An Amazing Baptism

Hello all,

We had a baptism this week! Jack was baptized and confirmed by his grandfather. It was a very spiritual baptism! Jack's less-active mom May and non-member sister Jamie sang the song "A Child's Prayer" and it brought such a great spirit. Hopefully the baptism helps to soften their hearts and eventually Jamie will get baptized. The Lord has blessed us with 2 baptisms the last 2 months! It is amazing that both people came to Church and wanted to be baptized! But now, we are back to square one and need to work hard and find people to teach!

Funny story, we were filling the font and all the hot water ran out and the font was freezing cold so I walked out on a ledge to try to pull the plug to let water out so we could fill it with boiling water and I fell halfway in! My shoes and half my pants were soaking and with only 15 minutes until the baptism we had no time to get home and change. So with halfway wet pants and sopping wet shoes I attended the baptism. Not only that, but the water was cold and Jack nearly didn't get into the water to be baptized. But thanks to his patient grandpa it finally happened!

Last Monday was an interesting day. Elder Ouassil wanted to go to goodwill to buy a new suit because we have to wear them every day now. He got the suit for a great deal, but needed it altered. So we went to Men's Warehouse and after getting fitted, he found out the price and it was way expensive. So we walked out of the store and that was pretty embarrassing. Then I wanted to use a 10 dollar certificate to a smoothie place here and we walked in and I found out that it didn't word so we walked out with no smoothie. To end the day we were dropped by a less-active we teach. So as you see the week didn't start out very well, but it sure ended well!

So now we have to work hard and find our next person to baptize! I know that the Lord will bless us! I love and miss you! I know that the Church is true with all my heart and will talk to you later!

~Elder Fetzer

Elder Fetzer, Jack, Elder Ouassil

Miracles

Hello all,

So this week a miracle occurred. Here in the Bellevue Zone we have been praying for 7 baptisms for the month. We got a call on Tuesday night from Sister Polk, Jack's aunt telling us that since they didn't need to get permission from his dad they wanted to have the baptism on February 26! So we have a baptism coming up! The Lord is truly blessing us!

It is actually really crazy that our last 2 baptisms have been from people who have basically come up to us at Church and told us that they wanted to be baptized. There is a great work to do here in the Issaquah 5th ward!

Other than that we continue to work with basically the same people, Neesheri & Corinda. But hopefully Corinda continues to progress and learn about the Church. They continue to come to Church every week and let us come teach them. Hopefully Corinda takes our advice and starts using the Atonement in her life so she can see that one Man did indeed take upon Himself the sins of the world.

For now, things are going well here in Issaquah 5th ward. The Lord is blessing us. The man we found last week tracting is still trying to become activated.He says that he wants to go to the singles ward FHE tonight.

This week was all-in-all average, but we did see miracles and the Lord is truly blessing the Washington Seattle Mission.

Sorry I have to keep this short. But I love and miss you all! Thanks for your constant prayers and support. I know that the Church is true and that Joseph Smith truly restored Christ's church on the earth once again.

~Elder Richard Fetzer

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello all,

Even in a slow week I have seen miracles. We continue to teach Neesheri, the member returning to activity, and his girlfriend Corinda, who is slowly progressing. She is starting to better understand the atonement and how one Man could take upon Him the sins and sorrows of the world. We challenged her to test it out and that if she had a "particle of faith," she would see the atonement work in her life too.

Jack, our on-date is also progressing. He has really no knowledge of the Church, although he has been to church many times and his extended family are active members, but he will be ready for baptism when March rolls around. Each time we go to teach him, the date keeps on getting pushed back so I really have no idea when the baptism will actually happen.

I have gained a testimony of having the spirit tell me where to go tracting. There is a street in our area that we pass nearly every day. A couple of weeks ago I had a prompting to tract there, but as time passed we always ended up going somewhere else. So this week we finally got around to tracting the street. Door after door rejected us, but I still felt that we needed to go on. When we knocked on the last door of the street we met a less-active man. He told us that the missionaries knocking on his door was the sign he needed to start coming back to Church and invited us back. The Lord will place people in our paths as we follow the spirit.

Be sure to watch out for the March issue of the Ensign. There is an article about the Issaquah 5th Ward. In the summer of 2006 there were many members who suffered many tragic events and the ward bonded together. It is a really cool article and mentions many people that I know! The article even mentions that one man is a non-member, whose member wife suffered. (There is a new feature online that will update the world on these families mentioned and hopefully the next update is that the husband is baptized, but I think it will only happen when his kids go on missions.)
Well, as you see it was kind of a dull week, but we keep on chugging along.

~Elder Richard Fetzer

A Week of Ups and Downs

Hello all,

So this was quite a week. A lot happened. First off, we have another on-date! Jack is a 9 year old boy who is the son of a less-active woman in the ward! It all started a couple of weeks ago when his active aunt and uncle, also in the ward, took him to Church. After Church, his aunt came up to us and told us that Jack wanted to be baptized! So we started teaching him on Thursday night with the message of the Restoration, where he accepted the baptismal commitment for February 19th. We went back on Saturday morning and the family wanted to push back the date to March 5th so family could come into town. So it is kind of a bummer that we have no one scheduled for baptism in February, but at least we will have a baptism coming up!

We continue to teach Neesheri, the returning member I told you about last week and his girlfriend Corinda. Neesheri is coming back to church now and I think is liking it. Corinda for now is slowly progressing and needs to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Atonement. She has a hard time comprehending that one man could take on the sins of the world.

We continue to look for new investigators. Surprisingly, there are a few investigators in our ward who prefer having sister missionaries teach them, which is kind of disappointing, but at least our ward will get to count the baptisms. Right now we have the biggest teaching pool that I have had here, but that isn't saying a lot because it isn't that many people. The Lord continues to bless the Issaquah 5th Ward.
Things are looking hopeful for the coming month. As always, the Church is true!

~Elder Fetzer

Another Week As A Missionary

Hello all!

 

This week was really quite uneventful, but it was still good. I am happy to still be here in good 'ol Issaquah, but it will be interesting to see where else I will serve in my mission. On Wednesday I had Zone meeting, which we have at the beginning of each transfer. It is an opportunity to meet our Zone Leaders and meet the new missionaries who have been transferred into the zone. The meeting is also a time when we set our goal for the number of baptisms we want monthly. In the past we have set numbers that we basically knew we couldn't reach. We would write down the names of the investigators we had and the ones we thought could be baptized during the next month. That number would generally be our goal. Needless to say, some areas didn't have people they could truly baptize and some investigators written down didn't make it to the waters of baptism. So this month we were realistic. Bellevue zone's goal this month is 7, which I actually think can be done. We already have 5 on date for next month and getting a few more on date won't be too hard, but we'll leave it to the Lord and see what happens in February. 

We also decided to start a zone testimony meeting every Sunday night in an attempt to help our zone become more unified. I think it is gonna work. Missionaries rarely see other companionships so when we all get together it is always a lot of fun!
 

We continue to teach regularly. There are many people that we see each week and we have a few investigators we are working with, but no one close to baptism. This week we are starting to teach Jack, a 9 year old boy whose mom is less-active and is finally okay with him being baptized!
 

After the meeting with Elder Kearon last week we had Eva go up and meet him. He told her that she needed to make good friends in the Church, which she does, and that we (the missionaries) needed to help. So tonight she is meeting us at the singles ward FHE for the stake. It is gonna be fun to do stuff with a singles ward once again.

Each week we have a member lesson with the Browns. They are awesome member missionaries whose goal it is to have someone taught by the missionaries in their home in 2011. They are doing great! It is even good for them because they are getting to know their neighbors better. Sister Brown even had the courage to give a Book of Mormon to her friend. It is great to see them excited about sharing the gospel. 

Anyways, as always, I love you and know that the Church is true!
 

~Richard

Progression

Hello all!

This week I had my first REAL convert baptism! On Saturday, January 22, Eva was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It is remarkable to see her progression over the last couple of weeks as she progressed towards the date. She was so ready to be baptized, but as always, there is opposition in all things. The last few days before she was baptized, she doubted herself, thinking that she wasn't worthy to be baptized. But she continued to fight through her temptations and was able to overcome those challenges.

Saturday night Elder Ouassil and I attended the missionary fireside, where Patrick Kearon, of the Quorum of the Seventies spoke about the atonement to investigators, returning members, and recent converts. He compared it to a beautiful park, which was on top of a landfill. He told the people that you could bury your rubbish (sins) in the landfill and that the savior would make it beautiful again. It was a really neat lesson on the atonement, from one of my now-favorite general authorites!

At the meeting, Elder Kearon asked audience members how they felt when the missionaries taught them. A microphone was passed around to volunteers. One woman compared the spirit to warm clothes out of a dryer, another said it was like coming home. Then in the front of the audience, Eva raised her hand and stood up. She said that her missionaries (I can't believe that I am anyone's missionary!) made her feel comfort. "Brilliant!" Elder Kearon said, in his British accent.

As a missionary, I am so happy to see how she feels about the gospel and the happiness it is already bringing her. She saw sister missionaries at the meeting and said that she went home that night and prayed about it. She wants to serve the Lord on a mission, helping people get out of the hole she was once in. I can't wait to see where she is in a couple of years as she makes friends in the gospel and continues to progress. 

Lastly, we had a couple of miracles this week. On Tuesday we got a referral of a less-active man and his girlfriend who would like the missionaries to teach them lessons again. We went over and invited him to church, which he hadn't attended for many years and he actually came the next day! I am hopeful for now that we can continue to teach them. His non-member girlfriend even showed up at church!

The real miracle happened after church. There is a less-active woman in the ward who is allowing her sister, who is also in the ward, to take her son to church. Sister Polk, who is the sister, came up to us and told us that Jack, who is the son of the less-active woman, would like to be taught and baptized AND that his mother was finally okay with it. It is good to see this less-active woman's heart begin to be softened.

As always, the church is true.

~Elder Fetzer

Elder Fetzer, Eva, Elder Quassil

Elder Fetzer and Elder Clayton

Elder Fetzer and Elder L. Whitney Clayton
at a mission conference held Saturday, January 22, 2011 in Seattle.