Get ready for a big surprise!!‏

From:	Callie Horton (callie.horton@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Mon 1/13/14 9:11 AM

Familia!!

 

So big surprise..... Filiberto was baptized yesterday!!!!!!!!!! So this past week just a lot changed. The branch where he got baptized was planning on having 2 baptisms yesterday already. So Filiberto was asked if he would like to move it up because it was going to be a very special program, and he agreed!! He was interviewed the next day and yesterday he was baptized and received the Holy Ghost! Holy flip. It was such a great baptism. The program was fabulous and his face was just so full of the light of this gospel. In his confirmation blessing it said to bless him to be a strong leader in the church. That was probably the part for me when I realized what I had helped to do. I know that none of this could have happened without the amazing help of the Spirit, but I am so happy that I was able to be one of the bearers of the precious words from the Spirit. He WILL be a great leader someday. I felt like a mom being proud of a kid or something haha. The whole thing was just such a great experience. And since Filiberto went to Chesterfield Ward a couple times, some members from there came to support him, so it was so great to see some old faces! The ward mission leader from there was talking to me and brought up the fact that I could barely speak Spanish while I was there haha but he was proud of how much I knew now haha. He's a character. It did make me happy though that people from there remembered me! But yes, it finally happened. The great and wonderful Filiberto is now a member of this true and magnificent church! Man, missionary work is the absolute best.

 

Hermana Pratt was pretty deathly ill this week so had to stay in a lot, but the lessons that we were able to have were great! We were having a lesson with our investigator Ishmael when we realized that he didn't really remember a whole lot from the restoration so we decided to review it. We were kind of having a hard time keeping his attention and there were a lot of people at his house that were talking and stuff, so we weren't really feeling like it was the most successful lesson ever, but then Hermana Pratt recited the beautiful words of the First Vision. I have yet to have a time on my mission where the Spirit did not just flood into the room when the First Vision was being recited. The rest of the lesson may not have been that great, but when the words of Joseph Smith's vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were recited, it was just amazing. We had a member with us that didn't speak any Spanish, and after the lesson we were just talking about the lesson and she starts talking about how there was this really powerful part when Hermana Pratt was talking. And she could barely finish talking, when I got super overly excited and said, "It's because she was reciting the First Vision!!" Even the member who couldn't speak Spanish, could feel the Spirit that comes from the First Vision. I can't even get over how true Joseph Smith and his experience is. The Lord testifies to me every single time we talk about Joseph Smith, that it is true.

 

This amazing work is so great and so special. I am so glad that the Lord is letting me be a part of it with all of my imperfections. I have grown to learn so much on my mission how the Lord works by small and simple things. One of my all time favorite scriptures, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." There are a bunch of 18, 19, 20, 21, etc., aged people going out and sharing the most precious message of all time to people and helping them to return one day to their Heavenly Father. If that isn't small and simple then I don't know what is! But the Lord has a great plan for his missionaries and for his children that need saving. What a great blessing it is to be a part of it.

 

I hope you all have a very wonderful week!! Remember that I love you!!!

 

And now I close mine epistle. I am Hermana Horton.