Elder Corey Rudd: Monday, May 2, 2016

Rachel Got Baptized!!!

Hey Everyone!!

This week was amazing! I don't know how else to explain it.

Yesterday Rachel Smith was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and it was one of the most powerful and spiritual things I have ever experienced in my life! She is such a sweet daughter of a loving Heavenly Father and she knows that this is the right path for her. After she received the Holy Ghost, she said, " I have gone through so many trials and tribulations in the past 22 years, more than I ever thought that I would and for the first time in my life, I feel light, I feel true happiness, I feel at peace. I want to share this with everyone and that is what I am going to do when I get home, I am going to share it with my family." I was pretty much in tears at this point because the Spirit was so strong there. Rachel is going to do amazing things in this world and is going to help so many people!

Then after the baptism, Rachel (the one that was my investigator in Vista), came up to me and said, "thank you for inviting me to this baptism. This was exactly what I needed." I have a feeling that she will be getting baptized in the near future too and will be able to receive that same joy that Rachel felt when she was baptized!

Later that night, we went out contacting and I felt impressed to stop by this man named Joe and sadly he was not home. So we started walking down the street and guess who we found...Joe! He was on the side of the road and so we talked to him some. That too was a really spiritual lesson and we were able to commit him to reading the Book of Mormon and asking whether or not it is true. Last night was an amazing night!

So last Monday, we hiked up this mountain and it was so much fun!! We were able to see so much around us. All the way from the ocean to the far parts of Fallbrook and Vista! It was such a neat experience. It was sad that we couldn't all make it up there but I am glad I was one of them that was able to.

We also stopped by Nita's house and she is probably one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met and we talked with her for a while and she told us about her brass collection and how she wanted to give us something so she gave me a brass face which was pretty cool. She is such a great woman!

Yesterday, we also were able to meet this lady that just showed up at church and sad that she was looking for a church to go to so we are going to be teaching her this coming Wednesday!

So today I was reading in the Ensign and I came across a quote by President Howard W. Hunter that really struck me and it said, " If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and His restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong...If our lives are not centered on the Savior and His teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right." That was just such a profound statement to me that as we do what is right and follow Christ, then everything will always work out in the end.

I just want to close with saying that the Spirit is real and it is truly an amazing feeling. Every single one of us has felt it and as we desire to have it more and more, we will feel of Christ's love for each and everyone of us. I know that this Church is true, no where else could I feel so good every time that a truth is taught. I know that what Rachel said is true, that as we are baptized, we truly do feel light! Through Christ's Atonement, we can all feel that way and feel that we have been forgiven of EVERYTHING we have ever done wrong. It is truly an amazing feeling and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share this message with everyone that I see. If you don't know whether or not this Church is true, I will invite you to do one simple thing, read the Book of Mormon and sincerely ask Heavenly Father if it is true. If you do that then everything else will work out. Just remember, Heavenly Father has a plan for each and everyone of us and it is truly a perfect plan! I can testify of that.

Thank y'all for all of your love and support! I love and miss each and every one of you!

Love,

Elder Rudd