Hats, Mats, and an Invitation

 

Bonjour tout le monde! I hope each of you is making the most of 2021! I pray each of you knows how much you are loved by our Heavenly Father!  

As for adventures, we had plenty of them! Transfers happened this Thursday! We sadly had to say goodbye to Elder Livingston! He is such a stud and a great example of living life in a fun and Christlike manner. He made a hat out of a raccoon we skinned, and I had the pleasure of helping him sew the fur onto the leather right before he left. He is now a zone leader in Lenexa. The fun part about transfer day was that we turned our duo into a trio with the addition of Elder Finch! He is such an awesome and funny Elder! He excels at explaining the Gospel in an easy-to-understand way! We didn't have another mattress for Elder Finch to sleep on so Elder Hawkins won the coin toss and chose to sleep on the Green Recliner! Thank goodness we got a mattress the next day because he said the recliner wasn't the best to sleep on and that he had to sleep on the ground because it was so uncomfortable! We also had the pleasure of meeting Elder La who filled in for Elder Livingston! He is a good Elder who works hard and is really good with social media (something I am in dire need of help with ha-ha)! All in all, transfers turned out splendid and we have already made some great memories together! 

Speaking of the great memories from this week, by far the greatest memory happened this past Saturday night! Earlier in the day, we planned to go over to Megan and Eric's house to share a message with them. When we began our personal study, Elder Hawkins felt impressed by the Holy Ghost to invite Eric and Megan to be baptized on January 30th, to join themselves with Jesus Christ's Church. I'll admit when I first heard him say that I was nervous! We decided to ask Heavenly Father in prayer if our decision to invite them to baptism was a part of His will. After our prayer, I received an answer. We would invite them to be baptized and to set a date for the 30^th of January. As you know I'm supposed to leave for Africa on the 28th of January. Knowing what joy, happiness, comfort, peace, and ultimate purpose would be given to the Treml's if they decided to be baptized and knowing the love I have for the Lord and wanting to bring about His will; I knew it was the perfect date, even if I had to watch the baptism from Africa. I would be more than alright, despite the sadness I would feel not being there in person because the Treml's would be receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and would be starting their path towards God. Them being baptized was enough for me. Thus, we prepared to invite them to be baptized. 

I'll admit I was nervous going into this! I think Megan and Eric could tell (ha-ha). Thank goodness we had Sister Meyer there! We had a super good discussion and when we invited them to be baptized the Spirit was so strong! You see in the scriptures when Jesus Christ talks about having a fulness of joy, this is what we felt!

                                                
 

Later on, Megan asked me why we chose January 30th. I explained why and I started tearing up: I felt the Lord's presence and love through the Holy Ghost! Truly it was once in a lifetime experience! The Spirit was so present in our hearts! Thankfully Megan told us she would like to have us all there, so now we are shooting for the 23rd! 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth along with His power and authority (the Priesthood). He seeks our ultimate happiness. It's up to us to seek it alongside Him.

I love each of you very deeply and dearly!  Know we can overcome all things through God!  

Till next time, love, Elder Habel