It seems like this week has kind of been a long one. This is one of the few weeks that passed very, very slowly. But we got everything done!
Cristina: baptized (by Elder Smith, and I helped. She has a bad back)
Erik: received the priesthood
Elvia: baptized by Erik (husband)
Raul and Rosy: baptized (Elder Flores baptized Rosy, I baptized Raul)
SATURDAY:
I don't really know where to start! There were lots of little miracles along the way that made all of this possible. We weren't positive that Cristina's baptism was going to happen until Thursday night, so attendance wasn't super awesome. When they showed up, Cristina asked, "can my grandson get baptized today too?" He's 7 1/2. Darn...
After the baptism, we were in this stake play thing on the Book of Mormon. Our ward didn't have enough people to cast our part, so all the missionaries were the robbers in the story of Ammon. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the pictures, but I'll bug the bishop to get them.
SUNDAY:
Elvia's baptism was better advertised and we had a full room. For any of you that have seen the District 2 videos that the church gives the missionaries, it was totally a Robles Family experience...a long time less-active comes back to church, gets the priesthood, and baptizes his wife. There was such a special spirit there.
Raul and Rosy FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED!!! And they mentioned one year until the temple like 3 times. It was awesome. Easily the best baptismal service I've been too. And it was awesome being able to actually hug somebody that I've baptized, since all of them have been women up till now. I admittedly got a little choked up during the baptismal prayer. Then, another awesome moment, all of the missionaries there (and there were at least 10) were asked to sing "I believe in Christ." Raul and Rosy had their hymn book open following along. Then verse three, they started singing with us while they were still sitting in their chairs.
So, as a reminder, I got the call to come to my current area on a Tuesday night, and had to be in my area Wednesday morning, so I didn't have a chance to say bye to anybody. I felt the worst about Jeaneth, my first baptism. She came to the baptism Sunday, and it was awesome to get to say an official goodbye. But it gets crazier. So the baptism was yesterday, she moves to northern California TODAY. So we got some pictures and stuff, said official goodbyes, and one of the last things she said to me was, "Thank you for baptizing me." I was speechless. She's still been active in church. She was baptized 4 months ago today.
So ya, all this happened Saturday and Sunday. Now I'm tired. IT WAS ALL SOOOO WORTH IT!
Today, we're throwing a mini-party for a sister, Hermana Thayne, that goes home at the end of this month. It involves GOLFING! She has told us that her brothers golf, she always wanted to go, but they never invited her. We have a guy in our ward that makes cakes for a living. He made a cake for her that looks just like her red dress she always wears. We convinced her it was "National Red Day" so that she would wear the dress and then eat the cake that looks like her dress. Hopefully it all works out. I'm having a freaking blast!
This upcoming week, we're going to be focusing a lot on making it perfectly clear what it is that we do as missionaries, and we're going to analyze which of our contacts are ready to keep going. We still have tons of potential in our area. I'm loving life, and it hasn't gotten too hot...yet.
Love you all so much, and thank you for all the prayers! There were tons of miracles this past week!
Elder Christensen
 |
| Cristina (and 7 1/2 year-old grandson that wanted to get baptized) (Tanner and Elder Smith) |
 |
| Elvia and Erik (Tanner and Elder Smith) |
.jpg) |
| Raul and Rosy |
 |
| Jeaneth (baptized 4 months ago) (Elder Flores, Tanner, and Elder Blanchard) |
No comments:
Post a Comment