A Miracle!

This is going to be a brief one this week.

To put it simply, we experienced a miracle this past week. Our investigator Rebecca was scheduled to be interviewed by our mission president on Friday. She had to be interviewed by him, as well as get approval from the First Presidency, to be baptized. The process, our mission president told us, could take upwards of 6 weeks. So President Petersen interviewed her, and after the interview, he said that Rebecca was completely ready to be baptized. There was still the matter of bringing it to the First Presidency. On Saturday, as we were teaching around the neighborhood, President called us and said that Rebecca was cleared to be baptized. Everything that had to be done was done.

And then he added, "She could even get baptized tomorrow if she wanted to."

When we told Rebecca she could get baptized, she shouted for joy in the hair salon she was standing in. She was so excited! We visited her that night, and she was jumping up and down in her seat, singing a little diddy like, "I'm going down so I can go up!" We then told her she could be baptized the very next day if she wanted, and she quickly consented. She wanted her family and friends from out of town to attend her baptism, whenever it was, but with this opportunity, she said, "I'll have to tell them all I'm sorry, but I just can't wait another minute."

Rebecca was baptized yesterday and she'll get confirmed next Sunday.

This was such a blessing to Elder Merrill and I. We worked hard this past week. We were on bikes, but since my bike is missing a nut on the front tire (which I can easily replace once I get funds for the next month), we walked everywhere. We had many prayers with people and set a couple baptismal dates, but none of the people we met came to church yesterday. It seemed like every ounce of our labors were sucked down the drain. We had been casting our pearls before swine all week, essentially.

But Rebecca proved us wrong., and I'm so grateful for that.

I'll wrap up here. Pray that we have success in finding the elect in Jacksonville! I know they're here somewhere.

-Elder Staib