Baptisms

Hello!

It sounds like you guys had an amazing week! I thought about you guys all throughout Saturday, and I can't wait to hear more about the celebration! And I can't wait to see more pictures! The tree you guys made looks great.

Well, Bennett and Verna went all the way under, all the way in white! It was such a special day. Probably one of the best days of my life so far, actually. very few times have I felt the spirit as strongly as I did at Bennett and Verna's baptism, and I will never forget it! Bennett was grinning from ear to ear, and when I asked Verna how she felt afterwards she said, "I'm a little bit weepy, but that's alright!" They fit right in with our family. :) A little bit after the service Verna came over to give me a hug and she whispered "Thanks for finding me," and of course we both lost it right there. We just stood there hugging and crying for a long time, and it's a good thing Sister Anderson had the foresight to bring me tissues. :)

I got your letter this week, mom! Thanks so much! I love getting mail. You asked for names of our investigators so that you can begin praying for them by name, so here are a few of the people we've been teaching that could use your prayers-

Steve- he's a single dad who recently moved here from Colorado. He has two girls. He has come to church twice, and we had a breakthrough lesson with him this last week where he was really open with us about how he has a desire to believe in God even though he has had some extremely difficult things happen to him in his childhood. pray that Steve will have the courage to pray!

Mikayla- I think I mentioned Mikayla a few weeks ago. Shes the 14 year old girl that we had two really solid lessons with. We haven't been able to see Mikayla for about 2 weeks now :( We've talked with her dad and he says he's totally fine with us teaching her even though he's not interested, so we're glad that that's not the problem, we can just never seem to find Mikayla at home. She's been on my mind a lot recently and I would really love to continue teaching her, so pray for help with that.

Nancy and Don- these are two less active individuals in our ward, and for whatever reason I have felt strongly that we needed to go meet them for months even though we knew nothing about them. We finally met Nancy about a month ago and we've been teaching her the missionary lessons. The spirit has been very strong, she has started reading the Book of Mormon again, and it seems like she is really regaining her faith that was lost! We talked with her friend brother Rehaume, who seems to be the only person in the ward that they really have a relationship with, and Brother Rehaume told us yesterday that Nancy sent him an email and told him that she and Don have noticed a huge change in their life since we started coming, and are strongly considering coming back to church, even though they've been inactive for 13 years. I LOVE working with less actives!

Please pray also for all the kids and adults around the world that have come from broken homes. I feel so much sorrow every day for the abuse and neglect that is rampant- it's absolutely astounding how many people we meet and how many homes we go into that have been torn because of it. I wouldn't say I've been sheltered, because I knew that bad stuff happened, but I've been sheltered. There is so much more darkness out there than I ever realized. It's such a foreign world that we are living in- so different from the home that we all once knew. People need God now more than ever, but as the world gets darker the easier route is to believe in nothing at all and mock those who do believe than to risk believing in goodness.

Recently we've been struggling with finding investigators that will progress or who we can have more than one lesson with. We'll meet someone who seems like a really promising potential investigator, or we'll have a really solid first lesson with someone, then after that their life seems to get super busy and it takes forever to get in with them again. I think the adversary uses busyness as one of his favorite tools. My purpose in Oak Harbor has felt so centered on Bennett and Verna- from the first day that I got here and met Bennett and felt that there was something special about him-  that it still hasn't sunk in that I'm going to be here in Oak Harbor for another 5 weeks. I love Oak Harbor, but it is still so weird to think about!

Anyways. I wish I had time to write more but I still haven't written president. Love you all! Can't wait to hear more about all the wonderful blessings that God brings into your lives and all of the ways that you feel His love for you and share that love with others! We have been way too blessed to keep this gospel to ourselves. Give 100% to sharing the gospel with others so that you can feel that joy. Full force ahead- we are so lucky to live at a time where we can say that we are part of the "hastening!!!"

Love,

Sister Slade