15 Minutes to Conversion

Hello again from the Philippines!

It's only been about half a week since my last email, so not too much has happened.  Two of our investigators, Brother and Sister Ramos, had their baptismal interview on Saturday, and we were so excited and happy.  We waited for them to finish, then went to talk with the elders to make sure the baptism record and everything was filled out properly.  Well when we went in, our district leader told us that only the husband could be baptized and that the wife needed some more time.  We literally went from grinning ear to ear to devastated.  Both of us were just standing there like "What??"  It was a very difficult moment.  And then our elder started grinning and told us he was joking and they were both fine.  I told him if he ever did that again I'd kill him.

So we had a neat experience with the Ramos family this week.  The mom and dad are so progressing and are so excited to be baptized, but their 3 boys weren't so progressing.  They weren't reading in the BOM, and making that a priority.  In our mission, we have a designated 15 minutes every night that we can just focus on the Book of Mormon.  It is so powerful and is such a testimony builder, so we challenged the boys to do that.  We promised them that if they focused 15 minutes a day--just 15 minutes out of 24 hours--they would receive that witness that it was true.  We had one more lesson with them between the commitment and Sunday, and the boys had done it, and Sunday was the first time that all 5 of them came to church!!  It was amazing :)  such a witness to me of how powerful the Book of Mormon really is.  So I have the same challenge for all of you :)  I challenge you to focus 15 minutes every day in the Book of Mormon.  I can promise you, based on the change I've felt in myself and that I've seen in others, that just by doing that simple thing, you will be able to gain that testimony of the Book of Mormon, and strengthen your relationship with Heavenly Father :)

Mosiah 18:11  And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.  When the desire of our hearts is to do the things that will bring us closer to God, He will provide a way, and will give us those spiritual confirmations of the truth.

Rosemary M. Wixom:  Because you are His child, you not only need Him, but He needs you.  Heavenly Father wants us to be able to come back to Him.  And the Book of Mormon is the best way to know what it is that we need to do in order to do that :)

Love from the Philippines!

XOXO

Sister Pectol