn't have transfers, as I predicted. But the first white sister missionary is serving in Puerto Cabezas this transfer, so that's interesting. I don't think I'd want to serve there though.

   I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be able to finish reading the whole Book of Momron before the end of the month cuz I'm only in Mosiah, but I'm gonna aim to do it in two months.

 We had some more investigators in church this week, so that was good. Not sure what else to write. My testimony of faith continues to grow. I know that God provides the means for us to accomplish our righteous purposes. I know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and that it is the only way to find true joy in this life and in the eternity. Thanks everyone for the support. Love you all.

Hermana Hawkins