The Waters of St. Augustine

Dear Family,
There is nothing quite like having the privilege of helping another child of God enter the waters of baptism. Yesterday Elder Gebhard and I were privileged enough to help two of our brothers enter those waters. Joey and Andy have both taken a big step in following our Savior, Jesus Christ. I can't adequately explain how grateful I am for the opportunity I have had in teaching these two wonderful men. As I mentioned last week, Andy and Joey are two very different people, and their baptismal services were very different as well. Joey's had roughly ten people in attendance. It was a simple and quiet service. Andy's was much larger. There were about sixty people at his. However, once again, despite the differences in services they both were Spirit filled. Both Andy and Joey were radiating after their baptisms. I'm excited to see how they progress. I also pray that they will stay strong until they can be confirmed on April 8th. Once they are confirmed I will be relieved.
Several non-members were able to attend Joey's baptism. One of them is an investigator named Paul. He is an extremely humble man. We have been teaching him for two weeks. We're hoping to be able to help him get baptized within the coming weeks. Coming to Joey's baptism was a wonderful step in the right direction.
Everything else went well last week. We were busy teaching Andy, Joey, and our other investigators. I love being able to teach many people!
One of those other investigators is a man name Greg. I think I wrote about him a few weeks ago. I really can't remember though. Anyway, we did service with Greg on Thursday and then took him on a tour of the church. It was an interesting few hours. The service portion was very simple. Getting him on the tour required us to be patient and persistent. We eventually got him there. He enjoyed it quite a bit. He is a very unique man. We never know what we're going to get when we meet with Greg. There are usually several times when I have to do this---->
On Friday we got a call from the Sister missionaries. They asked if we could go give one of them a blessing. We did. I had the honor of performing the blessing. It was incredible. After the blessing I was pondering the priesthood and blessings. It's hard to explain how great it is giving a blessing. The words spoken truly are from Heavenly Father. It's incredible how the Spirit impresses things upon the mind during the blessings. I can't even imagine how it must be to be a Patriarch.
I'm really excited for General Conference this weekend. I'm hoping I will be able to partake of some delicious blueberry muffins...only time will tell. I'm most excited about getting to listen to the inspired words which will be spoken. As I come prepared the Spirit gently whispers to me. It speaks comfort when needed and helps me see ways in which I can change. I absolutely love it! I hope you will all be able to enjoy it as well. It's worth making sacrifices! What will the Spirit whisper to you?


Love Always, Zach


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http://mormon.org/me/2k0m/