This new year I want to be the best year of my life. I am going to jump in nose first :] but let me tell you what has happened the last 2 or so weeks.
First off Kaitlyn got Baptized. It was an amazing experience. I will let you hear it in her own words though.
Sorry I don't have much to say about what we did over the Holidays. This is what we did. We sang carols, visited tons of people, and shared the christmas message with as many people as we could. I love Christmas. This Christmas I really focused on the savior. this is the coolest message we can share with people. I love my savior and I know he lives to bring hope and love into the world. Over all it was just a great Christmas :]
Man this is hard trying to remember what has happened over the passed 3 weeks. So after Kaitlyn we officially had no one to teach so we just hit the pavement. Cool things are happening though. We have found several sweet people to teach including a family from south Africa! Elder Powell and I got done with church and he had the feeling we needed to travel pretty far to see an investigator we lost contact with. The Investigator wasn't there so we decided to chap out there. We both felt good about this one street so we were going down the row. We needed to get back soon because I had to prepare for District meeting, but then we chapped into this family. They let us in and we gave them the first discussion. The spirit was so strong I started to cry. The first time I have cried in a lesson on my mission. The Mother, from Scotland, and Father, from South Africa, Both said that they would be baptized when they found it was true.
I just want you all to know that this mission is being led by an inspired President. God has chosen President Donaldson to lead this mission to be a baptizing mission like somewhere in south america. haha I know you are probably laughing at me now but I am telling you it will happen and everyone will wish they could go to this mission :] I am so excited. I am just happy to be part of it.
Elder Thayne
New Year's Day with the MacDonald's and Grants from the
Dunfermline Ward, playing Ticket to Ride.
Christmas fun
Looks like Breakfast Burritos?
My Conversion Story
by Kaitlyn
The story of how I was converted is a long, yet short one. It took less than four weeks for me to convert. I was never religious, I never believed in God. I believed in science; I believed that science explained everything, science proved everything and if there was no scientific answer/explanation then it wasn't real. Very quickly my mind changed. I always understood that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and I never judged that, I just didn't care for the beliefs of others.
I never considered becoming religious, being completely honest I never gave religion a thought at all. Then one day, two missionaries were going door to door and thankfully for me, they came and knocked on my door. My younger brother, Aarron, answered the door to them. He felt awkward talking to the elders and walked away laughing, leaving the front door open. To this day I have only one explanation for what happened next. I went to the front door and started talking with the two missionaries, elder Powell and elder Reeder. I believe that, despite my knowledge or lack of, God intended for me to speak to the elders which opened my mind to the thought of God. I will admit that after speaking with them I was intrigued and agreed for them to come back the next day. That night I didn't give much thought to what the elders said I just assumed that they would come back and try to preach their beliefs to me in a cliche way.
The next day, when the missionaries came back, I had been called to work; although I'm sure they thought I was trying to get rid of them. Later that night, elder Powell came back with a different companion, elder Thayne. My goal for them coming back was to question and contradict everything they said but it didn't go to plan. I was told of the plan of Salvation. Elder Thayne told me the story of the prophet Joseph Smith. While listening to this story, I was completely engrossed in every word; I barely blinked, it was like I thought that if I blinked I would miss a part of the story. I felt so warm, calm and peaceful when I heard this. These words don't do justice to how amazing it was to feel the spirit. It was truely one of the best feelings and times of my life.
The next time elder Powell came back, he brought a different companion for the day, elder Beckstrand. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but we got onto the subject of marriage. I shared my thoughts on marriage and children, as did elder Beckstrand. I never admitted this to the elders, but after hearing elder Beckstrand's views on marriage i decided to keep the law of chastity which is difficult when you work in a nightclub. I kept this law even before I decided to be baptised. I kept this law even thoug, I lost a close friend because of it and I have seen so many blessings because of it. Towards the end of the lesson, elder Beckstrand challenged me to stop smoking, and I accepted. Since then I have not smoked since.
I continued to meet with elder Powell and his companion elder Thayne. The elders taught me about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I did not, at this point, think I would be converted......but the more I met with the elders, the more I began to believe in God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I began reading the Book of Mormon and praying, alot. Through prayer I found answers to the gospel, as well as beginning to see bad things in my life with a fresh pair of eyes and I started seeing the positive out of every situation and learning from mistakes.
I took a leap and attended church for the first time, despite being terrified. I thought I would burst into flames entering the church because of all of the sins I had committed or that everyone would hate me because I was a bad person and had done pretty much everything Mormon's are against. There were a few moments I wanted to cancel, but I didn't. I went to church and surprisingly it was great. Everyone was really nice and friendly, the church is so laid back and everyone is there to worship God and not judge anyone else.
The more I learned, the more questions I had, so I prayed for answers and I got them. I made the decision to be baptised. I continued to meet with the elderes and learn about God. I started living the word of wisdom and the commandments.
Keeping these laws and changing my entire lifestyle was challenging. It was truely difficult, but it also happened to be the best decision I ever made. It was most challenging when I was tempted because of the situations I was in at work. But I "stuck to my guns" and prayed. When this happened, I knew I had faith in Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father because in the past if I was tempted I would use the excuse that I had already done it and may as well give in. But this time I didn't, and when I didn't I knew something had changed in my life. The more I learned and prayed, the stronger my faith got.
After attending church only three times and having only been learning with the elders for three weeks and two days, I was baptised. I never imagined that happening, but I couldn't deny that I believed. I had complete love, trust and faith in Christ and God. I noticed the changes in my life; I was happier, more calm, less rude and violent, more polite, more confident and over all just more positive. I stopped the things I always knew were wrong and removed myself from all the things that were dangerous and stupid and removed people from my life who couldn't accept that.
Before being baptized there is a process to go through, it sounds scary and intimidating but all of the elders are harmless. I met a spanish elder, elder Salinas who conducted my baptismal interview. I thought because it was an interview, and you would be asked about all you have learned it would be kind of daunting but again, all of the elders are super nice. Elder Salinas and I got through the interview easily and even exchanged stories about working in nigtclubs. Elder Salinas and his companion were extremely nice and I'm greatful that he was the one to interview me and allow me to pass because being baptized was definately the best thing that has ever and probably will ever happen to me.
I am forever greatful for Elder Powell, Elder Thayne, Elder Salinas and Elder Beckstrand; they are amazing teachers and even more amazing people. Finding the church is not something I thought would happen to me, but words can't describe how glad I am that I did. It really is the greatest gift and I feel so lucky to have faith and love in our Savior and Heavenly Father; and I know they love all of us so much more than we can comprehend.
