Here's a little addendum to Jarod's letter this week. This one was written by his companion, a cute and somewhat quiet missionary from England. Jarod is is trainer, and they get along really well. Jarod told me that there are 2 reasons why he loves Elder Hawkins. 1. He told him he is exactly like Michael Scott and 2. He never thought that his mission would be "fun" but Jarod has totally proved him wrong!! He said that Jarod has made missionary work so much fun!!
Hi everyone,
We're having ten baptisms! Prayer works. Trust God and never doubt in Him. I lost count this week as I stressed about the baptisms, just how many times my prayers were answered through the Holy Ghost saying "stop worrying, it'll happen." It's a weakness on my part that I kept asking for that same confirmation over and over again, because once wasn't enough.
Every one of these investigators were interviewed and found worthy for baptism, they came to Church on Sunday and are preparing now to go to the font on Saturday!
Elder Ivins and I have agreed this has been the fastest week ever on our missions. From the moment we looked at each other ten days ago and realised the baptism was in just over two weeks until right now it feels like everything has gone in fast forward.
It was on Thursday night that our faith was tested the most. One investigator, Thuto, has been really behind on the lessons, but she's read the Book of Mormon to 1 Nephi 20 and comes to Church every week since we've met her. She's also made a lot of friends at Church, and she's basically already been completely self-reliant in her testimony since the day we met her, nothing for us to do. The only problem was that we still needed to go over the interview questions for her so she could be baptised, and we needed to do this on Thursday so we could prepare her interview for the weekend. The only problem was, when we arrived for our appointment, she was fast asleep, and when we came back thirty minutes later, she had completely disappeared. Her friend Uvayo (also being baptised) didn't know where she was, and all her family had left. We knew we had to see her that night - within the next three hours to be home on time - so we cancelled all our appointments and just sat outside her house and waited.
After about half an hour, we both felt we needed to go and look for her. Obviously that made no sense, we had no clue where she might be. Maybe we both wanted to be doing something. Either way, we decided to get in the car - I was driving - and before we drove off we started with a prayer that we would find her. We then lined up the songs we had that best bring the spirit to us and I started driving.
We must have driven for about half an hour, but neither of us were phased by that. But by this time I was having a very strong impression that we needed to turn around and go back in the direction of Thuto's home. Elder Ivins knows the area better than me, but I'd stopped asking him for directions, and told him I would take each road only as I felt impressed to. So I turned the car the way that I thought led back to Thuto's house and put on my favourite talk - Safety for the Soul by Jeffrey R. Holland. I can never listen to that talk without feeling the spirit, and I know the talk so well that I became more focused on reciting the talk as he spoke and I completely stopped thinking about which direction we were taking.
Even later - eight thirty now, only half an hour left where we could possibly see her - I saw a turning which I thought I recognized, and felt prompted to turn left. I didn't recognize the street, but it felt right to go down in. At the end of the road, we slow down at a crossroads, and I'm looking either way for us to turn. Then, Elder Ivins points ahead "I think that's her." We both look ahead, and there's a woman walking towards us and we watch until she comes into sight. It was Thuto.
Thuto had been walking home at exactly that place which we had been led to. We had arrived there at exactly the right moment to see her and invite her to come to Uvayo's house for a lesson before we had to go home. Whatever took us to exactly that point of finding her, it wasn't my personal sense of direction. As we found her. I looked up at Elder Ivins and told him honestly: "I have absolutely no clue where we are." He had to direct me back to her house.
Never doubt whether the Holy Ghost truly has the power to guide you. Next week, Thuto, Uvayo, Aviwe, Avela, Nana, Zandisiwe, Yamkela, Aphelele, Siphosethu and Thandile are all being baptised. We wanted to jump up out of our seats when the last one - Aphelele - walked into Church yesterday, both to celebrate, and to let out all the frustration from her having showed up a whole thirty minutes late.
If you haven't got this yet from my emails, God answers prayers.
All the best,
Elder Hawkins
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