God is a God of Miracles (1st Baptism! )

​Delicious Lithuanian ice cream and amazing companions.

​Delicious Lithuanian food

Hello Family and Friends!

I cannot even express my joy right now or describe this past week in sufficient description. I guess I will start with last Sunday. We had two Nigerian investigators attend church, so we went to the english sunday school class taught by Elder Nuttal, the senior couple. The lesson was on fasting and how he saw amazing miracles on his mission when his whole zone fasted to be able to reach their goal of baptism. They saw miracles happen, and afterwards my compaionship decided to have a special fast for Danas our investigator. We fasted the day of our lesson with him, which was on Tuesday. In that lesson we were able to talk about the atonement of Christ and what he means to each of us. The spirit was definitely there, and I know that God lead that lesson. I can give no credit to any of us. By the end of it, Danas strongly desired to be baptized. His baptismal date was the upcoming Saturday, but we weren't sure if he would be ready. He had felt the spirit so strongly in many lessons before and could easily point it out. He was just not willing to accept that they were answers from God. He had prayed and immediatley recognized the happy feeling that he had received because it was so strong, but wasn't sure if it was really God. We had promised him that he would be able to recognize his answer from God before his baptismal date, and I truly believed that. We met with him again on Wednesday before our activity night at the church, where we played crochet and badmitton with members, investigators, and less actives. On Friday he had his interview with President Harding and walked out with a huge smile on his face. He was ready to be baptized! We had a lesson about the priesthood, and Arunas was able to help us. He is a new convert in the church and was able to explain the power of the preisthood very well. Afterwards, we did a lot of preparation for the baptism. We had to be inside by 5 that night because of the summer solstice celebrations. When we asked Danas about what he did, he said well nothing of course. I stayed inside because I don't drink :) We made a lot of calls to members to invite them to the baptism. On Saturday many more miracles happened. We were able to clean and fill the font in time. The faucet wasn't working and wouldn't turn the water on.

​Cleaning the font - we need water!

But a church member helped to take it apart and force the water on in time to fill up the font. The baptism was scheduled for 4, but not too many people were there. However, by the time it started almost the entire chapel was full. So many people came to support Danas. Many went up to bear their testimonies of the gospel and welcome him into the church. The amazing miracle was Danas' own testimony at the end of the program. He stood up to say that he didn't know he would have to say anything but would tell the story of his life. He had been into narcotics and did not believe that God existed. But after learning about God and his gospel, he came to this understanding of its truthfullness. Two to three days prior to his baptism he said that he realized that God had truly answered his prayers so many times. He had been there all along filling him with His spirit and speaking to Him. He knew that God was there, and that this is His restored gospel on the earth. It was truly a miracle that God answered his prayers so many times and helped him to realize that just as had been promised. His simple but strong testimony showed me the mercy and love of God. He truly is our Father and loves each one of us. He truly hears and answers our prayers. His spirit testifies to our hearts the truthfullness of His gospel if we allow Him in. Conversion is truly a miracle of God and does not come from us. I know that I have done nothing in this process but am so thankful for the opportunity to observe Danas and his conversion to the Lord. On Sunday he was confirmed a member of the church. It was an amazing experience. It was all from God. His hand is in our lives everyday. True joy truly comes from the atonment of Christ through his restored gospel. God truly is a God of miracles today, just like He was in times of old. We just need to expect them, and they will come. Not always how we want, but they are there. We were also able to meet with Karolina, who is progressing so well. She has such strong commitment to serving the Lord and makes me want to be a better follower of Christ. We are excited to help her prepare for baptism as well.  I know that God lives and loves us. I love you all, have a great week.
Love Sese Dzerman