Today we were at Church from 11:15 to about 5:30. First we attended PEC meeting, then we had the block meetings, and after that there was a baptismal service for three children.

While we were waiting to go into the PEC meeting sister Lundrigan, the new Relief Society president, came up and we started talking. We asked about how it was to go from being Primary president directly to Relief Society president and shared some our history with her. Somehow as we talked we mentioned that we had served is South Africa and it turns out her family came from South Africa. Somehow it came up that we knew a couple named Blackburns and she got excited. It turned out that her mother knew Elder Blackburn back when he was a missionary in South Africa. Some years later when brother and sister Lundrigan needed a sponsor so they could immigrate to the US from Canada, her mother called the Blackburns and they were happy to sponsor them.

We told her about meeting the Blackburns when they first came to the Durban mission and that we kept in contact with them through Facebook and e-mails. She did not realize that they would be coming home in March and I gave her their blog address. The LDS Church is a small world indeed.

 

There is a very spiritual story about the baptism that was held today. It started when Fabriana Lima was baptized around Christmas time. Her road to baptism is very special in itself but that is another story. In her testimony at today’s baptism she told how for some reason she walked down her street and knocked on the door of a family she did not know at all. After getting to know the mother she told her about her conversion to the LDS church and asked if she would like to have the missionaries come over. The mother and her three children were taught by the assistants – Elders Neeley and Kealamakia – and the children were ready to be baptized today and hopefully the mother will join them next week.

Fabriana mentioned that going to their home and asking if she could talk to them was something she never did. But since she has been baptized she wants to share her joy with others.

I was asked to give the opening prayer and be a witness. As I stood and watched the first young woman enter into the font, I received a witness that the spirit was there and that she was ready to be baptized. This took all doubt from my mind about the wisdom of three children being baptized before their mother was ready. It is the Lord’s Church and He is in charge.

Since we have been here the Weston Ward has had more baptisms in 2 months than they have had in any 12 month period. The work is really starting to move forward in this area. We are winning…