These weeks keep going by too fast! At least this week was one of the best we've had in a long time. We were able to see the Clarke family a few times, we got to meet with Neil, and we were able to see Maddie's baptism!
I love the Clarke family. We have been teaching them ever since I got here five months ago, and they have been learning about the Church for 11 years now. The Clarke family is from Jamaica, and got their British Citizenship just a few weeks ago! They shared with us how many blessings they have received over these past years of living in England. They have expressed a goal for their family of being baptised by the end of the year, and they decided that now is the time! We set a goal with them to work towards November 21 as their baptismal date.
They have been taught everything have have strong testimony, and now it is time for them to make this next step.
We also got to meet with a new friend this week named Neil. Neil and his wife, Amanda, have a three year old son named Theo. Neil is someone Elder Bastien and I found last transfer, and we finally got to meet with him. I don't like using the term "investigator" for people because I feel it makes people more like a number than a person. We are really just making new friends and teaching them about the restored Gospel along the way. We were able to discuss with Neil the importance of the Book of Mormon and a little bit about Joseph Smith.
Neil had a good question that really got me thinking. He said that out of all the other churches he has looked into, they all say that if someone wasn't baptised while they are here on earth, then all hope is lost. Well, that isn't true. We believe that everyone has an equal chance of hearing the message of the full Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the chance to hear the message can also be had in the Spirit World, after this mortal life. The Apostle Paul taught about baptisms for the dead in his letter to the Corinthians, and Christ himself taught His Gospel in the Spirit World in the days after He was crucified. This makes it clear to me that everyone is to have an equal chance. When we taught him this, I could tell he felt relief. How great it is to see the message of the restored Gospel bring people comfort.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a great day. The Clarke's and Sue made it to church! During the main meeting of church, sacrament meeting, Fiona's son Seb noticed me and started yelling "Ammen!" across the room. That made my day. In the evening we also had Maddie's baptism. I heard from ward members that in the past, the font is either way too hot or way too cold, so I took it upon myself to make sure this didn't happen.
Since most of the heating I have seen in the UK is done by radiators in each room, the church building here has a giant boiler that runs all the hot water through the building for the radiators. The heat for the font comes off this system, rather than the water heater for the sinks. This made it a little more complicated than normal, but after staring at the pipes for a little bit and making some adjustments, the water was perfect. The baptism went well, and it was a great way to end the week.
Upcoming this week we have a busy week again. We have a zone meeting in Ipswich on Thursday, a few service projects, a ward fireworks night (super excited about that), and so on. Should be a good one!
-Elder Ammermon