Three Baptisms!

HI there!:) Well it's finally the end of one crazy week for us! It has been a week full of worry, excitement, planning and lots of calls. But through it all, it ended with an awesome baptism yesterday! I'll give more details later but the spirit was strong and It was truly memorable! We kind of put our whole heart and soul into this baptism and I feel like we are starting from ground zero in a way! I can't tell if I am sad or what but I have always loved President Uchtdorfs council "there are no true endings only everlasting beginnings" I think that is true and I can't wait to start new member lessons with the L, and go to the sacred grove with them and such! Monday we have a great P-day but we took a while to get our laundry and shopping done while trying to organize a fun thing to do with S and her daughters. S had to drive her friend to the doctor so we ended up bumming around with J in N.T. We tried to go to the Riviera Theatre but they weren't doing tours yet,(we might start doing service at the theatre!) then we tried to go to the museum but it was closed so she likes antique shops and I like antique shops… So guess what we did? Ha ha we had a great time bonding with her and getting her more comfortable with us as missionaries I think she will be more willing to listen to us now! And she came to the baptism yesterday so that was good! We deep cleaned our car because zone conference was the next day. We had dinner with the L that night and had more great discussions on the gospel, life, goals, debt, and our families. We talked about how great our moms are, and I truly believe that Eve is the best mom ever that ever lived and I love her so much! Tuesday we had zone conference and some of the things that the spirit taught me were that we must listen to the spiritual promptings that we receive and always be willing to act on them to gain the Lord's trust. I also learned that when we teach we must teach like God teaches Joseph Smith in the first vision! One of those teaching methods being..calling people by their name when we begin teaching. Ex. "Joseph, this is my beloved son." It's awesome what the spirit can teach us when we are prepared in meetings even when the speaker doesn't say it! President asks us what did you catch? Not what were you taught? Present Francis gave a great training on lots of different topics. He shared a story of James E. Talmage (the writer of Jesus the Christ) when he was in the temple in he upper room writing. He would often go to the upper room and open the window to let the breeze in and then close it when he left. Well one day a Honey bee flew in and as he was leaving he tried to direct it out so it wouldn't die but it ended up getting mad, stinging him and dying anyway. He related it to how we sometimes deal with those leaders,(or Heavenly Father) who are trying to help us live better and lead us to freedom, but we end up fighting and hurting ourselves because we didn't understand the bigger plan. I can't write everything I learned but I loved listening to all the senior couples (who are going home soon) share their testimonies! It was the best! And sister Ray ( A lady from the senior couples, the mission nurse, and Elder Neil L. Andersen's sister! So cool) said that she is working on being hip and cool, so she says "Elder Crowley that is a sick tie, that tie is just. so. sick!" LOL the senior couples are so cool, and young in spirit! I am going to miss them:) Wednesday we talked to a lot of the people on the street as the rain poured down! We met some crazies! We finished most of the L lessons and I could sense a true change come over the them and an excitement to become clean as they partake of the first fruit of repentance, which is baptism. Elder Rushton and I watched Joseph Smith the prophet of the Restoration that night and I busted out "THE CHURCH IS TRUE!" Seriously though I was on a spiritual high! Thursday we did our service at the Grand Island library, by helping them with their book fair. We got there and we soon found out that the only ones who could lift a box were Elder Rushton and I because the rest of the volunteers were old ladies! haha There were so many boxes it was almost hilarious. The Librarian was running around a little bit stressed. It was so funny because he said, "Now I have been working with missionaries since before you guys were born and now I understand that you guys can have pop now." And we said oh no we could always have soda haha, and he just kept on saying "No I have been around longer and I know they didn't accept pop before." It's awesome to see how the Gospel blesses families in action. Living the Gospel principles is the difference between successful and happy families and unsuccessful and unhappy families. And Success is not defined as "making it big" in life as the world would say! Friday/Saturday we did exchanges and Elder Fields came down to N.T. In the morning we whipped together a quick musical number for the baptism "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd". Elder Fields has a great baritone voice we sang it acapella and It was really cool how we could just read the music and Heavenly Father helped us use our talents to put it together and then perform it the next day! We got a lot done and helped with the take down portion of the Library book fair as well. I loved talking with all the volunteers and seeing all these old books. Haha Later we had the L interviews and obviously they all passed! haha J said she was wondering when she was going to get her answer that the Book of Mormon was true, so she prayed and said that if God wants me to know that the BOM is true then he will deflate one of my balloons and sure enough her favorite one deflated that night. It's funny how Heavenly Father teaches us each in a way that we understand and at our own level:) Sunday was a crazy day! We didn't have any morning meetings but there was lots of stuff to do as far as making sure everything we had planned came together! Testimony meeting was awesome and so were the other meetings! Our ward mission leader was sick so he just had to describe to us how to fill up the font over the phone so that the hot water wouldn't run out! It was quite the lengthy process, but let's just say S face was priceless when she walked in it was so cold! haha We had a bunch people coming up to us and asking us questions, and Elder Rushton and I were getting a little overwhelmed but I said we are going to have the spirit at this baptism and everything will work out:) and it did! But we did have a lot to do we were clothing crew, set up crew, program crew, music crew, ordinance crew, font crew, and clean up crew! It was so funny the L were waiting at the font while everyone was in the chapel waiting for them and we waited for like 15 minutes until we went and found them and they were like "we were waiting for you!" Haha once the Program started everything went pretty smoothly, the spirit was so strong and and we had both nonmembers and members involved in the program! S. O. (J sister who is a member in the freedom branch) gave the best talk on the Holy Ghost! And his mom gave a great testimony:) all the auxiliaries were so welcoming and they helped with refreshments which was such a blessing! Helping one family come into the gospel makes me want to continue to find more people who need the gospel in their lives! I am grateful that I have been able to be a part of their conversion and I know that years of prayers were answered yesterday! S (J sister) kept wondering how it even happened and said that it was truly inspired that we were supposed to be here to teach them at this time:) I love the Lord and know that although I am not perfect I can become what I need to be by fulfilling his will and not mine. "Green ambition my whole mission!" -President Francis "Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf Love, Elder Crowley