Natalie is a miracle, just good to the core. She is an outstanding mother, an elect and prepared child of God. We found Natalie one rainy exchange day on the way to a member’s home in Amsterdam. We had been doing a lot of finding that day so it would have been easy to just go straight inside and have a nice meal. But we saw Natalie walking there across the street with her son Fyron and we knew we had to talk with her. As we began talking with her, explaining and testifying of why we are here and asking her a couple things as well, she said she was very busy. We had already been speaking with her for a couple minutes, and the members who we were going to visit drove past and stopped in the street as if they we were waiting for us. We were about to reach for a pass-along card (or “call it quits”) but we felt to just honestly try and set up an appointment, because a lot of people (Natalie especially) really are very busy! It worked! She told us later from her perspective that when she saw us from across the street she had a strange feeling come over her, encouraging her to avoid us. She was in a hurry and tired, but as we crossed the street and began to talk and testify – that strange feeling was replaced with the spirit. She felt the love and peace of our message.
From that first appointment on, Natalie proved to be a very serious seeker of truth. On June 30th as we sat down during a lesson to set-up a teaching calendar and baptismal date with her, there was a little miscommunication with the easily mumbled months of June and July (in Dutch Juni and Juli) and Natalie thought that we were inviting her to be baptized on June 30th instead of July 30th! She was really thinking about it as well, and as she asked if that might be a little too quick we just assumed that she might be like a lot of others who think that it will take months before they can take the step. We assured her that she could do it, and promised her that our Heavenly Father would bless her. “It’s more than a month away,” we explained.
“Wait, Juni or Juli??” Natalie asked.
“Juli! You were really thinking about Juni??” She was ready and excited to learn and follow our Saviour’s example. The baptism itself was a beautiful day, family and ward members crowded into the room to experience the occasion. Natalie recognized and followed the spirit, it was a blessing to teach and learn from her. (Elder Favero and Elder Bastian)
I love how you post these written experiences by the Elders and Sisters. Keep it up. I wish all Mission President blogs did this.
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