June 1, 2015

So I believed that this would be my last email, but it will actually be the second to last because next Monday I'll have the chance to email before leaving. 

So last Saturday there was a baptism:)  Her name is Eda and she is the sister of one of the members her in our branch.  She actually lives in France, in a tiny village in the country, and came back to Mauritius in March after the death of her husband.  While she was here (during two months) she came to church every Sunday with her brother.  We asked her if she would be interested to learn more and take the missionary discussions.  She said yes, and even though we knew she would be going back to France after not too long, we went for it with the lessons.  It was an incredible experience, because she is such a spiritual person.  As she started reading the Book of Mormon she was extremely touched by a person named Moroni (who was the last prophet to write in the Book of Mormon -and the angel who came back to in a vision to show Joseph Smith where the ancient records were hidden).  Her testimony began to grow, and before leaving back to France she had accepted the invitation to be baptized.  We got all of her contact information and sent it to the mission home in Madagascar to be transferred to France so that the missionaries could meet up with her over there and continue her lessons.  Unfortunately the information ended up not being transferred correctly, and after a few weeks I still had no news of if the missionaries had been able to get a hold of her.

In the meantime, one of the crazy back and forth transfers occurred, and I went back to St. Denis for two weeks.  On arriving back in Mauritius we had a missed call from a number out of the country.  When I called back it was Eda who had called me to tell me the great knews:D  In her little village she had managed to run into some members of the church who invited to come to church that Sunday and to give her a ride:D  She had been and someone contacted the missionaries for her and would be coming that week.  She has continued to learn and to grow her testimony right up until this past Saturday when she entered into the waters of baptism.  How beautiful!  She called me about once a week to tell me how it was going, and we got to talk the evening before her baptism.  She was so ready and so grateful for everyone who had helped her along the way.  It was a very touching story for me because of how much it all means to her.  She now has plans to be able to go to the temple next year to be sealed to her husband for time and all eternity:)  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so beautiful and brings so much comfort and joy.

We have three people preparing to be baptized here in June:)  It will be the week after I leave but I am so excited for them:)  One of the people is named Jean Paul.  He is 26 and has such an incredible testimony of the Restoration of the Church.  He taught a lesson with us last night to his younger sister and her boyfriend and the spirit and the love was so strong.

I only have one more week, what craziness.  It will be a great week whatever God has in store for us.  I really liked the lesson in Sunday school this past Sunday:)  It was about being grateful.  The more grateful we are the more blessed and happy we will be.  It is a choice to be grateful or not, but when we choose to be life becomes so much brighter.  Trials are great blessings because they help us to learn and grow; so may be always be grateful:)

I sang in sacrament meeting yesterday for mother’s day:)  also, when we tried to start the car in the morning we realized that we had left the light on all night and the battery was dead.  Everyone had a moment of panic because we needed to get to church on time, but then I remembered that I had learned how to push start the car:D  we pushed the car out of our driveway into the street and got it going again.  Super cool:) 

I hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Wilson