This week we went to contact a referral and it was way out in the boonies. So we drove the 20-30ish minutes out there, and you know the little Mexican family there was awesome. They let us in and listened to a lesson and then fed us sopes <3. I don't think they are really receptive to the gospel in the sense that they don't want to change their religion, but I just have really come to appreciate and love nice people on my mission.
We had two miracle baptisms this past weekend. It was craziness, but we pulled it together. We had taught the Cannon kids a few times. The mom is inactive and the step-dad isn't a member. We were having the hardest time getting a hold of them and they didn't come back to church when they said they would and the Bishop wasn't too excited about us baptizing kids without a solid support system. So for all pretty legit reasons to stop teaching them, we did. Well previous to all of this, when they had come to church, we had set a tentative date for their baptism. Apparently mom was planning on that date still going through the whole time and had family coming in to be here for it.... so we get a random text this week on Thursday asking to move the baptism time from 6:30 to 7. We were surprised to say the least. We went over and visited with them that night and they really were ready to be baptized. We just felt like we couldn't deny two little girls (who have a testimony) the right of making that covenant with God. So we took a lot of heat from the ward and put some of our ward trust (that was so hard to earn) on the line to push for their baptism. They were interviewed and passed and were baptized on Saturday. Then Heavenly Father provided another miracle of fellowship for them in a member we didn't know had a prior relationship with the family. We had invited Sister Fullerton to the baptism and apparently she had let this family live with her for a while when they 1st moved to Coalinga. Anyhow, she stepped up and volunteered to bring the kids to church every Sunday!! Miracles and blessings I tell you!! So I think we have smoothed out the ruffled feathers, and the ward is alright with their baptism now thanks to the hand of the Lord working out all the little details!
So all and all things are going well here in Coalinga. We are really trying to re-energize the ward. The baptismal goal for the year here is 8. Right now as of today we have had 4 baptisms this year. Plus we have four solid people set with dates to get baptized this next month of March. So hopefully when we reach that goal they will raise the bar. I think that they are starting to feel the spirit of missionary work again here.
One of my favorite quotes of the week came while we were teaching nine year old Sara about the Word of Wisdom. We asked her why is it important to live the Word of Wisdom and her reply was,"So we don't get sick and ugly!" haha
Moroni 8:26
Love,
Hermana Miller
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