Baptism!!

Well, from the title you know we had a good week.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to pull out the white pants and tie waiting on that top shelf. 13 year old, Joel was able to fulfill one of his greatest purposes in his life yesterday.  We had a really good baptismal ceremony, combined with an 8 year old girl as the newest church member of her family join us.  We had his baptismal interview on Saturday, he did great.  His mom, who is a member, was able to make it to the baptism.  I saw that his baptism made her remember a lot of the time when she was first baptized.  At first we were a little nervous cause the baptimal font hadn't been turned on in a while and the water smelled like a sewer but we got it all straightened out.  The Mission Leader asked me to sing a hymn in English at the end of the ceremony. I was searching for a song to sing in Sacrament and was debating between "Nearer my God to thee" or hymn 338, America the Beautiful. I went with the first one :).

 

We had appointments everyday with a family we found a few weeks ago.  It is a single mother with five kids. The mom is a little out of it but the kids are receptive and progressing.  We did activities with them in teaching them the points.  One of the pictures attached is of a string that we tied outside to the gate representing eternity before this life.  It extended to the furthest wall of the house representing eternity of after this life.  It breaks off into 3 sections at the end, representing the 3 kingdoms of glory.  They all drew pictures of the steps of this life and put them on the string. It was a fun activity.

 

We had another 10 year old, the cousin of Joel that was going to get baptised yesterday.  When we first started teaching Joel, he always joined us and loved it.  He always asked his mom (very Catholic) if he could get baptised but always told us that he has to wait till he was 18.  On Wed. morning, the district leader, Elder Combe and I went and talked with his mom for the first time, leaving with the permition of his baptism from the combination of the Book of Mormon and the Spirit.  Unfortunately, yesterday he had to go home after Sacrament meeting, telling us that he would come back at 1:00 for his baptism.  We went to bring him back and his neighbor told us that they left in taxi a few hours ago.  We havent been able to find him yet but well see what this week brings.

 

The last picture is of a cake we bought for the birthday of the girl in the family were teaching. Oh yea, and my companion got hit by a car while I was with the district leader.  The car had a beautiful body dent but my companion is fine with a few scratches from shattering the window with his arm.  So he's fine, we got out to work the next day.  I'm just worried no one is going to want to be my companion after this because they are all getting hit by cars.

I hope all is well, have an awesome week! - Elder Warner

 

 

Dad I appreciate your email.  These get me through more than you know. Mission work is some of the most dissapointing, but exciting work.  Not a week goes by that I don't experience the best of both.   Some days are harder than others, a majority of the days I feel overwhelmed.  I have a list of goals that I nothing short of expect to complete before my mission.  One of them right now is knowledge. I lack greatly alot of bible knowlege, the ability to remember where scriptures are, ect. it makes it harder to teach. But I am seeing literal miracles from the smallest of sacrifice that the Lord expects me to make.  Miracles that with surety will change who I am the rest of my life. I am but only starting to recognize how the Spirit works, how to call upon it.   There are so many things for me to learn, and each month I see pass makes me realize there is so little time to learn it.  I am always accepting to your advice because its obvious to see what the mission made you.  Thanks for your support.  It helps me in each day of this.....

- Elder Warner