May 24, 2011

May 24, 2011

This week has been a good one! Just a few days ago on Sunday we were able to fulfill our missionary purpose and confirm Taryn a member of Christ's church, and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. Her conversion has been such a special one to be a part of. Such a good experience. During the past week of work we were still riding off the high of the baptism. She is doing awesome, and the ward is doing an amazing job supporting her and solidifying her decision to be baptized.

During the past week we worked really hard, we both feel good about how we worked. Our area is doing awesome. We've been blessed with 5 new baptismal dates over the past week! 3 of those dates belong to a Hindi family who have accepted a baptismal date of June 12! There is still a lot of work to do to help them be prepared, but they can be ready by then if they do all they should be doing. We've had many special spiritual experiences with them over the past few weeks. The power of Jesus Christ is real. It can help anybody no matter where you are from, how old you are, or what situation you find yourself in. I'm so glad I get to share this every single day. 1 of those dates is from an investigator who has been taught for 6 or 7 months. Missionaries have tried forever to help him work towards a date, and it’s just never happened. Following the direction of the spirit, we have been able to help him see why acting and committing to a baptismal date is important. He is scheduled to be baptized this coming Sunday. We are seeing him tonight to do our best to solidify the big step he's committed to make. The last date isn't really new, but it’s a date for a child of a less-active family missionaries have been working with forever. It’s pretty solid, but anything can happen as we've seen in the past. Our goal is for this ward to have 7 baptisms before the end of June. When we complete our goal, we will have beaten the missions "expected standard" by 7 times. It's unheard of, but Elder Hancock and I have truly discovered the very REAL power of faith. Why can't we baptize that many people? There isn't ANY reason. So, we'll go out, work hard, have faith, and make things happen. We will do all that is required of us to make our goals come to pass.

Transfers are actually today, and the transfer calls were on Sunday night. Elder Hancock has been here for 6 months already...and staying in an area for longer than that is pretty rare. BUT, we made such an amazing team that the Lord is blessing us to be together for another transfer. We were both extremely happy we were together for some more precious time. There WILL be a change however, a rare change-we are now a tripanionship! We've been blessed with another missionary in our companionship. His name is Elder Roberts. He has been on his mission the same amount of time as Elder Hancock. The 3 of us will do our best to finish things out and exceed the goals we have set.

The next few transfers in preparation for the merge with the Toronto East mission will be a little bit different. This transfer will be 5 weeks instead of 6, and the next transfer will be 4 weeks instead of 6. After the merge the transfer cycles will go back to the normal 6 week rotation.

I left my camera cord at home, or I would send some pictures...I'll make sure to do it next week.

Love you all! Keep doing your best, and never let up on making correct choices!

E. PORTER