March 27, 2017

This week has been glorious! I mentioned Lynn in my email last week well this week she got baptized! I will be sure to include some pictures. Now that the story is over let me share with you it from the beginning from my perspective!

So I came into Cincinnati without much going on... Lots of fun! So after a week we met Lynn! She knew the missionaries through her friend Mitchell and loved the feelings through the Spirit! 

We went to our District meeting that week and the Spirit was so strong. I was listening and was able to receive revelation straight from God. There are times when revelation comes as a generous thought or good feeling or softer inspiration. This time I heard God's voice. He spoke and I won't say the exact words but pretty much he said that there was someone in our area that was ready for the message of the Restored Gospel in their life and that they needed to be baptized while I was here this transfer. It was very specific. I rejected the fear that came from that promise and knew that I had to work my hardest to help bring it to pass. 

Well since we started to teach her she fell in love with the Book of Mormon flying through it spending hours in it each day. She knew it was true through the power of the Holy Ghost. We asked her to be baptized (after calculating the required 3 Sundays attendance) on April 8th.  She had some concerns and asked some questions but was leaning towards doing that without enthusiasm. Now that isn't in this transfer because our transfer ends on April 3rd so I knew that Lynn was awesome but there was still someone out there who was ready for the message of the Restored Gospel and who would be baptized this transfer. Several days later while studying for our next lesson with her I read in Preach My Gospel under How do I Help People Prepare for Baptism and had the thought that we should ask her to be baptized on March 25th. That didn't make sense to me because it didn't fulfill the qualifications for baptism, but I kept thinking about it ALL day. When we got to Lynn's for the lesson I still was thinking about it but I couldn't go through with it... Well about halfway through the lesson she was explaining something and I simply decided to act. I asked her if I could rudely interrupt her haha and said "I don't know if I am even allowed to do this Lynn, but the Spirit has been urging me all day that I should ask if you will be baptized, not on April 8th, but on March 25th?"

To my surprise and everyone else's also there were no questions, no hesitancy. Lynn said that she had been waiting for years for this and yes she would be baptized on March 25th and she was so excited! Well this Saturday Lynn was baptized and it really showed me 2 things. 1. God knows his children. He knew that over the last year Lynn had been praying for a church to start attending and for someone to come to her door to help her come back to him. 2. God's word is sure. When he promises something he WILL make it happen. It reminds me of a scripture "...for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

In Preach My Gospel it says that "You will succeed in your work as you learn to receive and follow personal revelation." The last few weeks of my life have been testimony of the truthfulness of that statement.

Love, 

Elder Mark Howland