Hey family! It was great to talk to y'all yesterday and see how everyone is doing without being on my death bed! Well I just e-mailed y'all some pictures from the baptism! woot woot!
Well I was thinking about the comment Dad said last night about how Elder Burrow's talked about how home teaching is really close to missionary work and it is and it really does work! For example in my last area of Bear Creek as you know Johnny Manes was baptized. Well there were a lot of things that lead up to that point. Flash back to about a year ago when I was first a greeny with Elder Conrad. We were sitting in Johnny's house teaching him but he was not really interested whatsoever! So I gave up on him because I thought we were wasting our time there! But shortly after we stopped visiting him his Home Teacher, Brother Martin, had been visiting him and his family (they were less active) continually for a long time before I even showed up and he never gave up on them. So flash forward to a couple months ago when I was in Bear Creek. Brother Martin one day gave Johnny a priesthood blessing and Johnny was deeply moved and this sparked huge desire to join the church so as you know we showed up taught him and he was baptized. It was an awesome experience but I am deeply ashamed that I gave up on him but I am overjoyed that Brother Martin was faithful and diligent in fulfilling his calling . He showed me why I should never give up on anything and more importantly someone who is a child of God and who is my brother! I will never make that mistake ever again! I love y'all.
-Elder Cory Barton
