One day we were walking out of Food City and invited a girl named Milo to church. It was a short interaction, but we invited her to come to our chapel for a church tour. Later that week, we texted her and asked her if she wanted to bring anybody else. She said yes, she wanted to bring her roommate Nikki. Nikki initially came just to support Miilo, but by the end of the church tour, she said she wanted to learn more. Both of them came to church that week. They were surprised at how good they felt at church since they had some bad experiences with churches in the past. They said there were “good vibes” at church. We explained that what they were feeling was the Spirit! We were soon able to begin teaching Nikki.

Our next lesson with Nikki was at a member’s home. We were teaching her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, using the pamphlet. We taught her about the First Vision and the Spirit was so strong. Nikki mentioned that her friend had been baptized recently and she felt the same feelings. We asked her to turn the page in the pamphlet, and she saw the picture of Joseph getting the priesthood authority from Peter, James, and John. We told her that she can be baptized with the authority and power of God. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes!

Nikki began to progress at lightning speed. She started going to YSA activities on her own (at first we didn’t even know she was going)! She loved church and we were able to teach her several times a week, mostly in members’ homes. We were really worried about teaching her the commandments, but she was immediately willing to keep them, even if it would take sacrifices. She even threw her vape in the dumpster! Her family sent her some misinformation about the church, but she said that she knew that what she was doing was right. As they saw how happy she was, they ended up being supportive and even attended her baptism.

Nikki was baptized on August 17, 2024. She was nervous for her baptism, but she said as soon as she came out of the water, everything in the room seemed so much brighter. As we sang the closing song, she got chills and she knew it was the Spirit confirming she was where she belonged.

Nikki’s light just continues to grow. She has been teaching her family everything that we’ve been teaching her. She’s so excited to go to the temple, and has an end goal of getting sealed in the temple someday.

The bishop of the Cleveland Ward asked us to visit a part-member family. The father, Alex, was baptized in Honduras and had been a member for a number of years but with many jobs working to provide for his family, attending church had been difficult. After multiple visits and phone calls that resulted with no responses, there was nothing we could do except wait and pray that somehow we would be able to get in contact with them.

One Saturday afternoon, we had some plans fall through. As we considered what to do next we both felt a prompting that we should stop by Mía and her family’s house. As we arrived at the house, we found Alex and his kids home, which was a tender mercy on its own. We met with him for a bit and he expressed that he wanted his kids to be baptized. We told him we wanted to help him with that and invited them to church the very next day. We also invited them to come to a baptism right after church so his kids could experience what it was like. 

As we taught Mia, with permission from her parents, we extended the invitation to Mía to be baptized, which she accepted. The next couple of weeks were filled with lessons, coming to church, and participating in Young Womens activities. Every time we would come over and talk about her baptism, Mia would have a smile on her face. 

Mia was baptized on August 4, 2024. Since Mía’s baptism and Alex returning to  church, they’ve expressed seeing many blessings from God and with hope one day to be sealed as a family in the temple. 

At our weekly coordination meeting for the Rockyface Ward, we received a referral for Adrian, who is the son of a recently baptized member of the church.

From the very beginning, we knew that Adrian was a special child. He had a deep desire and a true joy about being baptized. The story starts with after his mother, Maritza, was baptized in 2022 and shortly after was invited to the baptism of the Bishop’s son named Hyrum. Maritza could not make it, but Adrian wanted to be there. Hyrum’s family picked up Adrian, and brought him to the baptism. 

After the baptism, Adrian, without any solicitation, told Hyrum’s parents that one day he would be baptized too. Over a year goes by, and in ward coordination, a member brought up the idea of teaching Adrian to prepare for his baptism. 

He loved having us over and teaching him all of the doctrine needed to progress in the Gospel and prepare for his baptism. He had some difficulty because his mother has to work every other weekend. But to show his faith, he attended church without any of his brothers or his mom. He went on to not miss a single day of church from the first visit through his baptism and after. 

When he was baptized, he shared with everyone who attended, “I always feel good when I am with Jesus. I know he is real and I am so excited to be baptized.”

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Following his baptism, he inspired another friend the Rockyface Elders were teaching to accept an invitation to be baptized the following week. He also inspired his brothers to follow in his footsteps and helps to teach them about the Book of Mormon. Now, Adrian has been a huge help with helping to teach others around his same age by recording his testimony of his favorite stories from the Book of Mormon.

#TKMTenderMercies