This week ended up being really busy because we had a baptism! His name is J. He's 22 years old. He first heard about los mormones because his girlfriend is a mormon. They started dating and he learned more and more about it. He read the whole Book of Mormon awhile ago and shortly after started going to church with his girlfriend and her family. My first Sunday here we talked to him a little bit because he had already met with the missionaries once. He told us that he wants to get baptized! All right!
It ended up being a little bit crazy trying to teach him everything before his baptism, but he is super eager and willing to learn more about the gospel. It's so awesome! I feel so privileged to be able to teach him and learn from his desire to be obedient.
The baptism itself was a little bit interesting. I think absolutely everything possible that could go wrong--went wrong. Before the baptism started our district leader was supposed to meet us at the church to bring the pants J would used to get baptized. The baptism itself was supposed to start at 7:00. At 7:00, J, the members, his girlfriend and her family were all there...but the elders still hadn't shown up, and neither had the bishop. And the bishop was the one who was going to baptize him! Ah! Then our mission president shows up!! We were stressing out. The elders were on their way, but stuck on a bus, and the bishop had written the time down wrong and thought it started at 8:00. Oh my...by this time Presidente had to leave, but it was still fun to see him. :)
Anyway, to make a long story short, everyone finally gets there and we start the meeting. After the talk everyone goes to the font and we realize that no one has the key to open the doors in front of the font so everyone can watch! AHH! We share the church building with the other ward, and I guess the other elders have the keys. They have always been there for the baptisms in the past, so it never occurred to anyone that we didn't have the key. Hermana Carson and I were totally stressed out, and felt so humiliated. We started making calls to see if someone could bring the key and then we realize that it's quiet and that there aren't so many people out in the hall. Then we heard a bishop's voice say "en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen," followed by a loud splash. Everyone ended up going in through the bathroom to watch. Oh my. What a baptism to remember. hahaha I hope to never experience one like that again. But what matters is that it happened. He still got baptized!! And he was so happy. :) Bishop said before he got baptized he was super quiet and nervous, but right after "nunca dejó de hablar!" (he wouldn't stop talking!) He just kept saying things like he was so happy and he felt so good and he never wanted to leave the water!
I love seeing that change in people. That's what the gospel does. Even if we have to witness it from the bathroom door. :) I love you all!
-Hermana Vawdrey
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| Conferencia con Elder Vinas |
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