#BecauseHeLives

Drum roll please.......JENNI NORRIS IS BAPTISED AND CONFIRMED! 

After months of trial after trial after trial, Jenni made the decision to be baptised. It was a beautiful service. She's a funny one...we spent most of the week helping her prepare for her baptism. She was worrying and crying most of the time, but then she realised she feels good about her decision. I will admit, I was getting really frustrated because she started panicking over the frilly stuff about the baptism, like what to wear, how to do her hair, the food, etc. and I was thinking to myself, none of that matters. What matters is that you want to follow our Saviour, Jesus Christ. What matters is the ordinance that allows us to have eternal life with our Heavenly Father. But then I realised, I needed to get over myself and my pride, and just roll with it. After I was able to do that, I was heaps less tense. 

Our other investigators are progressing really well. We taught Laura, June, and Jason this week and they're awesome! Seriously, Heavenly Father knows what he's doing. As Sister Weiss and I've met with our investigators, we've been able to see how Heavenly Father has prepared them to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, the week before Laura met us, she told her parents that she wanted to go to Church, but didn't really know how to go about it. One week later, she met us on the side of the road, on the way to her car, which was in a random place where she doesn't usually park. She was wearing a New York City shirt which was a conversation starter because Sister Weiss is from there. She told us how she knows that meeting us was no coincidence. I know that Heavenly Father is placing us in the path of His children. 

After teaching Jason, I realised my Chinese is really bad again, so I need to really start working on it now that we have Chinese investigators...

What else has happened...

We went visiting teaching with 2 older ladies in our ward. They're so cute!  I love old people :)

We had pretty good trainings this week. One was on how we use our time during Sacrament meeting. The Sacrament is not only for us to renew our baptismal covenant, but all of the covenants we have made with God. It's a time to really think about our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and how we can improve ourselves through the strength that Christ gives us. 

We had another training on having mountains to climb. When we pray for things, especially spiritual gifts, we have typically given trials to push ourselves so we can attain these things. When we endure through trials faithfully, we will be blessed. 

One thing that's stuck out a lot to me since being in Newcastle is that Satan is real. There is opposition in ALL things. We've had 8 baptisms this year so far in our ward. Although so many miracles are happening with the ward and the people we teach, there are so many things that get in the way and try to pull us away from the work. Gossip, rumours, temptation to sin, pride, etc. have been way more apparent and have tried to stop the work from going on. It is absolutely insane and it causes so much stress. I get really frustrated when we try so hard, but our results aren't great. Then I realised, Christ has already suffered for that. He's taken away the pains and suffering of the world so that we don't have to experience it. And he did it for EVERY single person, one by one. 

I can't believe Easter is coming up. It is a great way to reflect on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that because of Him, we are able to overcome our faults and shortcomings and are able to overcome death. 

I'm so excited for Easter!!! We have a pretty awesome program set for that. It's also invitation Sunday. The area is encouraging everyone to invite someone to church for that Sunday...I would also like to make that same invitation to you! Invite someone new to church for Easter. Sharing the Gospel can sometimes seem hard, but a simple invitation is so easy! If they say no, that's okay, because we won't be held accountable for trying!

I think that's about it for now. I love you all heaps! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lew