Monica's Story

Monica's story: Monica is a friend of mine who I have been working with since I got here. From the get go, Monica's strength was progressing on her own- she came to church regularly, read the BOM and prayed on her own, and attended the Church's Self Reliance: Emotional Resilience class with members. Her fellowship reached out to her without prompting; she was basically already a member of the ward. 

However, she was not so good at making time to meet with missionaries. She was going through a myriad of difficult personal situations, and church was all the time she could make for the Lord. (Which is fair, cause that's usually all you need.) But as Sis. Friberg and I tried to reach out to her and set up lessons, we often felt that she was ready to be baptized very soon! Then time would go by and we wouldn't be able to actually get a lesson with her. We resorted to faithfully sending her scriptures over text for about 2 months.

Finally, she came to church and allowed us to schedule to come do some service. While we were there, we looked at each other and knew we needed to get a lesson. But before we could ask, Monica poked her head out and asked for a lesson. Once we began to teach the lesson, we knew we had to invite her to be baptized. But before we could say anything, Monica said, "And I've been thinking about being baptized." We were astounded. She said she didn't feel ready for a date, that it was too much pressure, so we just set up to come back and teach more. 

Well, our return appointment went okay, but the next fell through, and it would be about two weeks until we saw Monica again. By that time, we had counseled and brainstormed every idea to help her feel more comfortable with a date for baptism. We began our lesson and after we taught a few principles, I said, "Last time we talked, you said you didn't feel comfortable setting a date for baptism..."

"I don't feel that way anymore. We can set a date," Monica jumped in. And that was that. Monica had progressed on her own again. She would talk with God, and they worked it out. We did very little as missionaries. 

Well we set the date for 2 weeks out to make sure she could be baptized before she moved to Fort Collins, and although we keep contact, we were not able to get an actual lesson in those two weeks time. The night before her baptism, we arrived with phone in hand for her baptismal interview. She had her interview over zoom, and then in 30 mins we ran through all 5 lessons. She bore her testimony of the principles as we went through each one, and she finished my sentences and listed the steps in the doctrine of Christ on her fingers (faith, repentance, baptism...), and I was reminded that this is why we could baptize her tomorrow. She is ready. Her faith is so sweet and she looked toward to baptism with a solemn sort of reverence. 

That Saturday, Monica was baptized. Despite her difficult circumstances, she seems to have grown more happy and confident since her baptism! Her circumstances didn't change, but she did. It reminds me of what President Nelson said, "The joy we feel has nothing to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." (Or something like that :) She received the gift of the Holy Ghost that Sunday and became the newest member in the South Glenn ward! The young man who confirmed her left on his mission a couple weeks later. It was his first time confirming someone a member, but it was one of the best I've heard. His connection and his family's connection to Monica made the confirmation particularly sweet. 

Monica's story was one of the best parts of my time in South Glenn/Centennial.