"Can I get baptized earlier because I might be going to jail."

Hi!

I'm still in Colorado. I'm loving it here and having a blast living with three other sisters. Sometimes it feels like a sleepover but don't worry we are still working really hard. They are struggling and having a hard time getting our visas and we (me and sis. Ellison) are afraid that if we are still here by the end of transfers (Nov. 7) that we won't be going to Mongolia. We'd only have a year and one month left of our mission.
Our whole mission is struggling right now in finding people to teach. Pueblo, where I'm at, is the hot spot and the place where everyone wants to go because one teaches a lot here. But that hasn't really been the case since I got here. Sis. Yancey said that before we arrived that she would be teaching 20 or more lessons a week. Now we are down to 5 lessons a week. It is hard to tract all the time without much success. I have to keep telling myself that I'm not doing anything wrong. I keep working hard and I'm obedient so I'm doing the best that I can. None of our investigators showed up for church. Bummer! Kelsey, the girl we've been working with, got really sick and we haven't taught her all week.
But there was a miracle this week! Our zone leaders called us on Tuesday to try and fire us up to have the faith to find. Me and Sister Yancey were all pumped that day. We went out to work that day having the mentality that we were going to find someone. So we went out that day to start tracking. As we were walking to where we wanted to track, a guy waved us over to talk. We thought that was really weird because people never do that. We talked to him on his porch and asked if he would like to learn more about our beliefs. He said yes and asked if we could teach him right there. We've taught him three times this week, the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Word of Wisdom. We gave him a baptismal date of Nov. 8th and he told us that he wanted to be baptized earlier but we told him that he had to come to church at least twice and take all the lessons. He's read everything we've given him and he has prayed about it too. He said that he hasn't got a super strong answer but he feels that getting baptized is what God wants him to do. We almost fell out of our chairs when he said that. When we asked him to follow the word of wisdom (he smokes, drinks coffee) he said that he wanted to stop anyway and that he knows how bad it is for him. He started to change his life around five months ago by quiting drugs and alcohol. So he's been clean of those things for five months. The funny thing is that before we started the lesson on word of wisdom he said, "Instead of drinking coffee this morning, I prayed. My day has gone a lot better." He's in his early twenties and goes to culinary school, which surprised us. Also, after teaching him the word of wisdom. He told us that he should stop listening to the bad music he likes because he feels that it isn't good for his spirit. We looked at each other and thought "Who is this guy?" He then surprised us again by asking, "Is body piercings against the word of wisdom? (he has a nose ring)" Our mouths dropped open because he was on top of things and is wanting to do the right things without us saying it. We taught him last on Friday. He said that he was going to come to church but he didn't show and then he wasn't at home for our appointment on Sunday either. But we aren't going to give up on him yet (Bill). We hope he has a good reason for not coming to church. The problem that we are going to have with him is that he might have to go to jail. He was charged with a misdemeaner and is going to court on Monday so he might be put in jail for 60 days.

I've come to realize that what we are teaching people isn't taking away from their faith but building upon it. What we have is 10 times better than what they think is great. It can bring them closer to our Heavenly Father, Christ and they can feel the full extent of the Atonement through the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gospel and the plan of salvation just makes so much sense and it gives me wonderful peace and comfort to know why I'm here and what I'm doing on this earth. I wouldn't be able to get through the hard times without that knowledge, that I'm a daughter of God.

The church is true so keep the faith no matter what!

Love, Sister Sumsion