"Good things are happening in Murray Bridge."

February 8, 2010

Hello from Murray Bridge!

This has been a good week. Kevin and Bart both went to the temple for the first time on Friday and did Baptisms for the dead. Bart baptized his dad; it was very special for him. It is such a great work we are going for the Salvation of the human race. It is so big and sacred sometimes it’s hard for my mind to get around it. Kevin will hopefully start doing some family history.

This Sunday was like a recent convert highlight reel. Kevin blessed the Sacrament. Bart said the closing prayer. Bart said an epic prayer. Also Michael and Leigh came to church. This is now two weeks in a row. Good things are happening in Murray Bridge. Michael and Leigh have committed to be baptized in March after they are married. Krystal their 7 year old daughter will be turning eight on March 13th. So we will baptize her as well. Lily and June left for China early Sunday morning. I will miss them. I probably will not see them again. They will be back in two months. She will marry her boyfriend in China and hopefully come back pregnant and have the child born in Australia. Lily wants another baby which she can’t have in China. Only one baby in China. Lily and June have committed to be baptized in May when they come back to Murray Bridge. I pray I will see the day. I have never spent so many hours on any other investigator; because of this I do love them. So that is 5 baptism dates. If they happen, that will be 8 baptisms for Murray Bridge by May. Murray Bridge only had 3 convert baptisms last year. And one of them was Justin Chapel, who I was blessed to witness his baptism in November. Our goal we set as a branch was 8 baptisms for the year 2010. I think after May they will need to make a new goal since we will meet that pretty quickly.

Claire has received a spiritual witness that the Book of Mormon is true. But she loves her Catholic church. We will drop her this week. There is nothing more we can do. The spirit of god is what converts people. And if they deny the Holy Ghost than that is her problem. My job is to help people investigate the church and help them recognize the spirit. This has been done, nothing more we can do.

We had a missionary Fireside in the Marion Stake Centre last night. Bart and Kevin both bore their testimonies. Because Bart was training to become an Assembly of God minister he is a good public speaker and has an awesome testimony. Kevin was good as well. But he was nervous, I do not blame him, he has no public speaking experience. Last night there were about 1000 people, not bad for throwing him into the deep end of public speaking hahahaha. It did fine spoke from the heart. It is unique to see them both grow and progress in the church together at the same time. This is new to me because I have always moved around in my mission so I haven’t witnessed my recent converts’ progress. So I am thoroughly enjoying my time in Murray Bridge. I hope I stay to see Michael and Leigh and their daughter baptized. I hope I stay to see Lily and her daughter June baptized in May.

It always makes me happy to hear updates about the family. I may not respond to family events, but I do enjoy the updates. I am going to fishing with Michael and his family all day today. Put some snags on the Barbie.

Love ya heaps
-Elder Montgomery