December 16, 2013 -- Luis is getting baptized!!!

 After the ward party with some of the sweet kids of the Rocky Face ward, and Bishop Torres as well. 
He is an awesome bishop.

Hola Familia!

This week has been great.  I am truly blessed to be serving the Lord's children here in Dalton, Georgia. 

So I have told y'all a little about Luis.  He is 30 and has been investigating since about May.  But he had some worries with the law of chastity and things, so has been delaying baptism.

This week on Tuesday we had exchanges with the sister training leaders.  Sister Hatch came down to spend the day with me here in the Rocky Face North area.  As we planned for the lessons of the day, we discussed Luis' situation, and decided it was time to extend him a date again.  We called the President, and he told us that the situation that Luis is in right now is not disobeying the law of chastity, and he is okay to get baptized.  We went over to Luis' house ready to invite.  So we talked about his situation, related to him the information and talked about his fears.  We explained to him that he wasn't breaking any rules. Then Sister Hatch said, "So Luis! You can get baptized any time!"  And he just looked up and he was like, ya!  I asked, "How do you feel right now?"  And he explained "Actually, like really happy! I feel super relieved!" 

Sister Hatch and I after a day in Rocky Face north!  She is a great missionary!

This week is the final count down, and we'll be making arrangements and getting the ward more involved.  The English ward has two baptisms on Saturday as well, which will make it a busy but very exciting day in Dalton.  Please pray for Luis!

I also learned a lot while on this exchange about talking with everyone! It really is so important to just share our message with everyone we see, even just testifying right there on the spot.

We had a ward party on Saturday, and as a companionship tried to everything we could to prepare for it.  We invited Luis obviously, who brought a friend and his family.  We also made little invitations and passed them out to people we'd talk to on the streeet and stuff. 

The party went well!  It started out with a live Nativity which was beautiful, and I got the chance to play violin in that. Everyone came for the food-- way more people than expected, even if they were an hour late. Four or five members brought friends and those friends brought their families.  It was truly awesome to see that happening.  We got their contact information and are hoping we'll have some new investigators from them! There were a lot of less actives there as well--don't ask me why the people always come to parties but never to church.

With the ward members who were in the nativity.  I love our ward!

I am so grateful for y'all, at this time of Christmas I miss y'all but am also profoundly grateful for the chance I have to serve here. 

This week, I am going to really experiment with faith.  Instead of overthinking things or trying to justify things, just act in obedience at all times no matter what.  As dad mentioned in an email, faith is truly incredible, and if we can just let it overcome doubt we can do anything! 

I love you all!

Hermana Collier