Miner Mission-Major Blessings: Missed it by *that* much

The baptismal totals for our month of miracles have arrived, and, drum roll please, there were 162 people who were baptized this past month, beginning their journey to become disciples of Christ and enter in to the Celestial Kingdom. Our goal was 170, but we blew the old record for baptisms in once month out of the water (the old record was around 90). Our zone had been given the goal of 10 and we had 8, so not bad either. Shoutout to the "Solomon Warriors," our brothers up in the Solomon Islands who blew WAY past their goal. Next month our mission goal is 130 baptisms, with our zone being responsible for 8.

Second big piece of news, transfers came in, Elder Kessler and I will be staying here in Ouemo together. By the end of this transfer he will have been here for 9 months, which is the longest we know of for one missionary to stay in one area, but he likes it here and has done an amazing job of getting the bureau up and running as amazingly as it is now. We have a lot of good things starting to happen here as well, which is great.

I want to talk a little bit about the hand of God in missionary work. Monday we had been working all day in one area and felt impressed to stay working in one neighborhood until a certain time. We then both agreed that we needed to move on to a different neighborhood. Once there we were in the process of talking to Beatrice and Rebeca when someone came and said to us, in English, "Elders, can you finish quickly? We need to talk to you." We did so, and went to talk to him. He is actually a member from the Ducos Ward, and he was with his cousin. Apparently she had asked him something about who we were or what we were doing, and he brought us over to talk to her. We had a great spiritual discussion about our church and it's Restoration. Had we not been following the promptings of the Spirit, we never would have been in the right place at the right time to encounter someone ready to listen.

I love this work, I love this Gospel, and I love Jesus Christ. I love you all, and I testify of the love of God for each one of you.

See you soon,

Elder Miner

These are some photos that Elder Kessler sent me that he'd taken with his camera. The first was us at the start of our companionship, then me making cookies and then us at the Riviere Bleue.