Dear Family,
I love you, I honestly love you! Well, obviously Willanie and Stephiam are now married. This is very exciting. I was glad to hear about all of the exciting things that happened this week, and I am excited to tell you about all of the exciting things that happened to me this week.
Well, I will be brief. Vânia was baptized this last week. It was a definite miracle! The week was filled with trying moments and powerful experiences. MOnday night we had noite familiar in the house of a member with her. She had a concern about baptisms for the dead, which she had heard about the day previously in fast and testimony meeting. We explained a little bit, but didn't have a real chance to sit down and talk with her because of our responsibilities in the family night. We went to her house the next day prepared to clear her mind thoroughly on the subject. Well, she talked to us before we could talk to her. She had prayed a lot about the subject and wasn't worried anymore about the doctrine. Heavenly Father had spoken peace to her mind on the sbuject. We talked to her some more. During the week we got her ready for her baptism which was supposed to happen on saturday. Well, we had a surprise when she said thta Saturday wouldn't work and thta she had to be baptized on Friday. Well, that put a little stress on us trying to get her ready with an interview and everything a day earlier. HOwever, it was possible. Thrusday in the morning I felt impressed to read from my Enlgish Book of Mormon which I haven't used in a while. I started back up where I had been reading in the begining of the war chapters in Alma. I wasn't expecting much, but I received a lot. I read how the Nephite armor wasn't enough to protect them from the pure hatred of the Lamanites. However, the Nephites had a purer cause and prayed to God for support. In verse 50 of chapter 43 in Alma, it says that in the "selfsame hour that they cried unto God for their freedom, they began to stand against the Lamanites with power." That verse really hit me. Later in the day, I was hit by a lot of temptation. I had no idea why. It would have been very easy to give in despite all of the armor of preparation that I had accumulated with my scripture studies. In the moment of greatest weakness and amost defeat, I remembered this scripture and called upon God for strength and power against my spiritual enemies. I was able to overcome the feelings that were surrounding me. Afterwords, I felt very strongly that I needed to fast that day even though I had fasted the day previously during a district fast. Later in the day I found out why. We went to Vania's house to get her ready for her interview. Whn we found her, she was in a state of utter defeat. She has a problem with depression and high blood pressure, and her blood pressure had been soaring all day. When we arived, she told us that she had absolutely no desire to be baptized. We were baffled, but I wasglad that I was able to recognize the influence of Satan in the situation. I asked her about her feelings with other things. I discovered that she had no desire to stay in her house with her children, or even to live. I sat her down and talked toher about a dark moment in my own life when I had felt such depression. I told her about the need her children had of her strength. We were both crying. She said that she needed to go to the hospital, and we called for a member to pick her up. Before she left, we administered a blessing to her. During the middle of pronouncing that blessing, she stopped shaking, which she had been doing very intensely for the last little while. We closed the blessing and opened our eyes to see tears streaming down her face. Before we could say anything more, the member had arrived and taken her away to the hospital. We couldn't think of anything else the entire day and thenext morning. She was supposed to be baptized on Friday. How was she faring? We didn't have any credits onour phone to call for her or the member. In the middle of the day, the member called for us. We were so grateful to answer the phone and hear that Vania was better (still pasando mal) and wanted to be baptized. It was a miracle! That night we got to the chapel and saw her for the first time since the traumatic experience. She was interviewed and baptized. What a miracle! After the baptism, she said that she was feeling completely better. In the gospel principles class on Sunday, she bore testimony to the investigators in the class without being prompted by us to do so. It was wonderful! She is already a great member of the church. I am so grateful for the SPirit, the scriptures, the healing that comes through Christ, and the reunion we can have through Heavenly Father because of that healing. I am also grateful that I was ableto participate in this sacred covenant making experience on the day of my brother's eternal wedding, the ultimate covenant necessary for exaltation that we can make on this Earth. I love you! I tried not to thinkabout the wedding on the day of the wedding, but I'm glad thta I can now. I love all of you to infinity and beyond!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. When you are a 20-year-old who looks like a 16-year-old, don't get a buzzed haircut that makes you look like a 12-year-old just because it's a dollar cheaper! :D hahahaha
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