Monday, October 22, 2012

Liebe Familie,
Danielle is getting baptized!!!!! She called us Friday night and said,
"Hi, I would like to be baptized. When can we do it?" We were jumping
up and down; we were so excited!!! Danielle will be baptized on 3.
November at 6 pm. She is so excited, and so ready! And we are excited
that she is willing to take that leap of faith!! Mensch, we are so so
so excited! There are no words. :]
On Monday, we went to the first district and did some sight-seeing
around there. There are such cool old buildings in this city. We
especially loved the national library. What an awesome building. We
also came across some Roman ruins. It is so crazy to think how old
that stuff is! It was a cool P. Day:]
We had interviews this week. Graz came in for zone training on
Wednesday, and we did splits again that night so they would have a
what to do. Sister Pingree and Sister Stewart visited with Danielle
(that night she said, "Last week, I was asking myself, ´Why am I not
baptized?´ But then again, I am still not 100% there yet." Just a few
days later, she decided to take that leap of faith!!!!), and Sister
Holmstead and I visited with the deacon in the Catholic church. He
invited us to a Taize Prayer with him. But, he received some incorrect
information as to where it was, so Sister Holmstead and I got an
unofficial tour of a Catholic church as he led us all over trying to
figure out where the entrance to the Crypt was. It was way cool for
both of us - we had never toured a Catholic church before! Sister
Holmstead was really good at asking Peter questions, too. It´s always
nice to bring someone new along to ask the questions that we really
should know the answers to, but we´ve known him too long to ask:] But
we eventually figured out where it was, went to that church, and
caught the last half hour of it. Sister Holmstead and I noticed how
the songs we were singing were talking of true principles, and we felt
good when we were there. But, for that fulness of joy, we need the
fulness of truth. It was a very good lesson to learn. We love Peter,
though. He just wants everyone to get along and be happy. We are
"sharing faith" (as he put it in a text) with him this next week:]
Thursday after interviews, Sister Stewart and I headed to the church.
We had Gemeinderat at the same time as an appointment with the
Vietnamese family. Sister Stewart volunteered to go to Gemeinderat so
I could go on splits with Theresea to teach the family. We taught
about how God is our Heavenly Father and that baptism is the first
step in returning to live with him. Last time we asked them to read
and pray as a family, and I asked them how that went. She excitedly
told us they had done it every night. Then she paused and said, "It´s
the weirdest thing, though. We all feel so warm when we do it..."
Theresea and I got the biggest smiles on our faces as I explained
about the Holy Ghost. They are so ready for the gospel, so willing to
learn, and so receptive to the spirit. They also accepted the soft
baptismal commitment! We are inviting them to see Danielle´s baptism
so they can get more of an understanding as to what it is. But we are
so excited for this little family! They are so great!!
This weekend was a little crazy as we had to hurry and start planning
for Danielle´s baptism, but it will be great! We are so excited, and
so is she! Last night I helped her pick out songs while Sister Stewart
proof-read the German homework of our joint teach after the lesson.
Danielle loved the "Baptism" and "Rainbows" songs in the primary book.
She said, "I love the kids songs because they just get right to the
point about the truth!" She is so stinkin´ cute, and once more, there
are no words to describe how excited we are for her!!
Viel Glück!
Alles Gute!
Ich liebe euch!
Liebe,
Sister Stephanie Reid

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