In the last chapter of The District... Laura came to the ward that we had this morning. And she's doing really good. Did you read in Ether, in the Book of Mormon? I've been so engrossed with so much stuff I don't even... I had forgotten where I ended last time. May God bless your union and help you keep the covenants that you have made this day.

We say this humbly, in the name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen

Okay. Set goals and plan for investigators to be baptized and confirmed in the coming week. -Jackie. -Jackie, Jackie.

We'll prep her for the questions in the baptismal interview. They'll cover this. In the questions of baptismal interview it says, When you are baptized, you covenant with God that you are willing to take upon yourself the name of Christ and keep His commandments throughout your life. Are you ready to covenant this and try to be faithful to it? This right here in the bottom is something we need to ensure that they are ready to make and keep these covenants. We'll have to see Jackie next week a lot, too, because you want to see her almost every day of the weeks before and after the baptism and confirmation, especially if she works Sunday. She'll be confirmed next Sunday. -Right. -So, what do you want to do? -For... -Lessons. We discussed the law of chastity with Jackie and Kaleb, the Word of Wisdom, all this. We don't want to go there and sit down and do something that was long and intense. We just had a prompting to share this DVD, Finding Faith in Christ, and we thought faith would be perfect to share with them. So, throughout that whole DVD, as we were watching it I was trying to think to myself, What would be good to ask to help Jackie and Kaleb feel the Spirit? And, lo and behold, towards the end of the lesson she brought up her concern of keeping the Sabbath day holy and I thought that tied in well with the concept of faith. I don't know when I'll have Sundays off with my job. That's the bad thing about it. I only go in on weekends, so I can't ask for each Sunday off. It would only be one day a week.

So I don't know what to do. Maybe what you could do is look around... -It's probably a good job, -but look for a different job. You can look for a different job since I know if you look for one and you're doing it to come to church on Sunday, the Lord's going to bless you. They're a bit blunt about things; outspoken. But it's a good thing. They make me want to be better. The make me want to live for God and stuff. I had a job where I worked at this golf...this golf shop. I loved it and the guys there. It was one of my favorite jobs. I love golf and being at the golf course. And I worked on Sundays. And after I was baptized, I did things the wrong way and I told my boss, I said, I can't work Sundays any more. I didn't have the courage to tell him everything. He said, I don't want to work on Sundays either, but I've got to. I waited a couple of days and I was kind of upset and I realized how I didn't really take that stand and I went in and said, Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I can't work on Sundays because I go to church. And at my church we don't believe in working on Sundays. He said, Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't understand. I didn't know what it was. His whole demeanor changed; the Spirit was really working. He said, I'm really sorry. Take every Sunday off. You never have to work again. He's the most amazing guy. It's interesting how this lesson we're teaching now is on faith and how we may not always know the outcome but we know what's right. He will provide if we put Him first in all things. That's why faith is so important. Tonight, we're going to ask you to pray and exercise that faith and ask Heavenly Father to help you know how to tell your boss that on Sundays you need to go to church. That's where you need to be. I don't know if you can see it, but He's led you up till now. All you've experienced has been an example of your faith so far. When the missionaries teach their lessons, sometimes I think that they specifically know what I am feeling and what I'm going through. They make me feel like that and it's awesome. It's like they know exactly what's in my heart. -They're good motivators too. -Yeah. Because, without them, like, pointing that out and asking us to do these things, we might not do as much as we should. Having faith in Christ is... It's going to help us a lot.

It's important for me to hold my missionaries accountable in what they do. -Hey, President. -Hi, Elder, how are you? -Good. How are you doing? -Good to see you. -You too. -Come on in. In interviews, I'll often ask, Will you show me your planner? -Do you have your planner? -I do have my planner. -I'd like to look at it. -Sure. I'm going to pull someone out of one of your pages. February 28th. Tuesday. Joe and Patrick. Tell me about them. I just pull the planner out, open it, and we talk about it and what they're successful at and what they aren't using as well as they should. I see you've go your daily goals and your key indicators. Great. -You're keeping weekly goals. -Yep. Excellent. You're indicating each one of those. Preparation day. How about your back-up plan? We have a lot of back ups. Yesterday was all referrals so we had names for both areas in case something fell through, we had someone else we were going to go and try visit. -Does that work well for you? -Oh, yeah. It work really well. I give them encouragement to use it more fully, more exactly. And most of the times, they really want to. The just tend to be like 19- and 20-year-old young men who've never planned anything other than maybe a date.

And that not very well. Can you get your district to follow up with their planners -and use them proper? -Definitely. OK. The district is doing well at making plans and executing them. Good. Elder, I want you to know we value your leadership. Your role in that is key. Your district will only do what you ask, suggest and inspire them to do. If you don't, you know they won't do it. I'm confident you are. I appreciate what you're doing. -Thank you. -If you have no more questions, -we'll close with a prayer. -I don't. -Shall I say one for us? -Sure. Thanks. -Hi, Sisters. -Hi, Elder. -Sister Myers, come on in. -Thank you. Do you have your planner? Let me borrow your planner. Let's just see how you're doing. Let's see what Preach my Gospel has done for you. OK, we'll take yesterday. Oh, that's a great planner. You've got all kinds of things. You've got back-up plans. Excellent. You've got... Your day is full, isn't it? -Yes, we've been very busy. -You had a full day. You've got your To Do list, notes to yourself, follow-up. You've got your daily goals for key indicators and your actuals. Looks like you've done well. You've done better in some cases than your goals. How do you feel you're doing as far as becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary? There's so many things that I need to improve on. But, having this focus on Preach My Gospel has helped me be a better missionary. I've always had an ideal in my mind of this great missionary and of who I always wanted to be, but now I feel like I have the tools to get there. So it's really helped me. I still have lots to learn. I've learned these things, but applying them is different. So... I want to assure you you've done a tremendous job. As you start to wind down to the end of you're mission you've been exceptional. I just want you to show that to your companion and help her become just like you are. I think you are. I think you two are doing great.

So I don't have any concerns at all about you. I want you to feel our love for you and our appreciation for what you've done in our mission. You've been a great example to others. Keep it up, will you?

Almost all young people have an attitude of, I don't want to plan. I know nothing about it; it's a pain. But I get testimonies every week in my letters about, President, I'm finally seeing the benefit of planning and my companion and I are planning better than ever. -Elder Walkenhorst. -Hello. -You ready? -I am. Come in and see me. Thanks, Elder. How's it going? -Good. -Take a chair right there.

Have you got your planner? Would you share it with me? Let me take a look at your planner. President Larkin said, Okay, put your planner on the table. And I...I was just really glad I'd done it...

Because I'd feel horrible if I handed it over to him and he looks at a blank day or a day with two names on it. That planner looks great, Elder. How's it going? Do you and your companion work on and fill it out together? -Yes. -Each day? When you get in at night, you review what you did that day, you plan for the next day. Boy, that is a full day, Elder. Look at that. You've got something in every hour. -Quite a few names. -That is wonderful, Good for you. You've got notes over here that you're following up on. You've got your To Do list, you're memorizing various things you're working on. You've got your study topics, personal and companion. -Do you do this every day? -Yeah. Wonderful. That's great. You've got your daily goals down for your key indicators. Some of your Daily Actual exceeds your Daily Goals. Like your Lesson Start, Other Lesson Start. -Good for you. -We had many lessons yesterday.

Impressive. It means you're following Preach My Gospel. If all our missionaries will do exactly what you've done here, we'll be a tremendous success as a mission. We use Preach My Gospel in everything that we do. We focus our efforts on becoming a Preach My Gospel mission. That's the way the missionaries will ever really succeed the way the prophet's asked us to do. I'll say a prayer, if you don't have anything else. -No other questions? -No. All right. Let me say a closing prayer for us. It's the best training manual you could ever have.

With Noal, tomorrow we're going to be with him and it's going to be the do-or-die lesson. We're just going to go and say, Well, we've taught you and we've been working with you for however long. And you know, as missionaries we're here to help people and help them prepare to be baptized into Christ's church. Seeing people lose interest or not seeing or understanding the importance of the gospel is the hardest thing for me, personally, as a missionary. Bless Noal with

that desire to be baptized, to come unto Thee. We had made specific plans to go to talk to Noal and to explain to him we couldn't continue coming by unless he was willing to keep his commitments, so we went to the restaurant he wanted to meet us at. Well, it's going to be a hard discussion, I guess. Just choosing not to do what we ask him to, so if he doesn't start keeping his commitments and really make the decision, then we're going to have to spend our time elsewhere.

It's 4:05. He said he'd be here around 4 o'clock. We'll give him a couple more minutes. We left. We went on our way to another appointment. We actually happened to see him walking on the side of the road. So we ran over and began talking to him and then just walked with him back to the restaurant and had that conversation with him. We've been working with you for a while and we've taught you and given you lots of assignments and homework, if you want to call them, and you haven't really been keeping up with those. About two weeks ago we had given him a reading assignment and he still hasn't done it. The reason why we give people those assignments is to help them find out for themselves and to help them so they can make that decision wholeheartedly to be baptized. We encouraged him to continue to read in the Book of Mormon, that we're still his friend, and we'd stop by on occasion and see how he was doing. I know everything we've taught you so far is the truth and it comes from God. And that we are his servants, his representatives to share this message with you, Noal. We invite you to pray about all that we've taught you and act on the answer you receive from the book. He was a bit disappointed, to a degree. But, I think he understood that it's the way it would be.

Weekly planning has changed markedly since I really began using Preach My Gospel. Weekly planning used to be filling out paperwork. When we plan, we're finding ways to fulfill our purpose and so it's not a checklist we review and mark everyone off. It's the time that we have to really focus on their needs and to be guided by the Spirit. Planning should be a spiritual experience. And then investigators with the baptismal dates. Last week, we wanted to have five. I would like Laura to have a date. How do you feel she's progressing?

She's excited because she's feeling the change in her life. Because of that, she's progressing. She's reading the Book of Mormon and having good experiences. We've been teaching Laura for a couple of months. We felt that she's ready to commit to be baptized. Laura.

We can talk to her about... -Commit her for a date. -Yeah.

-Hi. How are you? -Hi, Laura. Good, thanks. There's a story in Acts that I really love. It's in Acts chapter 2, verse 37 and 38. -Will you read that, Laura? -Sure. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then, in verse 41 it says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. I think that's amazing to see how, in that very moment, they felt in their hearts and knew Christ was their Savior, that these were His truths. And they were baptized immediately. They acted upon that witness they were given. It's a step of faith and that's what this life is all about. But as you take this step, you will show God that you trust Him and that you recognize He will help you the whole way.

Will you follow Christ's example and be baptized, Laura? Well, I don't have to do it right now, do I? -Well... -He...I... -It's not funny. -I know. It's real cute, though. What do you feel that you need to wait for? I don't want to do this anymore.

Are you okay?

Laura, we're here only because we love you. And you can tell us whatever you're feeling.

-Are you alright, sweetheart? -Yeah.

Well, I erm...

I don't want to make the choice to get baptized when we're, like weak. You know what I mean? I have this fear that if I get baptized and things in my life don't go well, then I'm going to get really angry.

I think you'd be fine. I think you'd be fine. You've never had a problem sticking to something. -Mm. -Have you?

You just lay down and quit?

-No. -I haven't seen it.

Having Greg there was so important. Until this point, he hadn't opened up much to us or Laura. And I think the key was to have him be very much a part of this and for Laura to see how strong he was and hear his testimony.

-Should I tell you what I think? -Mm.

Remember you couldn't have kids? -Mm-hm. Remember I told you we would? How...why we would have kids? Mm-hm.

Remember how you said we'd never have them, I told you we would, don't worry about it? Yeah. Do you remember why I told you why?

I'll tell you why. I don't usually tell people. Well, I don't remember.

When I was a younger kid, I did the stuff I was supposed to do. I was quorum presidents and stuff like that, you know.

And er...

God knows you. He knows what you're going to do. He knows when you do it wrong. So, when we were coming back...

I remember now.

-You shouldn't pick on me, hon. -I'm not.

You should do stuff without me having to explain it.

The only time I've ever seen anything...I was, 14 years old.

I saw that I'd go to the temple with my wife and my baby.

So I've always know that that's what I should do. No matter how bad it was, I knew when I was 14 it would be...When she didn't want kids or couldn't have kids, that is was... that is would always be OK, no matter how bad it was or how long it took. So when she said it wouldn't ever happen, I knew it would.

When she refused to be baptized, I always knew she would. And so it's never... it's never really concerned me.

So it was, When you're ready.

As he shared that experience so dear to his heart, I was so grateful for the Spirit that... I don't know what their needs are, I don't know what they've experienced, but God does.

And if we don't have the Spirit, we can't teach.

And we can't truly help these people to...

We can't help them come unto Christ. I was so grateful the Spirit was there, guiding that lesson. Yes, we had to keep persisting and inviting her, but that's because that's what the Spirit was guiding us to do. Because the Spirit prompted and guided us in that direction. Greg was able to explain the feelings of his heart that touched Laura and helped her resolve her own concerns.

So I've always known.

That doesn't mean you have to do anything you don't want to.

I know...I know I need to be baptized. I just...I want to make sure I don't...

it doesn't seem like a rushed thing.

When she said, I know that I need to be baptized, it brought peace to my heart again. To know that this is right, this is what God wants us to do. It does come to just trusting in God. Believing He will support you. I know He will, he's supported me. I'm weak, and He's made me strong. Each day He makes me stronger if I just keep turning to Him. I know that you'll do that because your faith is in Him.

Will you show your faith and trust in Jesus Christ by being baptized, Laura?

I will, but can we pick a date on Friday?

Yeah.

-Is that what you want to do? -Yeah. But I don't want to pick a date until Friday. -Okay. -Okay. Definitely. We, as missionaries, are really that guide on her journey and in a way, we did need to give her a little push because she's so amazing. We can see what God sees in her. She has incredible potential to be and amazing church member, to serve and touch the lives of so many others.

Our Father in heaven, we're thankful for many blessings and we're thankful for the gospel and we're especially thankful for the Sisters and for Laura, for her sweet heart for her baptismal commitment and all she means to our family.

And that we can have a family. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen.

That was a short one. That's OK. It's OK.

Bye, Laura. -She is so cute. -I love her.

I can't breathe.

Wait. What just happened?

A lot. You expect so many things when you go on your mission and you start and you're excited to go and share the gospel. I think the most important thing any of us can ever do is to realize the role the Holy Ghost plays in our teaching. We must trust that it's there and we're in harmony with it, that we're being obedient and that we have the faith that the Spirit will guide us.

We got a call saying that Kaleb had to work late and Kaleb was able to be picked up by Brother Lee, but it was interesting because he shows up to the baptism and he felt so bad because he was just in a sweatshirt, but he came as fast as he could and he was there to support her.

I would like to thank everybody for showing up. Right now, we'll have the talk on baptism. Sister Hassell will give it. We'll then have the baptism.

Thank the Lord you're here for Jackie, as she deserves.

Our star tonight. Jackie, I'm so excited to be able to be with you

and to share in this really magnificent moment It's just a moment in time but it's so full of meaning and significance. I got you this card. When you care enough to give or send the very best.

And I was thinking about that slogan and I was thinking about our Heavenly Father because I think he really has that same message.

He cared enough to send His very best - his son, Jesus Christ - to come to Earth to show us the way, so we could follow His example in every single thing He did. I know, without any question, that you are precious in His sight. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Seeing Jackie in the font with Brother Lee was amazing. It was so bright. Everything was lit up so nicely, and her smile.

I also though of Kaleb and how he sees his wife enter in the waters of baptism, come out clean. How exciting it must for him. And just seeing his face.

Jackie Lynne Derry, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I would describe tonight as a huge miracle.

I think the greatest miracle will be when they're sealed. I see it as a step to something much more grand.

Kaleb prayed for the first time in public ever, since Primary, and he did such a good job. He was so nervous.

Dear Heavenly Father, we give thanks for this beautiful day and this special day for Jackie. I ask that Thou always watch over Jackie through these times, that she will learn and prosper and that the Spirit will always be with her. I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

I just got baptized and it was the greatest feeling. I felt so clean when I got out. Pure. 100% pure right now, you know, after being baptized and it's...it's just a wonderful feeling.

It was a good decision and I'm glad, I'm glad. I feel so good. I'm going to be confirmed into the church. It's going to make me better, make me the person I want to be. I say unto you, Receive the Holy Ghost.

We want to welcome Sister Derry as a member of the 8th Ward and I ask everybody to raise their right hand.

The greatest thing that we're looking forward to is to be sealed in the temple, overall. That's got to be one of the greatest things. A year from now is when we really want to do it.

I woke up. It just felt right. I didn't feel nervous any more.

I think it's an honor to have him be a worthy priest. to be able to do that for me.

After the baptism I felt so light, peaceful, and comforted. It was emotional since it means a lot for our family and for our future.

The best thing about it is that I can be able to return to live with my Heavenly Father again some day and Jesus allowed a way for me to do that through His suffering and anguish. I am really thankful that I've been able to take this step.