At ito ay nangyari na...

So I realize that in the past I kind of just surprise you with a baptism. I don't tell you much about the people who have Baptismal Goal dates until the day of their baptism. I don't know why that has been. Maybe because sometimes they don't go through and I don't want to get your hopes up. I don't know.

But now I want to let you in on the suspense. So you can rejoice/remorse with me. I want to tell you now about Rhea and Anna Rose. This is their story (so far)

Once upon a time me and my companion were walking down the street. We happened to be walking the same direction as a man. We'll call him John (because that's his name). As we walked we talked. He said he would be okay if me and Sister Sarto come and taught him. He told us how to find his house and then we said goodbye. Less than a week later we went to find him and his house, hoping that he was actually serious. We found him and the compound of houses where he lives. Since we are not allowed to teach single men alone inside, we had to teach him outside. Where we taught him, we were joined by about 12 kids (his nieces and nephews). It was an okay lesson, but we weren't sure if he would actually progress or not. Nevertheless we came back about a week later. John was not there, but the crowd of kids was. They wanted us to teach them but we explained we couldn't unless they had parents there. One girl, Rhea was able to convenience her parents to join us for a lesson at their house. We were amazed to see they already had a Book of Mormon in their house (someone else who had gotten it from missionaries had given it to them). The lesson went well and we were excited to come back. 

The next week we learned that Rhea had wanted to come to church, but she had just forgotten what time church started. We fixed that problem. The next week John (who we hadn't been able to teach again) and Rhea and some of her cousins came to church. We were so excited. One of those cousins was 15 year old Anna Rose. (P.S. Rhea is just 8).

To make a long story shorter Anna Rose and Rhea have come to church for the last four weeks in a row. They also come with with several of their young cousins and siblings. Their parents haven't been to church yet, and we haven't seen John since the first time he came to church. 

They came to the baptism we had after church last week. When we asked them if they wanted to be baptized, their faces lit up and they said yes.

We have been encouraging them to pray and ask God in order to know that the things we have been teaching are true. Anna Rose has felt like she has had an answer ("a warm feeling in my heart") We are helping her prepare to be baptized on Oct. 12. 

It's a little more complicated with Rhea because she is still so young. We really need to work with her parents before any big steps can be made with her. 

Welp, I'm out of time for now. The story will be continued.

Thanks for taking the time to read :)

Love,

Sister Abish "I love Anna Rose and Rhea" Curtis

Picture:

From our service project