Another Week

Hello!

Another week has gone by. It is crazy how fast a week can come and go. It is sometimes hard to believe I am sitting down to email you again. Well to start off, the weather has been wonderful. Surprisingly enough, it hasn't rained much this last week. Although it rained enough on Monday night (as you can tell from the pictures) to last us the rest of the week. England is a beautiful place and I love seeing the sky here. I always feel like it is bluer for some reason, but maybe it is just because I am paying more attention to it.

Some exciting news I have is that Daniel Andrew, one of our investigators, is getting baptized next week. He is 36 years and works as a jointer. (If I knew what that was I would tell you but basically I understand it to be some type of construction. Maybe I will do a bit of research and let you know next week.) He is divorced, but has exact joint-custody with his wife for his daughter, Ellie. Ellie is 6 years old and is lovely! She honestly is one of the most well-behaved 6 year olds I know. We had a fun lesson about prayer the other day with her and we drew what we were grateful for. I know that the gospel will bless their family's life, especially Ellie because she will be able to be part of the loving and nurturing environment of the church. Back to Daniel Andrew, who we call Brother Andrew, he has been investigating the church for a few months now (since before I arrived in Wigan). He fully accepts the doctrine of the church, but he was struggling with the law of tithing. I will admit it was a challenge for him and, despite our best efforts to explain the blessings of tithing and how it was a commandment, nothing appeared to be working. However, time can solve all problems. Since he had this struggle, he started reading his scriptures and praying on a daily basis. Brother Andrew decided he needed to learn for himself if this was true and whether baptism was correct for him. We all reach a stage in our lives when we need to make that decision. We need to decide, do I really believe and know this to be true? Or am I just leaning on the faith of others? We all have different struggles in our lives, but I know that as we learn to rely on the Lord, He answers our prayers. It doesn't matter what others say because we can really know these things for ourselves. I have seen this exact thing happen with Brother Andrew. He really came to know and recognize for himself that the gospel is true. He knows that Heavenly Father answers prayers because he has received answers. It is such a blessing to be able to witness the changes that he has made in his life and how much happier he is now. He will be baptized on the 4th of November and it will be an exciting day! I will be sure to report more later, but I wanted to mention it so that you weren't all surprised when I just dropped in a quick sentence in a few weeks.

To provide you all with some insight into the scriptures, I was studying the godhead (God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost) this week. Here is the insight I had and sent in my weekly letter to the mission president (we send weekly letters to let our leader/president know how we are doing and how the work is going in our area):

Lastly, during personal study, I learned more about the godhead. I completely believe the godhead to be three separate beings; however, I will admit the scriptures can be confusing. As I was reading Mosiah 16, I happened upon some scriptures that did not seem correct according to the doctrine I know. As I studied verse 15 in more detail, I gained greater knowledge. This verse talks about how redemption comes through Christ, who is our Eternal Father. I realized there are two parts to understanding this scripture, eternal and father. First, Christ is eternal because it is through him that we can live forever. As a result of his atonement, we can have eternal life. Second, Christ can be thought of as father because through baptism we become sons and daughters of Christ. We know baptism is necessary for salvation. As we understand what the words eternal father mean in context, it is clear to see that Eternal Father refers to Christ and doesn’t imply that Christ and Heavenly Father are one.

I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ, died for us. He suffered for both our physical/emotional and our spiritual infirmities. I know that as we rely on Him, we can receive strength and happiness. I am grateful for all He has done for us and I try and help others come nearer to the Savior each and every day.

Well know that I am doing well. There is an exciting week that lies ahead of us, so I will report more next week. Thank you for all your support! Keep up the good work. I love you and miss you!

Love, Becca

p.s. These pictures are from Monday night when we went out and it poured on us. The first one is of Sister Davis and we thought was ironic because of what the poster at the bus station said. The second one just shows how despite the weather, we are still happy and have fun!