A Week Full of Baptisms

We feel very blessed as a mission. We were able to see eight precious souls come to the waters of baptism this week. President Brubaker and I had the privilege of meeting Isatu before she was baptized. The light in her eyes spoke volumes of the happiness the Gospel has brought into her life.

Isatu was born in Sierra Leone and is a refugee who found asylum here in the Netherlands. She was found by missionaries about a year ago and began receiving the lessons, but as she was taking the lessons she was not convinced that it was the right thing. She was super confused by all of the other churches around her and the many things that people were saying. She began to avoid the missionaries and then went on vacation to Sierra Leone and lost contact completely. When she came back from Sierra Leone, her kids started living with her again. On New Year's Eve, at midnight, she and her daughter, Mary, decided they would pray. She says she didn't really know how to pray, but they just began pouring their hearts out to God and for the first time in her life she really felt His presence--that He was there for her and watching out for her and her children. She realized that all of the good things in her life had come from God and that she had been saved time and time again in the wars in Sierra Leone through God. A couple of months later she ran into the Elders on the street. She took it as a sign from God and decided to start investigating the church again. She came to church every week after that and invited her uncle, Ibrahim Lumeh, to take the lessons as well, telling him that she believed she had found the true church. We taught her and Mary while the Elders came once a week to teach Ibrahim. Their testimonies grew and grew. In one lesson, a few weeks ago, they all bore their testimonies about how they had finally found the true church and talked about how grateful they were. Her 4 year old son also thanked God for finding the true church in his prayer at the end of the lesson. It was then that they really knew that they had made the right decision to be baptized. They were baptized on the 26 of June, 2010, and afterwards Isatu told me that she felt perfect--that she had never felt like this in her life and that she was so happy. It was wonderful!

Mariela Mendoza was a member referral. Her husband passed away due to cancer and she was lonely. Creating a strong relationship with various elders gave her the feeling that she had adopted many sons (she still refers to us as her "sons" to this day). She saw many trials and obstacles during her teaching process. It took alot of faith to make time to attend church meetings--even more faith to quit smoking. Mariela didn't have the courage at first, but after one and a half years of investigating the church she took the leap of faith and was prepared for baptism. She was baptized on June 26, 2010. It was a wonderful experience!

Quincy knew some of the JoVos from school throughout the years, and had developed a particularly strong friendship with Daan Peschair. Daan went on a mission to England in April, but he invited Quincy to the JoVo center here in Den Haag, just before he went. He also invited Quincy to his setting apart. We had begun teaching Quincy and his mother by this time. Quincy continued to attend activities the JoVos put on, such as Family Home Evening and institute every week, the volleyball tournament in Groningen, as well as just going to the movies, pizza hut night, and other get-togethers they had. At our lessons, he seemed more intellectually interested in how our church works, at least at first. Then, he began meeting with us more often than his mom, and the lessons became more centered around him. He had always done the assignments, but then he began to do more than we asked, like researching every aspect of the priesthood, Adam and Eve, patriarchal blessings, etc. He couldn't get enough to read. He was also ready to do whatever he was asked, whether it was say a prayer at the JoVo center, or prepare a report for us on the history of the priesthood, and the responisiblities of the priesthood. At this lesson about the priesthood, we asked him what he thought of baptism. Before, he and his mom were hestitant because they had already been baptized a year before by immersion. He said that he had felt at home since the first time he came to the JoVo center, and that he felt the same at church. He knew that this church had the priesthood of God, that he needed to be baptized again, but that he didn't know enough as the other JoVos that had been raised in the church, and that was why he studied so much, so that he could prepare himself as soon as possible. We assured him that he didn't need to know everything before getting baptized, showed him a teaching calendar to show how much he had already learned, and told him the he probably knew more already because of all of his studying than the average member. His family did not support him in his decision, ranging from indifference on one side to anger and extreme disappointment on the other. But he did it, because, as he told us, he knows it's true, and he knows he needed to do it. He was baptized yesterday, and will be confirmed on July 4.

More baptism stories to come.