We had a baptism this Saturday for Gitanjili! I would like to share a little bit about Gitanjili's story. She has been taught by missionaries for the past 6 months. She gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the Church or Jesus Christ, and modern day prophets after only 3. The reason she did not get baptized is because her parents would not let her. This did not stop her.
Gitanjili came to church every week, followed every commandment, and read her scriptures daily. She told us that she prayed nearly every day and fasted asking Heavenly Father to allow her to be baptized. All Elder Lane and I could do was continue encouraging her and helping her along. To put it into perspective, if she had brought her Book of Mormon home, her parents would have ripped it up and throw it away.
Last week, we got a call from Gitanjili's mom giving her permission to be baptized! Now, there is a lesson in this story. Never give up. We are all asked to do things that feel impossible, that seem completely out of our reach and, though we may fail, we can never give up. Gitanjili did not give up after the first rejection or the second or the third or the fourth! Even after her parents said no, she came to church, read her scriptures, and prayed. Let us all, me included, be more like Gitanjili. She has now had the wonderful opportunity to taste true repentance and embrace heaven sent love because of that obedience and perseverance.
Gitanjili's baptism went great! Elder Lane had the blessing of baptizing her and I was able to confirm her a member of the Church that following sacrament meeting. She was so prepared and deserved this so much. I couldn't be happier for her.
Other than that, we got to go to the temple with Stan today!! The Manti temple is gorgeous. It is also a live session! For those of you who do not know what that is, I encourage you to get a temple recomend and attend either the Salt Lake City Temple or the Manti temple. I got such great insight and knowledge from this temple visit and I feel rejuvenated to go and work hard!
Transfers should be next week but p-day will still be on Monday. Also, my email address is changing probably because the church is not using the terms Mormon or LDS anymore. It should be the address that I send this from.
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Francis
Pic:
We learned how to quilt at the humanitarian center.
That is Elder Lane and I with Gitanjili
That is all of us at the Manti temple today!
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