Hastening of the Work!!

Yesterday was GOLD.  James and Janessa were both confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That was awesome. I also randomly saw some of my beloved friends from the Lexington ward who were randomly in Salem and they told me that Julie and Steve were baptized yesterday as well. Life is really good and the work is progressing. This kind of happiness is pretty much unbeatable.

We are working with several investigators. "Ashley" is the wife of a member in the ward and she has started opening up more to baptism.  She is the sweetest thing and I am so privileged to know her. We are also working with an investigator named "Mike." He is 60-something and takes care of his 98-year-old mom. He shared his testimony with us about how he knew that he was supposed to answer the door when the sisters tracted into him, and that feeling of 'knowing' that he needs to continue is the same feeling that drives him to continue reading the Book of Mormon. We are so excited about his progress.  The work is hastening.  It is such a happy thing to be a part of!

Dear friends!  Look up the October 2013 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. God sends us prophets to tell us what we need to do right now. The people in Noah's time needed Noah to warn them to repent right NOW because there was going to be a giant flood. What has our prophet asked us to do right now? Missionary work. I PROMISE happiness, and support from the Lord as you 'thrust in your sickle with your might.' It doesn't matter if you are afraid. The Lord will be with you and He has all power. I know it. Find this happiness. It is real. And it's in your grasp.

Lots of Love,

Sister Larrabee

A wonderful wonderful crazy day.

Yesterday was crazy! ANOTHER BAPTISM – one of our investigators, “James”, is the husband of “Rose” who has been a member for 22 years now. James finally decided to take the discussions and then he committed to baptism! YAY! He had a stroke or something and so his legs do not work now. Yesterday was his baptism! It has been such an ordeal getting this baptism together because #1 getting James in and out of the font took a special wheel-chair like invention and 6 people in the font and #2 his granddaughters are also getting baptized and they wanted to do it together. So that is a dual-ward baptism which is really hard to coordinate apparently. :) But yesterday we showed up for church and the power went out. And because of liability reasons, the stake president cancelled church. Everyone was freaking out because no one was coming to fix the lights until 1:30 and they were thinking it would take hours to fix and that means the baptism would have to be moved because the font takes 2 hours to fill, bla bla bla. So we prayed. The lights turned on at exactly 11:30. So there was no need to cancel church. Anyways. It was cancelled. And after all the chaos, the baptism happened at 3! Right on time. It was incredible to see all of the men in the font dressed in white who all worked together to baptize James. It was truly a testimony builder as we saw the power of the Priesthood work to lift their fellow man. It was great.

I also want to say how awesome my companions are. We are all trying to improve and be better missionaries and it is SO NICE. No one has to worry about saying things we think we could improve because we are all moving towards the same goal. They are so sweet and great. I really love them. It was a really good week. Full of daily ups and downs, but the Lord is with me every step of the way. He truly answers my prayers and is so aware of me.

Until next time!

Sister Larrabee