German's Baptism

Hermana Floisand, Hermana Bennett and German at his baptism

 Megan's Letter to President Pace August 25th:

"Germans baptism was beautiful. This whole experience with him has seemed almost too good to be true. I remember that Monday evening, everything had fired on us, and we were just struggling to keep our chins up. I remember saying a fervent prayer, I felt the need for some guidance. I will admit I even felt a little alone, and I was concerned about the progress of the work in our area. About a minute later, you and Hermana Pace called, congratulating us on the poutas and reminding us how great you thought we were. Hermana Floisand and I both recognized that as an answer to our prayers. When we hung up, we hit the road with a good second wind... and that's when we found him. He was walking his dog, we chatted with him and found that he was interested in our message because he was a little depressed and he felt like he needed something more. After our second visit, Hermana Floisand looked at me and said, "I think he is going to be baptized." His interest was sincere. Our third visit was in his home. We asked him if he had begun reading the Book of Mormon. He told us he had only read a little and then showed us that he was in First Nefi chapter 3! He has read the introduction, the testimony of the 3 and 8 witnesses, as well as Joseph Smith's account of retrieving the plates. He continued to share with us a scripture that stood out to him. He proceeded to read aloud First Nefi 3:7 "Iré y haré lo que el Señor ha mandado, porque sé que él nunca da mandamientos a los hijos de los hombres sin prepararles la vía para que cumplan lo que les ha mandado." It was a touching moment. As we continued teaching him we realized that the Lord was teaching us how to help people prepare for baptism thru him. He would say things like, "Do you have any scriptures about baptism that I could read", or "what are the requesites for baptism?" We had a member at every lesson, and the 2 main members we used were both praying for opportunities to serve before we called them, that was inspiring. It makes me wonder how many more members there are like that, just waiting for the opportunity to serve. German's baptism was programmed for the same weekend as the ward temple trip, so nobody would be able to come. We also realized we had not presented him to the bishop yet. German was so excited for baptism, we were prepared to make everything happen sooner, and go to the bishop's work to present him to German; however, after thinking and praying about it, we realized we could go thru with it if we wanted to, but we would be robbing him of a much richer, much more memorable experience. We waited and as a result: he was more prepared for baptism and the Aaronic priesthood, we filled the baptismal room, and we had a sweeter spirit there. German came 4 hours early to cook for his own baptism, he was so excited and calm. He told us he was more concerned about making his temple cake than he was about the baptism. He was just so prepared! His family came and he has faith that one day they will be baptized as well. He kept on going for his confirmation as well, he was terrible sick with a cold on Saturday, and Sunday he was still pretty bad, but he came anyway and even stayed all 3 hours. I have never seen anyone so prepared, he is such a great example of dedication and a pure desire to serve. I can feel the Lord is hastening his work, and I know because he in raising up leaders, like German, because we have more work ahead. What a blessing it is to be part of this marvelous work!

Love,
Hermana Bennett