Well, we were able to assist in the baptism of just about the cutest old lady you'd ever meet. Her name is Natividad (or Tiva for short), and fittingly so, her birthday is Christmas day. She was baptized the following day by her grand-daughter's husband. It was really special. Her entire family are members, and have helped her along quite a bit. She's almost 80, and has known the church for some time. The last three years she's attended regularly, and has simply never wanted to be baptized. But something changed in her. Our first Sunday in this ward we received a whopping 13 referrals of partial member families, including that of Nativity's. It's now strengthened my testimony on the efficiency of working with members, and the success of finding people to teach through their families. We mentioned the success story in our ward counsel last night hoping to raise the bar after seeing the goal of referrals given for the year of 2016 at a low 200. That would be more or less only 2 referrals that I would have to give annually as a member of this ward... which is not much, and could be much higher considering the potential this ward truly has. If every member were to give just one referral each month, we would end up with 1200 referrals at the end of the year. It doesn't seem that hard to reach with the right programs put into place, and enough follow-up to see it through. With referral numbers like that in contrast with what they've been in the past, I can only imagine the baptismal rate. Anyway, all is well and I'm extremely excited for this next transfer. Looking forward to all the intercambios. Thanks for everything you all do for me! I love ya tons. Have a happy new year!
Don't have time to upload photos... :( next week I'll have double!
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| *I had to add a photo...so this is one from last years Christmas! :) |