Yesterday, we had a wonderful baptism for one of our Deaf investigators! We had a great attendance from the ward - which was a relief because it seems the past few baptisms weren't so good. It was also a great opportunity for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing members to get together to welcome him into the ward. It is such a great opportunity to be back in the Oviedo ward! The people here are amazing! Although missionary work in the ward as a whole seems to be limited, the friendship and fellowship is wonderful. There are a lot of amazing and nice people here! We all love the Relief Society President, and our new Ward Mission Leader is great! We also are impressed with our new Bishop. It is so great to see the potential in this ward! We are trying to help our members see that potential themselves so they can realize the great good they can do for the missionary work. It's not only what the missionaries can do; it's a great part of what the members are doing for the work. The ward will get there!
Thank goodness, our bike week is over! We've been biking a lot! One night, we biked the four and a half miles from the church back to our apt at 9 pm in the bitter cold wind (humid cold is awful)! Yesterday was so hard to bike, but we survived - barely. Now, we will be in the car for the week to prep ourselves for bike week again next week. Sigh... car share is awful! But it builds up muscle and perseverance. There is always something good learned from every experience.
All is well! We continue in the work with a smile on our face and always find things to laugh at. It helps get through the long hours of tracting and the constant rejections we face. The Lord has truly blessed us with this great companionship! Onward and Upward!
‘Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man’s souls.’ This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of these basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. ~Spencer W Kimball (1974)
