Many Fantastic People!

Elder Nordwald and I had an amazing week here in the Mesa Central Stake! We have been teaching and setting baptismal dates with people who are truly prepared and ready to receive that ordinance! Just this morning we were able to teach a woman named Kathleen. She is someone that I talked to on the street yesterday while Elder Nordwald was in the car making a phone call. We went over this morning at 9am (sacrificing our sleep so that we could get up an hour early to study) and got to know her on a personal level, she read the pamphlet we gave her and she also read 12 chapters in the Book of Mormon in just 22 hours! She was telling us how she wants to be cleansed from all of her sins and we explained how she could be as she is baptized and receives the holy ghost. she asked us "Am I in an apostasy?", she really had a good grasp on what she read in the book and the pamphlet and was able to ask us some really unique questions. She basically bore her testimony to us about how the godhead could be 3 separate people and how Joseph saw what he said! WE WERE STUNNED to the point that we were unsure where to go with the lesson until the spirit told me to invite her to be baptized on September 17th. She accepted that as a goal and we will be meeting with her on Wednesday in a member of the ward's home! We are so excited for her and I personally can't wait to see her enter the waters of baptism and progress towards eternal life.

We set another baptismal date with a 10 year old boy named Dylan! He has been wanting to be baptized for a while now and has been coming to church for the past 6 months, his mom is against the church, but she has had a softened heart recently. He is going to be baptized on August 27th along with his 8 year old sister!

We have been meeting several wonderful members of the wards and working close with them to help hasten the Lords work. I am grateful that I have the privilege to work in the Central Stake with so many fantastic people. I hope to be here for a while longer. Please continue to pray for me as I labor here!

-Elder Thomas