DAD MOM RYAN RACHELLE LIZA EMMA!!
Oh my goodness gracious. The baptism was INCREDIBLE!!!! AHHHH!!!! Troy is soo great! And he has the gift of the Holy Ghost now :) My heart is so very full! I'm... leaking! {:D (the Grinch) lol. After he was baptized, Troy shared his conversion story. Oh how divinely prepared was he - being "nudged by degrees" until he found he had come a full180 degrees! His whole life, 28 years, God has been preparing him forth is moment. It was after our first lesson with him, when we asked him to offer the prayer when the Spirit flood him "like a tidal wave". He said that never before had he been found speechless, trembling in humility as he opened his heart completely to God. With "open eyes andan open heart," he bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, declaring its words to be "timeless." In closing he boldly and so faithfully declared, "I am a witness to God's plan!" It was incredible. The Spirit was soo thick and so piercing! And not only wasthe room packed with members to support him, but there were 4 other sets of missionaries with multiple investigators with them, and Patrick and Taneala were able to come too! This is exactly what Patrick needed. He soaked it in, leaning forward, ever so intently listening to every word, jaw dropped in awe. Patrick is wonderful! He really has this incredible gift to connect with everyone he meets. He made so many divinely appointed connections and relationships that night too, so many people God wanted him to meet so that they can inspire him and support him in his conversion. Patrick even went to dinner with Troy and Vicki and the whole gang afterward too! Gosh, this was perfect for him.So I received some remarkable revelation at church today. My questionI had was: How do I turn my gaze outward and be selfless like Christ and like my Dad and Mom? I felt prompted to study the life of Christ, likening His life to myself to Him as I usually do with the Book of Mormon. I was directed to John 6:5-14 and read the miracle of feeding 5 thousandwith 5 loaves and 2 fishes. It was incredible! To open my eyes and look, to see my Savior give all that He received (the 5 loaves and 2 fish) to others - and as He did so, God gave Him enough to feed the thousands. We too must give all that we receive. And in turn we will receive even more, just as Christ collected the 12 baskets of leftover bread. We then will have even more to give away and we'll be able to give more abudantly because we've received more. It's like a never ending and expanding spiral upward! And this applies to the littlest of things He blesses us with (like a $25 gift card to Subway Ray gave us), to the greatest of gifts we've been given (like our family's being sealed for eternity). This is my lifelong goal: Whatever I receive, I will give. When God blesses me with strength, I will give all my strength to serve another. When God blesses me with revelation, I will give and share all that He has revealed unto me to bless and strengthen others. When God gives me energy, when God gives me time, when God gives me food, when God gives me a bike, when God gives me joy, or protection, when God succors, comforts, heals, or forgives me, when God gives, I will give all that He has given me to bless and serve, to love and lift, to comfort and lift another. For that is what our Savior would do. That is what we have promised to do at baptism -to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort (Mosiah 18:8-10) God has given us life eternal, He has given us His son, He has given us this incredible gospel, so we must "waste and wear out our lives," giving all that we have to bless His children (D&C 123:12-17) I love each and every one of you so dearly. You are in my prayers and forever in my heart. God has given me you, my precious and most treasured family. And now I have the chance to give up my family sothat the people in Virginia can have family's like ours, divinely protected, full of love, and eternal. In return, God is blessing our family greatly, our family will be even more abundantly blessed, protected, strengthened, and happy! And its already happening! Your letters inspire me to work even harder, to give even more - because you guys are being watched over and lifted and I am forever grateful to God.
Love Sister Julia
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TROY!! BAPTISM!! OODALALLEY!
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| Mubarak (he's from Saudi Arabia and he is wonderful, so sweet and so sincere. he's going home for a month, but he so badly wants to be taught more when he returns) |
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| Patrick is simply wonderful. He went around saying "I know this is right, I know this is what God wants me to do" all night at the baptism :) |
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| Troy and his devout followers. They were literally in awe. |
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| McDonalds = place of many miracles (we went everyday this week in honor of Troy's baptism) |
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