Canyon Crest Missionary Chronicles: Catherine Aldous' Christmas Update

Catherine was transferred last week to Eugene 1st Ward, which is the mission president's ward. (She said, "Pressure" :) Her assignment is to be Sister Training Leaders with her new companion, Sister Petersen from Kaysville, Utah, who has been out since September. The mission president says that Sister Aldous and Sister Petersen is a companionship made in heaven. They will work in their own area and travel to go on exchanges with the sisters in Eugene and Springfield. Her mission is also one of the missions which has missionaries assigned to use social media for one hour a day. She is supposed to use Facebook, email, blogs, etc for missionary purposes. This is Sister Petersen:

Here is a wonderful story from her last area, Philomath. (Our family has been touched and impressed by the love and support the members in Philomath give the missionaries, and we have received an email with a picture or a kind note about our missionary multiple times.) She had an outpouring of blessings and baptisms in November.

If you only have time to read the story's punchline:

"This is a thought that burns in my bosom: this man, who just three months ago, was just a resident of Philomath, is now progressing on the path as a son of God who is learning who he truly is. And how absolutely powerful that the man I met on a sidewalk early in September is now authorized to renew my baptismal covenant. The priesthood he can now exercise and his role in the ward as a priest are part of my salvation."

Here is the full story:

"I'd better tell the whole story of R and B's family. It is very special to me. And best of all, it isn't over. I still plan on attending their temple sealing in a year.

"On a morning in early September, Sister Levy and I were getting ready for our morning exercise. I remember pulling on my running shoes and kneeling in the kitchen for a moment, simply praying to Heavenly Father to ask if we could please find someone. I didn't necessarily mean right then, but I was seeking to exercise my faith. By then Sister Levy was ready, so she hopped on one of the bikes and followed me while I took off jogging down College Street near our apartment. Within a minute or two, I saw a man with a walker and a large dog. In the spirit of "Talk with Everyone" (see Preach My Gospel), I jogged up to him, Sister Levy pulled up behind me, and (a little out of breath) we asked if he would like a prayer that day. He said that he would like that and that we could come over the next day to offer the prayer. We wrote his contact information on a mormon.org card I saw a cross on his necklace and thought that he would probably try to tell us we were mislead when we came over, but I thought it was worth a try. (He mentioned he was attending an Evangelical church in Corvallis.)

"We went over the next afternoon with a fun woman from the ward who was taking us to visit people that afternoon. We had to come in the front door carefully because there were six large dogs in the living room. They jumped and squirmed everywhere for several minutes before settling down. The first meeting with R pretty much consisted of his telling us all about his dogs and about his friend who had just passed away and about his recent medical crises. He mentioned having known a Mormon that he was impressed with. About halfway through the visit, R's wife came home. Sister Levy found out that she was involved in the Young Women's program and had been baptized when she was a young adult.

"Things were pretty slow because of talkativeness. It was about two weeks and 3 or more meetings before we were even able to get 'lesson one' out. But one day, I was on exchanges with two other sisters, and we were determined to do the Restoration lesson, do or die. We decided to do a chapel tour to change up the environment, but it would be the day that the chapel was being recarpeted. It took two hours, but we did it. At the end, R commented that the pattern made sense to him. "If there were prophets then, why not now?" He said, though, that he had commitments to his church still and that he has the honor to fulfill them. (He was on the Board of Trustees and taught Sunday School.) But he said, "I'm not married to my church" and that, over time, he would consider our church. Others were also leaving the evangelical church, which made him not want to abandon ship too soon. "But I'd have to make sure I wasn't jumping out of the frying pan into the fire." After that lesson, I wrote on the teaching record that I was pretty sure he would be baptized, but that it would take time and patience. I fully expected it to take a year.

"It's hard to summarize all of the miracles and events of the next two months. It wasn't a smooth path. We had some wonderful friends for him at Church that helped so much. One of them gave him a priesthood blessing for health. On a certain weekend, I wrote on a post-it note that I can have the faith to see R baptized "in my day." (instead of letting obstacles control the situation) One day after over a month of teaching R, I woke up one morning and just felt it in my bones that it was time to extend a date for baptism to R. We prepared a lesson about covenants. He got it. He accepted!

"As the time for his baptism neared, his old church started an awful spiritual and emotional attack on him. He was told he was going to Hell. He lost friends. He was raked over the coals in front of the men's group.

"He covenanted. He understands the restored gospel. He earnestly desires the temple. He wants to bring his whole family with him. He was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday. I love him and B and their children. I am very fond towards his puns and talkativeness. Last night, after his ordination, he said to the small group, 'We need to take count of the angels in heaven, because I think two of them are missing.'

"I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."

Love,

Sister Aldous

Photo of R's baptism