So this week became the biggest miracle ever! Like nobody in my area has even heard of this happening before! Okay, well here it is!

I gained weight.

Just kidding!

We have an investigator that is an older black lady named Flora. Her speaking is our equivalent to our yelling or screaming! Its pretty hilarious! She had a baptismal date right before I came here. She was interviewed by my District Leader and with some complications, needed a follow up interview with a mission president or counselor. She took that really hard and felt judged. She said she never wanted to meet with missionaries again. When I came in, we would go visit her and she grew in her trust again with us and loved our scriptures we shared, but If we started talking about baptism she would say, “NUH-UH! WE’RE NOT GOING DOWN THAT ROAD TONIGHT! NOOO SIR!” We tried 2 or 3 visits, but she wouldnt even THINK about it. We knew she was ready! She had more faith than anyone! I left that lesson thinking, “We need to get President to come on an exchange with us and do a sneak interview with her mixed into the lesson!” Elder Austin looked at me with doubt and said, “President only goes on exchanges [or goes to lessons with the missionaries] once every transfer, and thats only one set of missionaries out of each Zone!” There was basically no chance. Then 2 weeks later my zone leader (Elder Weaver) went on an exchange [we swapped companions for a day] with me. We went to Flora’s to try to talk to her about baptism again and after our lesson we tried to talk to her about it, but she looks my ZL in the eye and says, “WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN THAT ROAD TONIGHT, AND HE KNOWS IT!” *Points at me*. My ZL and I walked out of there and Elder Weaver said, “It would be really cool to get President to come on an exchange with you and do an interview” And it freaked me out because thats the impression I got! So the next day we went to a meeting in which president was there, and we asked him if he would come out with us, and he said, “Maybe if your ZLs allow, youll be the companionship I go out with next transfer”

       Backstory: In a Zone meeting we had set a goal for a certain many baptisms this month. Each of us felt like that was the number the Lord wanted. We had 1 less than that number and 1 weekend left to meet that goal.

       So it was friday and we KNEW Flora was ready! And we knew If president came on an exchange with us that night, she could be baptized! So our Zone Leaders agreed with us, and called president. He told us that he will be at our apartment at 5:30 that night and to prepare a lesson! We were freaking out! bouncing off the walls! We planned our lesson, and President picked us up. He seemed inconvenienced, but willing to do what needed to be done. The lesson with Flora started out great! Elder Austin, President, and I sang to her “Be Still My Soul” to invite the spirit. We had a lesson on the Holy Ghost, talked about the importance of baptism, and after a while, she agreed that Baptism is an important thing and that she should be baptized! But then when we asked her to be baptized, she wouldn’t because she didnt want to go through the interview. Everything President said wasn’t working for her either. So President said, “Alright Flora, keep meeting with the missionaries until you are ready for baptism.” My head DROPPED. I knew if President couldnt do it, we couldnt. But then since Flora is a Texas Talker, she started spouting out about something that apparently gave President a twinge of hope! He kept trying! He talked about Priesthood authority and linked it to us and the church. She believed it all. She believed we had the authority for baptism, but she didnt want to be interviewed. So guess what president did. He started going through the interview questions almost mixed in the lesson!! Just like I pictured a few weeks ago! Then he says, “Flora, you were just interviewed!” And she said, “YEAH, I KNEW THE MOMENT YOU STARTED ASKING QUESTIONS! YOU THINK I DIDNT KNOW THAT?” So then we asked her to be baptized again! She said she would not go through the interview again. then President with all the love pouring out said, “Flora, you will never have to do that again!” Then her head snapped up and looked at him! she then trying to process, then said, “THAT SOUNDS JOYOUS!! THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!! THATS LIKE EATING CANDY AND DRINKING SODA AT THE SAME TIME!!” Hahaha I love that lady. We set up a baptism for the next day!

        The day of the baptism, she didnt show up a half hour like we asked her to, so we drove over to her house. She was flustered, all shooken up. She said, “WE JUST HAD A RUN IN WITH THE POLICE, WE’VE GOTTA RESCHEDULE!” We were dissapointed. there were a room full of members waiting for her at the church. We asked if she could come an hour later and she agreed! The members were going to leave if she didnt come in the next half hour. We said a prayer, and she showed up right before they left :] It was great!

     This was all so amazing! Im sorry it was long!

Love you all!

Elder Householder