Well mates.. I think I might say this every week… but MIRACLES HAPPEN Y’ALL!!
Yesterday at church we got to watch our favourite girls get confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and receive the Holy Ghost. ❤ The baptism on Saturday was incredible and I may or may not have cried… Amanda and Peta both looked SO happy yesterday at church. Especially Amanda! She was literally bouncing and glowing. Which was such an amazing change from the depression she was in when we first met her. But the absolutely amazing thing that happened at their baptism was that we were able to witness the fulfilment of the Woden Ward Council’s fasting and prayers that began a year ago in April 2015! So Peta is Amanda’s daughter right? Well Amanda and Peta’s father, Dean, are no longer together but they get along for Peta and her sister Amber’s sake… and Dean and his mother Louise (so Peta’s grandma) decided to come to the baptism when they heard about it the night before. This was only because Amanda was kinda terrified on how they would react to their decision to be baptized. But they both were super supportive and came for the girls! 🙂 Well anyway.. so at the baptism our Bishop made a connection when he read Peta’s surname (which is hyphenated with both her mother’s and her father’s surnames). Bishop told the story of how last April there was a less-active member, who passed away, who also coincidentally had the same surname as Peta’s father! (He didn’t know at the time that Dean and Louise had actually came…) So somewhere down the line Peta must be related to this family. And she said that ALL YEAR since the funeral that they organized for the less-active man, the whole Bishopric and Ward Council has been fasting and praying to find this family again and get them back to church! WELL come to find out the names that Bishop was mentioning about the funeral were Malcolm (the man who passed away), his ex-wife Louise, Dean and then Dean’s brother Mark….. all less-active members AND Peta’s grandparents, father, and uncle!!!!!!! two of which were in attendance that day! wow… Sister Stott could not keep our jaws from dropping! because as Bishop was speaking and mentioning names, we made the connection immediately! Which made Amanda’s reaction to her ex-partner being a member absolutely priceless! She turned to him simply astonished (as we all were haha) saying “WHAT? You’re a Mormon?!?!?!” They had been engaged for 8 years and she never knew that about him or his family… they were all baptized in 1993 when Dean was 10 (just like Peta!) and then fell away after a nasty divorce in 1995. So through Amanda and Peta’s decision to be baptized we were able to not only gain a fabulous new family into the Ward, but we were also able to locate and potentially bring back the rest of this family who had been lost for years and all this was an answer to a prayer and fast that was set forth for a year. Even more if you take into account for the baptism and preparation of the family in 1993.
Brothers and sisters… God knows us. He knows us each personally and individually. And He is mindful of our every move and is there with us setting up the stage for how our life will turn out! He has His hand in our everyday lives and He leads us to where we need to be and leads others to us to helps us on our way. The Church is true y’all. It is because of God’s influence and His Son Jesus Christ that we were prompted to knock on Amanda’s door 5 minutes before we were supposed to go home, when we could’ve easily just packed up and left then.. and it is because of Him that we never gave up on Amanda when trials came and the adversary fought us all so hard that he almost won… It is because of Him that I am here on a mission and it is because of Him that I will continue to bring His word to His other children who are prepared and ready to make covenants that will bring them closer to Him!
This week definitely wasn’t easy.. but the heavenly rewards that it yielded where far and plenty! Never give up y’all, and always listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost! 🙂
Love you all heaps! Hope y’all enjoyed General Conference!! I get to watch it this weekend! Can’t wait!
Sister Swan 🍍🐨
PS Transfers are in 2 weeks and I’m not sure if I’ll be staying or not.. so just in case if you want to mail me things.. send it to:
2 Breakwell St.
Mortdale, NSW 2223
Australia
PPS Amanda asked us to sing her favourite hymn (“Where Can I Turn For Peace”) at her baptism(: I hope the link works for y’all… it’s the only way we could get the video attached. 🙂
PICS! 🙂 Amanda and Peta and us <3 <3 <3 and a pic of us with our “baptism-hangover-mango-freezes” from Hungry Jack’s (that’s Burger King for all you yanks.. ;P) and then a pic of the District when they revealed to us their evil prank of springing on us a “car fast” where we would have to turn in our keys that day and couldn’t use our cars again all weekend… -.- we ended up cancelling 2 appointments which were out of walking distance in preparation for this only to find out that it was all a prank… Elders are evil. That tis all.
