So backing up a little bit... even though it's been great, it has also been a little bit of a roller coaster. First of all, as of last monday we weren't sure if Jeremy was going to get baptized on saturday. We just weren't sure if he was ready. He hadn't been reading like he was supposed to, we gave him some material and he just wasn't doing his home work. BUT he was trying, and you could see his faith growing. Kristen is and was just leaps and bounds ahead. Also, side note, even though we found Kristen and Jeremy, we have been team teaching with the Elders. Jeremy requested the elders because there were some things he just wanted to talk to them about, so we pulled them in. It's been a really great experience and a neat opportunity to get to teach with them. Anyways, all 4 of us were praying so hard for Jeremy, that he would read and pray, and that he would be ready for baptism on Saturday. We really didn't want to push him back, but we would have if we felt like it was the right thing to do. So, Jeremy walks into the lesson on Monday night and says - before you all ask, I've done three things. And they way he said it I was like... oh no, here we go - what did you do...? And he told us that he read 2 chapters in the Book of Mormon, he watched the Restoration DVD with his non-member friend, and he prayed. My jaw quite literally hit the floor. We continued to have a wonderful lesson, and there was no doubt in any of us by the end that he was ready. It has been a great opportunity to teach Jeremy and Kristen. I don't know how else to put it, but you can see a light in their countenance and in their eyes. Jeremy especially - the first time we met him, he cursed us up one side and down the other in a slew of profanities and combinations I have never heard before. That was July 1st. He was baptized the 21st. I have witnessed the transformation in him, and it's incredible. It's like a literal darkness has left him. I'm telling you it is nothing short of a miracle. TWENTY DAYS. A complete miracle.
Kristen is just a fireball. I asked her this week if she has prayed to know the book of Mormon is true, and she told me that she has prayed about it every day since the first day we gave it to her. She says she sets the book in a corner and opens it up to the first page with the picture of Christ, then she kneels down facing it and prays. She prays to know if it's true, and she prays to understand it better. I teared up when she was bearing her true and simple testimony of it. It was powerful.
So - as many of you have heard - Alex Lowery came to visit! It was great to see someone from home. Dad gave him money to take us to dinner - (THANKS DAD!!!) and he also came to a lesson with us. It was the night right before the big day with Kristen and Jeremy, so it wasn't our best lesson because we just tied up some loose ends, but the spirit was there and testified through all of us. Alex had some great things to add, and it was a great thing having him there! Jeremy even asked where he was the day of the wedding - he hoped he would make it!
So the day of the baptism wedding was AWESOME. I've never seen a wedding quite like this one before... it was different but good! We pinned a boutonniere on Jeremy's t-shirt, gathered in the cultural hall for the wedding, had the baptism, and ate lasagna afterwards. Quite the party right? Kristen asked me to be her maid of honor too... but I politely suggested that she have her mom or her sister do the honors. :) It made me feel good though! I got to be there holding the towel for her when she got out of the font. Elder Hazeldine did the baptism, and it was all he could do to get her completely underwater... and she came up and just kinda let out this scream. It shocked me for a minute - but then I realized she was just so happy that she just let out this big joyful holla! So funny. But it was so good! She said that she felt so clean - and I don't think there is any better feeling than that!
I had a neat experience after the baptism. All of us missionaries were just cleaning up, and then I got this prompting - so I followed it. I left cleaning up, which is not like me at all, and I walked over to this guy who was in the middle of a conversation with someone else, and I jumped in. I don't know why or how but I just did. He was this big guy too, and a bit rough looking. So his name is Chris, we start talking, and end up in this very spiritual conversation, and I taught him about the restoration and the book of mormon right there! I gave him one, and he took it like a starving child, and he promised me with intense sincerity that he would read it. He said that he wants to meet again. He loved the peace he felt in the church and at the baptism. It was a really good opportunity for me to follow the prompting of the spirit - telling me to talk to this person that in everyday life, I would have probably stayed away from. I didn't even have the backup of my awesome companion Sister Wride, but I knew I had to follow the spirit and I had to do it immediately. I'm learning more and more to follow those impressions and intuitions. The more I do that, the more the Lord will trust me, the more opportunities I will have. I'm sure of it.
I've been reading the book of Joshua in the Old Testament lately... has anyone read it? I've found so many good things there! I want to share them with you - but it's probably going to have to wait until next weeks letter, because I'm out of time. I hope you're all doing well. I love you so much!!!!
Thanks for the prayers and support. Please pray for us to find people to teach - we just baptized and wed our entire teaching pool....
Love
Sister Skousen
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