Hello Family :) This week has been super good. We fasted yesterday for the stake of goal of 72 baptisms. And really felt the Spirit as we fasted. I'm so happy to serving in Fairfield for another two transfers. Things couldn't be better. We had a ward Christmas party last night! And there were probably 20 people who weren't affiliated with the church there! Our ward is amazing! Everyone is inviting and sharing the gospel like crazy. I love serving here. Right now our biggest prospect for baptism is Virgilia. She is so great! She is super involved with everything and we love sitting down and meeting with her. She has made so much progress and is striving to her very best to be baptized on the 20th of December. The only issue that we are running into is that she needs to quit smoking. And as far as we know Saturday was the last time she had smoked so as of right now she is good to go. So hopefully she hasn't since then. It seems as if she is doing well though. She is so cool! We are so excited for her. So please pray that she has the strength to stop.
Teri and Justin are doing ok. Teri's daughters boyfriend just got out of jail and moved back in with them, and has been causing a lot of problems to due his alcohol abuse. He has threaten to take the kids away and other stuff when he is drunk and it's just a dumb situation. I probably would have called the cops by now. Who knows. Maybe she has. We will probably end up moving Teri's date back to the 27th of December. Hopefully we can get her done smoking. And Justin can definitely be baptized by the end of the year as well. So we will see what happens. Hopefully things go well.
Elder Belliston and I have also been teaching a Messianic Jew named Jamie. She is awesome. Super good knowledge of the bible and of spiritual things. She believes that Jesus is the Savior and that baptism is essential, but she also still practices the law of Moses. I'm not 100% sure how that all works but she is striving to come to know that the Book of Mormon is true. So we will see how things go from there :) Hopefully she can gain an answer and let the Spirit truly teach what is right :)
Other than that we really aren't teaching anyone else. I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of the Spirit. And I've come to believe that no matter what, if on my mission I have tried to lead to people to gain testimony of certain principles so that they would see why baptism is important (Priesthood Authority, Joseph Smith being a prophet ETC) when truly the most powerful thing that I have been able to invite someone to do is to ask God if this is the path for them. That;s powerful. IT puts all other things aside, and helps them gain the strongest relationship that they can with Father in Heaven. When God speaks, people listen. And if our ultimate goal is for people to enter into the waters of baptism then the only thing we have to do is help people have an experience where Father in Heaven can testify to them that he truly does want them to enter into a covenant with Him. And the best way that we can do that, is by having them gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Because if it is true. Then they will know that they need to be baptized. And that is huge.
I testify that the Savior lives. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I have been taught those things by the Spirit of the Lord. And that's all that matters. The Spirit can withstand any thing else. It;s amazing. I love this work and I love the Lord. I testify that participating in the work of salvation can bring us out of the rutts and bumps that life can bring. It will save us :)
I love you all.
Elder Caleb James Wardle
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