Sister Annelise Record: Miracle of the Day... Every Day

Area: Valley Hi/Heritage
Companion: Sister Sara Risenmay

You will not believe the miracles that have transpired! Let me just say that the Lord IS gathering his children from the four corners of the Earth. And he is gathering his children here, in the Texas San Antonio mission. To be even more specific, here in our area. I am not kidding when I say that EVERY DAY we are seeing miracles. We have so many investigators right now.

On Saturday morning (two days ago) at 11am, one of our Bishops called us and said that he had a referral for us. He told us that this young man had gotten in contact with some sister missionaries at the Independence, Missouri visitors center via Mormon.org. He is not from Texas, but has been here for several weeks for military training. He has took all of the lessons in his home town and he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. We told the Bishop we were on it. You can imagine our excitement after receiving that phone call. We called this young man, right away. When he answered the phone we said, "We heard that you have taken lessons from missionaries before and that you would like to be baptized as soon as possible. Is that correct?" His response: "Yes ma'am." We set up an appointment to meet with him at 2:00 that day at the church. Sister Risenmay and I were aware of the possibility of him being baptized the next day, but we figured it would probably take a week. We had no way of knowing until after meeting him. Sure enough, at 2:00 we met him and his fiancé. The spirit immediately filled the room and we both received a witness that it was time for him to be baptized soon. We talked for a little bit and found out that he had received and interview to be baptized before coming to boot camp, but it wasn't quite time. He still had some questions about prophets. But while he was away he felt a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. We had a bit of a lesson on the sabbath day, and asked him the baptismal interview questions to see where he was at. By the end, we asked him, "So when do you want to get baptized?" His response: "Today." There was no way to arrange it any other way. We couldn't do it on Sunday because he needed to be back on base by a certain time. We called up the district leader to come interview him, called President Slaughter, and moved forward. We excused ourselves to another room. We now had one hour to organize and plan a baptism. The first thing we did was kneel in prayer. Everything was moving so fast. It was not humanly possible for us to do what we were doing in the time we were doing it. Plus we were unsure about whether it was the right thing to do. After praying, we got up and called the Bishop. Amazingly it all came together. We were able to call the zone leaders to come help us, Bishop gathered some people, we called people and created the program on spot. Our district leader and his companion told us that they were available any time during the day to help us, except for 4:00. Which was when it would be happening. Right after the interview however, their appointment cancelled. It just so happens that Elder Reimsheusul already had a talk prepared on baptism, and his companion, Elder Atagi, had been studying the Holy Ghost. Two talks, done. We had some ward missionaries help with the prayers, and a few ward members were able to drop everything and be there. It was a small, but powerful service. We both had a very peaceful feeling that this was right. Our Bishop just got back from being away, and was able to share with them some things they really needed to hear. It was perfect, and so miraculous. I have to say, I have never experienced meeting someone then planning their baptism in less than an hour. I have seen the majesty of our almighty God parting the Red Sea to allow this young man to be baptized right when he needed to be. He leaves in a week or so because he's being transferred. There was literally no other way, and it happened! It was incredible!

{T} and {A} are doing amazing. We taught them three times this week and they are really progressing. I don't know if I've ever seen someone so prepared. They came to church on Sunday, which was huge. {A} loved it so much, that she went up and met the Bishop afterwards. This was the perfect sacrament meeting to have investigators at. Which is a blessing, because an entire pew and more was filled with people that we have been teaching over the past week. Both less active, and investigators. {K} was confirmed by the Bishop on Sunday. Getting people to church is usually a struggle. So that, in and of itself was incredible.

To put it simply, my jaw is no longer dropping each day when someone incredibly prepared approaches us. I have simply decided to be grateful for the trust God has placed in us, and get to work baptizing all these people. We are here to baptize, and baptize we will. Because the lord has blessed us with multiple miraculous opportunities literally each day. There is no doubt in my mind that his work is moving forward full speed. We are preparing for the second coming of the Savior, and he is gathering his people. I am humbled to be an instrument in his hands, and will accomplish all that he asks us to do, whatever it may be.

Sincerely,
Sister Record

P.S. I've been studying the tree of life in depth for a couple weeks. It has everything to do with the gathering of Israel. I was going to go into depth about what I've learned with that, but I do not have time. Hopefully I'll get to share that with y'all soon. Here's one thought: In Revelation 22 John sees the vision of the tree of life. It so amazing!! You should read it with that in mind. :)

I love you all!

Pictures

At the church after our first evening of bike riding. Sister
Risenmay hasn't ridden her bike yet on her mission. It was so great!
(Don't worry, we do not bike at night. The church is home base for our
car when we put up our bikes and go home.)