Saturday, August 20, 2011

The 1st Baptism on Jinmen Island! a lost passport and another baptism (posted by mom)



On Saturday, we went to Jinmen. It was a very sweet experience. Brother Huang, the man who we were meeting with on webcam over the internet, was baptized. My companion and I had the opportunity to go over there and be witnesses to his baptism. He is the 1st person baptized on this island. It was a very special day for the members on Jinmen. I have included pictures of the Jinmen branch of Brother Huang and his family.

We also had Combined District Training Meetings and Interviews in the south. It was fun to see the missionaries who I have served with before. They are all out there working hard and helping others come unto Christ. While President Bishop is interviewing the missionaries my companion and I do planner-checks. It is a lot of fun. A good planner will have a plan every half-hour, it will have back-up plans for each main plan, it will have daily lesson plans, goals, follow-ups, and other information recorded in an orderly fashion in the back. I really like doing planner checks. If done the right way, it can become a heart to heart conversation about what the missionary is accomplishing and where they feel they can most improve. It is always fun to listen, discuss matters important to them, and offer suggestions.

My companion and I were assigned to take a missionary to the airport so he could go to the MTC and pick up another missionary to bring back to the mission. We couldn’t find the passport for the elder that was going to the MTC (in the Philippines). In the end, the Elders in our mission office found it and drove it up to us. It was close, but the elder made his flight.

After that we went to Tainan as fast as we could because my companion's former investigator Brother Shir was scheduled to be baptized. We were running late so we took the high-speed rail, and then a taxi to the chapel. It was really close, but we made it with 5 minutes to spare. After the Baptism we took a bus back to Taizhong. Brother Shir is a really special brother, he has known the church since 1992, but not only until recently did he make the choice to get baptized. It was a very sweet experience.

Elder Spencer Harris