The Heart of Winter

It has been a blessed week! The cold has definitely settled in. Most mornings there has been frost on the ground when we woke up and when we go home in the evenings. However, let me tell you about two of the amazing things that happened this week :)

Joanne was baptized! Everything went rather flawlessly, besides the fact that she had to be baptized twice since her knee went out of the water. As I sat in the baptismal service, it was the first time I sat there and actually felt I didn’t do any of the work. She really taught herself. Before we could teach her about the Word of Wisdom or reading the scriptures, she had studied it online at mormon.org and lds.org. Joanne was proactive about learning, and it is clear that she wanted the gospel. I was simply able to be there as an instrument in God’s hands to review material and answer questions. This experience has just made my week. Furthermore, we taught her about temples and family history, so she is looking forward to going to the temple to do work for her ancestors.

Another miracle is with our investigator Yarong. If you remember her, she wouldn’t even pray the first few weeks of meeting with her. Ever since she started to pray regularly, we have seen miracles. This last week we once again addressed the importance of the Sabbath day (since she works on Sundays during church) and fasting. When we asked about her job, she told us she recently thought about quitting. Yarong is mostly working for her resume, so she would prefer to be doing something related to her field of study (psychology). We are working with the ward council to help her find other work, even if it is volunteer work. Carrying on with the lesson, we taught her about fasting and how that can help us in our lives. She committed herself to fast that night. Yarong did exactly that. She included in her fast about moving accommodations (so she could be closer to campus and also church activities) as well as her lab report. The very next day after her fast, she told us how she found new housing and is moving on Saturday. It truly is a miracle, and it is clear that the Lord is mindful of each of us, especially as we fast and are willing to sacrifice something on our behalf (food and water) for something greater (the purpose of our fast).

Besides that life is pretty much the same. We are getting ready for Christmas. I recently set up a Christmas tree with lights in the flat. It is the same exact one as last year since I am living the same location.

Love, Becca

Photos: (I think you should be able to recognize the different people in each photo.)

One from the temple when we went and visited this past week

One from the baptism.