May 4, 2015

Elder McInerny, Jason, and Elder Miles

This past weekend was great! On Saturday morning we had breakfast with the Stake President and his family then went straight to Jason's baptism. One of the members from the Singles Ward baptized Jason. Elder McInerny and I were asked to be the witnesses. Jason is a really tall guy, so we were afraid it might take a couple of tries. It took about 30 seconds to help them get situated in the best spot so that Jason wouldn’t smack his head on the wall (haha). When he was walking up the stairs out of the font I heard him say to the guy that baptized him "Wow. I feel amazing". He bore his testimony afterwards and it was really powerful. He talked about how he knew he needed God in his life, so he was attending a bunch of different churches. He was throwing down on other churches a bit and it was pretty funny. He said he could tell they were teaching false doctrines and all they wanted was money. Then he talked about how strongly he could feel the spirit as soon as he started learning about the church and he knew right away it was what he needed in his life.

While we were teaching Jason we told him about how amazing he would feel after he got baptized. During his testimony he was like "Man, you all weren't lying about the feelin!" He is so in tune with the spirit. He already knows how to recognize and act on it. I talked with him after about if he has considered serving a mission (he is 19) and he said he is going to pray and ask God if it is something he should do. I have no doubt if he prays about it that he will go on a mission because of how close he is to the spirit. He would be a powerful missionary! He has already been getting his mom and sister to go back to church (they are inactive members) and he has been trying to get his friend to come to church.

Larry and Elder Miles

On Sunday, Larry (that we passed off to the other missionaries) showed up at our sacrament service. We asked him why he was at our meetings and he said he was following the map on his phone (thinking he was going to the other building) and he just showed up at ours. He has told us several times he likes our ward better, so that might have something to do with it... (haha). He was the last person to get up and bear his testimony during sacrament meeting. Everyone in the ward loves him and they were all on the edge of their seats listening to him. He told a story about an event that changed his life.

He was in the navy, played college football (defensive end), and was a professional boxer. Back then he was not a religious guy at all. He picked up a guy on the side of the road because his car broke down. The guy ended up pulling a gun on him and trying to steal his car. To make a long story short, he heard an audible voice tell him what to do and he ended up getting the gun and turning the guy into the police. He felt that God had saved his life and that caused him to instantly change his life. He was telling the story in detail over the pulpit and it was pretty crazy!  At the end of his testimony he was like "I guess I am going to be what you call a convert too because I am going to get baptized.” After sacrament meeting everyone swarmed him to tell him how much the loved his testimony.

The member that had been Jason's fellowshipper was already having Jason, his mom, and us over for dinner, so she invited Larry to come join us and he did. It was really fun. I might not see any of them again if I get transferred next week, so I am glad it all worked out. Then we took a recent convert from the ward to the "New Member Fireside" and it was good as always.

Harrison Littledike (my trainer) moved to Manassas to do summer sales, so we are going to go to lunch with him sometime this week hopefully. Destiny and Sophia are doing well and we are having a lesson with them tonight in a member’s home.

Love, 

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission