Week 72: These were times never to be forgotten

Here's the story. So I've been working with this cute 18 year old girl since I've been here in Rome. She was introduced to the church by her boyfriend and has been taking the lessons for a little over a year now. When I got here, we talked about the idea of baptism, and she was a little hesitant. As we continued teaching her, she began expressing more interest until finally she accepted a baptismal date. However, because of crazy scehduling problems on our part and on hers, we weren't able to go through with the first date. This past sunday she came to church. We ran up to her and started talking and she said "So I'm here to talk to the bishop about getting baptized this Thursday." and just like that, five minutes later, she was doing her interview with our district leader and inviting people to come. I was already feeling pretty stressed about throwing everything together for thursday, so you can imagine how much stress we felt when she told us that she needed to move the baptism to Tuesday. We threw everything together and somehow everything went smoothly. 

The coolest part was hearing her testimony at the end. She is an incredibly shy person. It took several lessons before she would open up to me about her feelings and her beliefs. But after she was baptized, she got up to the pulpit and bore the most beautiful testimony. I was so happy to see how much progress she had made from the first time I met her. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly changes people. It brings a light into people that changes their whole being!

The final miracle to conclude the week was that after her baptism, this cute, amazing, girl got a temporary recommend to the temple and she will be attending the temple dedication!! I was so full of gratitude and amazment when we found that out. This is the first time in my mission that I will be able to see someone I taught go from learning, to choosing to be baptized, to being in temple. 

I love this gospel so much, and I'm so grateful for the way that it can change us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that this is His gospel. 

I love you all!!

Sorella Maxfield