Eleventh Week of Our Mission

Baptism of Brother Perez with Sister Missionaries and President Gillette

Elder Frost and Brother Bienvenido Batista Perez

Brother Perez with the Sister Missionaries - He was Baptized in Two Days -A Special Miracle

 

 

Eleventh Week of Our Mission

Salt Lake Temple Square Mission

August 18, 2013

Another week is behind us and we are in the middle of August.  Time is really flying along.  This week we had some special experiences although we were doing other types of activities on some days, so we weren’t on the Square quite as much as usual.  We so enjoy being here and find ourselves anxious each morning to go out and greet people.  Crowds are thinning and vacations are coming to an end.  Soon fall will be approaching and there will not be as many people visiting.  We will miss the many diverse groups of people vacationing, but look forward to perhaps focusing on the one.

We had a special baptism today for a man from the Dominican Republic.   Two days ago two sister missionaries were at the City Creek Food Court and a man approached them.  He admitted to them that his mother, sister and brother were all members of the Church and he had not been baptized.  He realized that something was missing from his life and needed a spiritual foundation.  He went on to say to them that he wanted to be baptized before he left Utah for his work in Luxemburg (he was leaving in two days.)  Of course, they were stunned but began preparations to teach him the gospel in one day!  Taggart had the great opportunity to interview him for baptism and found him excited and ready for this marvelous event in his life.  So, under the direction of President Gillette, we organized along with the sisters, the baptism with refreshments and all.  It was a very spiritual event with a few of the sisters attending.  Taggart was able to baptize him and he felt honored to have this opportunity.  For me, I felt such a unity and spiritual strength with the sisters.  What a wonderful moment for all of us!  In fact, it had been eleven years since there was a beginning to end baptism in the mission!

As was mentioned earlier in our blog, the First Presidency has wanted the sisters to be on Temple Square an hour earlier each day up until General Conference.  Because the sisters have Relief Society on Thursday mornings, the senior missionary couples were asked to man the Square on that morning.  So, this Thursday was our first assignment.  I (Kimm) had the opportunity to be in the South Visitor’s Center that day and a young woman came in about 7:45 am.  She had all sorts of questions about the Church and the Book of Mormon.  About thirty minutes into the conversation, I realized that she was a member, a struggling member.  She had come early to Temple Square to try and receive answers to her questioning mind.  I truly felt the spirit work through me as I testified of the reality of this Church.  As it approached 8:30 am she asked if we could pray together.  We prayed, hugged and hopefully she went away feeling better.  It truly was a very spiritual moment for me and I knew without a doubt that spirit guided me that day.

We learned this last week that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland will be speaking to the sisters on Tuesday morning of next week, although they don’t know it yet.  What a thrill for all of us to be in the presence of one of the Lord’s servants in a small group setting.  We definitely will have something special to report next week.

We had some good interaction with Mimi this last week.  The sisters were greatly concerned because she had cancelled her baptism for August 24th.  Taggart talked to her and reinforced the importance of getting baptized and being that example to her husband and family.  Rick, it seems, is not very supportive of this big decision in her life and is not attending Church or being part of her discussions.  She asked Taggart to intervene and talk to him.  Consequently, a well written email and article on “Celestial Marriage” was sent to him.  Hopefully he and Taggart can also chat on the phone.  We are hoping and praying that she will be baptized and Rick will have a change of heart and commit to his  promise of eternal marriage.  Mimi has just sent us an email informing us of her commitment to be baptized on the 7^th of September!!!  We are thrilled with her desire to do what is right.