Special Edition!

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille! I hope each of you had a spectacular week! I pray every single one of you can feel God's immeasurable love for you! 

We had a very exciting and astonishingly joyful event occur over here in Liberty, Missouri! Megan and Eric got baptized! 

The day, right from the beginning, was special! It was raining, not heavily, but steadily and a thought crossed my heart thinking there was something to the rain on a baptismal day! I reflected as we prepared for the special privilege later in the day on the great and tender mercies of the Lord in seeing us up until the point where we were. He wrought a miracle in us first meeting Megan and Eric. He provided the Holy Ghost astoundingly as we taught and served with them. As I readied myself; thinking about every laugh, tear, and smile in this glorious experience, I can declare with a surety our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost changed Megan and Eric's heart to be closer to them! I am astonished and greatly humbled before God to have been thought worthy to be a part of such a celestial journey. 

This sacred experience reminds me of a scripture in 1 Nephi 7: 4-5

    4  "And it came to pass that we went up unto the house of Ishmael, and we did gain favor in the sight of Ishmael, insomuch that we did speak unto him the words of the Lord.

    5 And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael, and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the wilderness to the tent of our father."

 

Megan and Eric, I love you. Thank you for being our friends. Thank you for letting us "speak unto" you "the words of the Lord." More importantly, thank you so much for letting us witness the Lord soften and change both of your hearts! I'm so glad you have "took (your) journey with us" back to our Father who is God the Eternal Father! 

 

The Baptism was amazing! The baptism was also a little (a lot) nerve-racking. After giving a talk on the Holy Ghost and Baptism where I gave both big white blankets to remember this special day, we came to the ordinance itself! Elder Hawkins baptized Megan! Her smile beamed like a supernova! I had the great honor and high privilege to baptize Eric! We got in the font quickly and into the ready position smoothly! Everyone quieted down as I said the prayer and baptized him. It was awesome! The only problem was...his knee came up! No big deal, right? I went to do it again, and again his knee came up out of the water and I said the prayer wrong! My mind started racing as I attempted to say it again but by this time I was flustered. Everyone was hovering over me. I was focusing on saying the prayer right! This ended up being an 8-time ordeal! Finally, after stepping on his toes and taking some deep breathes we were able to baptize Eric by full immersion and proper incantation of prayer! Megan couldn't contain her joy, so she jumped into the font to hug us as well as Elder Hawkins! Elder Finch carried us throughout this entire process with his great people skills and personality! Let’s just say this was an unforgettable Baptism! 

The next day Megan and Eric were given the Holy Ghost and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Thankfully, I wasn't called upon to do the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, Brother "Elder" Campbell, and Brother Pyne "the GOAT” were! The blessings they gave were beautiful and the Spirit was super strong, even malleable as it made us smile out of pure joy! 

All in all, I will never forget these sacred and joyful experiences! I can't wait to come back to Liberty one day and visit those I love here in my "home ward" family! Brother and Sister Treml, greatness resides in you! I am ecstatically eager to find out what is next on your fabulous and eternal journey!  

Till next time, Je vous aime, Elder Habel 

 

 The Baptismal Blankets! This literally melted my heart!

 

Some encouragement for all you missionaries and fellow members out there!