17 October 2016 - Spiritual paycheck time

I wish I could tell you about each appointment we taught.

I wish I could tell you about each investigator we have.

I wish I could tell you about each new person we found who wants to learn about Christ.

I wish I could tell you about the spirit that has been felt.

I wish I could tell you every single one of the miracles.

The reason I don't in my weekly letters is because of 3 Ne 17:17

"And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard . . . and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time."

Now, don't get your knickers in a twist, I don't mean to be blasphemous and say that my experiences are just as marvelous as the prayers offered and lessons taught by Christ himself, but my point is that this week was one of those ones full of experiences that I don't know how to describe.  But I'll try:

We had a baptism this past weekend - a 14 year old girl named Brittany.  I didn't get to teach her too much before her baptism, she was a part of the other area that I just started working with.  But it was one of my favorite moments on my mission so far.  We invited literally EVERYONE in our teaching pool - investigators, less actives, recent converts, everyone.  And most of them came.  It reminded me of when I worked in the temple pre-mission; one of my favorite posts was in the celestial room.  I just liked to watch people come in and reunite with their spouse/friends/whoever that they came with - it was so happy!!!  I was playing prelude/postlude for the baptism, and I'd just sort of watch from behind the piano as my companions were introducing the people we were teaching to each other, and to Brittany, and to everyone else.  Seeing the people we were teaching meet each other was honestly indescribable, and I'm not even really sure why. Because we cover so many wards, the people we teach have never met each other - until saturday.  It felt like a glimpse of heaven, having them all there in one place, meeting other people who are also on a journey learning to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.  My trainee is a convert of 3 years, and relates really well to recent converts and investigators in a way that I can't.  Non-progressing investigators were meeting progressing investigators with a date and talking about their future baptisms, less active members were meeting recent converts and talking about their recent conversion... it was just SO cool to watch them.  I won't forget that... that day has meant more to me than previous baptisms, and not even because of the baptism itself.  It was seeing all of these people meet each other, talk about how the gospel has changed them, and share the journey with one another!  

I love you all.

Sister McIntosh