hey everyone!
something cool happened this week. Michael was baptized. I don't know if I've told you guys his story in full so I will start from the beginning. sister Olson had been in this area about three months before I arrived on the scene, and spent a day at the university trying to find people to teach. Michael came up and spoke to her in french, she spoke back and didn't really know what she said or if it was correct, handed a card with the address to the church and sent him o his way without getting any contact information or his name or anything because it was like her second day in the field. it was then forgotten about until two months later when he showed up on his own at the last hour of church, having ridden the bus and asked people for directions for the hour and a half before he got there, alone, without being asked. that just does not happen. actually it does. he came. and then we didn't talk to him until the first time we met with him in a lesson at the university, when we answered a few questions about the law of chastity (fun times!) and gave a quick lesson on the restoration. it was getting toward time to go, and the room we were in was booked in the next hour, so i decided what the heck, he doesn't seem that interested but I'll run baptism by him. his answer was an emphatic yes. surprise. the next meeting we got him on date, and then he came to every meeting and activity and Sunday service to the day he was baptized.
his testimony is amazing, we thought his family was living in France but surprise again they live in Iran. he gave up all possibility to going home because he knows this is true, he has had a personal connection with his father in heaven for perhaps years leading up to these past two months, and was completely willing to follow any and all things that were asked of him. he said that once he started living the commandments, his days were better, his research went better, and in all he was happier. that allthough there are real threatening consequences tied to his conversion and land of birth, he is okay with it, he trusts in the Lord, who is "Omnipotent and Omniscient" and will never let those who trust in him fall.
Preparing for that day was interesting, cleaning the font and filling the water was like the celebration for me. Newfoundland hasn't had a baptism for six months, and I think that his light and testimony inspired much of the branch, not just the missionaries. being able to see the changes that this gosple has on people's life, is truly inspiring, that if we trust in the lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding that it will work. it just will. that you can see that light grow in people's lives, and just knowing that I played the smallest part in helping someone experience that change is amazing. it's awesome, and for once that word really has meaning. and to be honest, I really did nothing. I asked some questions, the rest was God bringing one of his sons to the truth.
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