Dunk... Dunk... GOOSE!

This week was a whirlwind of wonderfulness! On Monday, we invited an investigator named Andrew (who had previously been reluctant to accept a baptismal date) to be baptized 5 days later, on Saturday. He accepted, and against all odds was baptized two days ago! It was such a wonderful and miraculous experience. Let me begin at the start...

4 weeks ago, we received a referral from LDS.org to bring Andrew a Bible and a Book of Mormon. We met with him, bringing the required materials, and taught him the Restoration. He listened well, but talked about how he was a member of another church. He came to our church that week, but had to leave early to go to his other church. He also rejected our invitation to be baptized. He didn't seem to be progressing, so we dropped him a few lessons later. Fast forward to last week.....

We suddenly receive another referral from LDS.org. it says the exact same thing as the other message. We are not sure where it came from, because it looks like the earlier one was somehow duplicated and sent to us again. We decided we should go back. This time, he told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon and had seen miracles in his life from it and believed it. He was still reluctant at the thought of being baptized, but he came to church again, this time to Fast and Testimony meeting. When we met with him the next day and invited him to be baptized, he accepted, saying that after reading the Book of Mormon and hearing those testimonies in church, he knew that God wanted him to be baptized. He also shared with us a very personal and miraculous experience he had had many years earlier that now finally understood to mean he needed to be baptized. I won't share the experience here because it was very personal, but suffice to say it was incredible, and I definitely know that God watches out for his children knows who he wants in his church. Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't make that very interesting, but I loved the experience. Being able to watch someone you have come to love be baptized is as indescribably wonderful as watching a baby stand for the first time. 
God knows us. He understands our weaknesses and has prepared a way through the Atonement for us to overcome them. I am so very grateful for this Gospel, and I know that this church is true. Also, here is my address for now:

300 Kenyon St. NW unit U4

Olympia, WA

98502

I love you all, and I am so very grateful for all of you who have been examples and blessings in my life. I'm even vaguely grateful to those of you who were bad examples and curses in my life. (just kidding, none of you were those.)

I would also like to leave you all with a quote that has actually helped me make a lot of good decisions in my life. This quote is from one of the books in the Fablehaven series, and for some reason the quote has stuck with me for a long time (By the way, I think the author, Brandon Mull, is a Mormon):

"Smart people learn from their mistakes, but the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others."

So true. This is why we have parents and other adult leaders. I suggest that you learn from them.

Psalm 1:1-2

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Elder Benge