This Is Faith

Faith is a difficult principle to instantly understand. It comes with time as we build our testimonies. Scriptures, such as this one, explain faith:“..faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

The Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible clearly illustrate what faith is, by definition, but we still seem to struggle on how to act on faith. How we apply it to our lives. As we follow the example of Jesus Christ, we will begin to understand how faith is important for our testimonies. So how do we act on faith?

After investigating the church for one year, a 55 year-old woman we are teaching now has an unquestionable desire for baptism. For years this woman has had some tough medical issues, including a sensitive sore on her back.  The sore cannot be exposed to unfiltered water, or it has a chance of becoming infected, which could make her fatally sick. As her baptism has approached a solution was found to patch an air compressed bandage on her sore so water won’t come in contact with the wound. We also will be sterilizing the water in the baptismal font. This woman has been seeking the truth for years and the days are coming closer to her baptism. She told her nurse, who visits her daily, about her baptism. She expected her nurse, who is one of her best friends, to be happy and supportive, but she was the complete opposite. Devastation flooded the nurse’s face as she begged and begged our investigator not to be baptized (by immersion). Her nurse was confused as to why she would want to do something like that, and why she couldn’t just join another church (that didn’t baptize by immersion). At that moment, the woman desiring baptism gathered every ounce of her faith, and with tears in her eyes, told the nurse antagonizing her:”You don’t understand. I need to be baptized fully in water. Completely under the water - nothing else. There is no substitute. Jesus Christ was baptized in water. That is how Jesus Christ did it, and that is how I will do it.”

This is faith. I have been blessed to see this miracle unfold in front of me. This woman will be following the example of Jesus Christ and entering the waters of baptism this week. I know that she will be blessed. I know that we need to exercise our faith daily if we desire the blessings of God for ourselves and for others. We need to have faith to be obedient to God’s commandments, and if we are obedient we will see miracles.

Before closing, I received a letter from Elder Sigler this week. At home I realized that we always lived the gospel as a group of friends, but we never bore strong testimonies to one another.  His letter could have included the wild things going on, but instead it had Elder Sigler’s most heartfelt testimony. I felt the Holy Ghost as I read the words from his letter. Elder Sigler is a worthy and truly loyal servant of the Lord. I cannot say how privileged I am to call him my friend. He has, will, and will always positively change and influence the lives of many, as he has for me. It gave me time to reflect on how happy I am with our group of friends. I look forward to the day when we will all see each other again and meet inside the temple.

With Love,

Elder Tait.

2 Years. Make it count.

“….Man how are we going to steal a Tank?”

“Does it have wheels?”

“….uhhhh Yeah?”

“If it got wheels I can jack it!”