As Short as Short Can Be

In case you are wondering, this title refers to the length of the email and not the height of its author. You see, it has been what many might consider a busy day, and so it is for this reason that I will keep this email short, and therefore it is for this reason that I titled this email what I titled it. 

So most importantly this week, Ron, the person that we've been teaching, was baptized on Saturday. 

There was an extremely long and crazy adventure leading up to it, but for the sake of time and my sanity I will spare those details in this particular email and save that story for another time.

I just wish you all could have witnessed what I witnessed during the process of teaching Ron. And I wish I had witnessed what others witnessed during the years leading up to us teaching him to see even more of the change that has happened in his life.

Ron has been through so much in his life and has such a powerful testimony of God and how absolutely important He is for our happiness. Even after beginning to grow that faith however, he wasn't all of a sudden ready to be baptized. Just a year ago, he wouldn't even let missionaries in his house, and neither would his wife Nanci who is a member who hadn't been to Church in many years. 

But the thing that I learned is that things take time. In just that year, after a lot of love from a couple members of the congregation, not being pushy or annoying or things like that, just showing that family that they were there for them, they finally accepted an invitation to come to the Christmas party this last December and they were just overwhelmed with the love the members of the congregation showed for them. Then it was soon after that they decided that Ron was ready to learn from the missionaries and that his wife was ready to start coming back to Church and to really gain her own testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. And that is what happened. But it didn't all happen in just the 4-ish months we've been teaching them. It took their entire lives! And it took so many small little things for them to grow their faith into what it is now. They shared their testimonies in front of the congregation  yesterday and it was one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. I wish you all could have been there.

I'm out of time today, but before I go I just want to share that I know how powerful the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. And I know He can change our lives when we live His Gospel. I've seen it happen with Ron and Nanci. I've watched their faith in Jesus Christ grow and I've been able to watch my own faith in Jesus Christ grow as well. I want you all to know how much happiness I am blessed with as I strive to strengthen my faith and my testimony of the Savior. He lives and He loves us so much. And I don't fully understand everything, but I believe it is true. And I have seen so much good and so many blessings and so many miracles and so much joy and peace come into mine and others lives, all of which testify that we have a Father who lives in heaven who loves us and cares about us and the small little details of our lives so much that He has put families and friendships and so many wonderful things in our lives. And because He loves us He doesn't ever want those wonderful things to end for us, and so He sent His Son Jesus Christ to come here to earth to make it possible for us to have forgiveness and peace and joy and strength in our lives and also never-ending happiness and Eternal Life with our families and with God in the next life. I have no reason not to believe these things. In fact I have every reason to believe them.

So before I go, I would just invite you to think about your own personal faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you've been Christian your whole life, for only a little bit, or if you have no faith in Jesus Christ whatsoever, just think about it. What you chose to do is completely up to you of course. But I can promise that if you do things to develop your own faith in the Savior, your faith in Him will grow. 

Have a great week everyone, til I write again next week!

~Elder Oswald

Ron's baptism.