"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe"

Hello Everyone.

I want you each to know that I love you so much.  I love this gospel that we have in our life.  I love my Savior Jesus Christ.  I love the Plan of Salvation.  I love that we can be together forever.  I love sharing the knowledge I have with families here in Georgia so that they can have the opportunity to be with their families forever too. 

This week was super great.  I have been so excited to share with you the many mighty miracles we have seen.

Brother O'Dell:  Well he got baptized this Saturday and confirmed Sunday!  Wow it was a super cool day for him and all of us.  When he came up out of the font he raised his hands in the air and said "thank you Jesus!"  Not sure about that haha, but he was one happy person!  I was looking back in my journal and this is what i wrote: "April 28, 2016 We left and went tracking down College Street.  We were not having much success after hours of knocking.  Then while we were walking, i picked up a to a dandelion and blew a wish to find someone so ready to receive the gospel.  Then i blew on it.  We were praying in our hearts as well for this to happen.  We decided to cross the street and try this one house.  No luck.  We saw an older gentleman riding his bike towards the way we were going.  We started walking towards him, and we knew the spirit wanted us to talk to him.  We said "hi."  I was so scared.  He had already passed us.  Then i was like "hey you got a minute?"  He put his feet down to stop himself and said "yeah i got a minute."  We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon with him.  It was great.  His name in Odell.  Wow it was a miracle.  We are meeting with him tomorrow.  Good thing we crossed the street and went back to that one house or we never would have crossed paths with Odell.  I told sister Sundwall Odell is going to be baptized."  Heavenly Father is so great!  He placed Odell right in our paths.  haha i still have that dandelion.  We shouldn't ever be afraid to talk with those that the spirit tells you to and that the Lord places in your path.  We will never know what the Lord can do for them.  The gospel has blessed Odell so much in his life, and what a privileged it is to have seen that beautiful change take place in his life by the Lord.  

Lisa: We had invited Lisa, one of our investigators to the baptism, and we invited her to come with the question in mind if this was the right thing for her.  We previously the week before invited her to baptism again, but she didn't want to set a date yet.  After O'Dell was baptized, she turns to me and was like "what was that date ya'll wanted me to be baptized again."  and we said "august 13th" then she just smiled at us and said "hmm...maybe..."  It was a cool moment.
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40 Day Fast: We ended our 40 day fast as a branch this week.  We ended it with a prayer.  Something really cool that was said really hit me hard.  One of the members from the branch stood up and told about in 1986 when they first broke the ground to build the cedartown branch building.  People never even thought that they would have a building.  In the prayer that was said by some President, he blessed the ground "for the building of the Cedartown Stake."  Oh wow.  Cedartown will one day be a ward, and one day be a stake!  I know this is true.  The spirit confirmed to me in that very meeting.  So many amazing miracles came from that 40 day fast.  One of which, an individual prayed and fasted for "3 families" (members) to move into the branch.  No one has moved into Cedartown in years!  In the past week we have 3 families (13 members) move into Cedartown Branch.  We have 7 children!  Miracles do happen.  That is not by coincidence.  I wish i had time to tell you each of their individual stories of how they ended up here.  They were all moved upon by the spirit to move here.  The Lord can do mighty things.  These members have so much faith, I'm telling you.  We have had less actives come back to reactivity the past 40 days.  Yesterday at church, 59 people.  That is about 30 more than before we started that fast.  Today i read this from 2 N

ephi 27:23 "for behold, i am God; and i am a God of miracles; and i will show unto the world that i am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and i work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."  The Cedartown Branch is full of faith, it is growing fast, and it will soon be a ward because God is a God of miracles.

Yesterday we found a butterfly on the side of the road.  Then it was flying all over us.  It was just so cute!  

Today I was reading from Mark 5 about the many miracles Jesus did preform.  Jesus was on his way to heal a sick girl.  Then the ruler comes out of the Synagogue saying that he didn't have to worry because she had already died.  Jesus said to him "be not afraid, but believe."  Jesus ended up raising her from the dead.  My testimony strengthened so much from this simple little story I studied this morning.  We don't have to be afraid.  We just have to believe.  It brings me so much comfort that because Jesus died for us, we can all live again.  He rose from the dead, and so will we.  Families are forever.  The power to seal families for all eternity is once again found on this earth.  Jesus Christ is our literal Savior.  

I love you all so much.  You are so in my prayers.  Thank you for your prayers.  I feel strengthened everyday from them.  "I have a family here on earth. they are so good to me.  i want to share my life with them through all eternity. families can be together forever. through Heavenly Father's plan. i always want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how i can.  The Lord has shown me how i can."  We are blessed.  I love you all. Until next week.

Love,

Hermana Stewart :)