First Baptism

Dear Family,

So, first off the Zone leaders said that I received a ton of letters from people today but I haven't been able to get them yet and I am only allowed to read them on P-day. So hopefully I got everyone's letter. I still haven't received the package with the 4th of July candy but I might get all of that with the letters.

Anyway another week down! I really feel like I am getting everything down now. Elder Walker and I have been able to teach some really good lessons! I feel like my Spanish is getting a lot better. It helps that Elder Walker helps me out so much. We will be sitting in a lesson and then he will stop talking and look at me and I will have to carry on the next part of the lesson. It keeps me on my toes! But it really has helped me learn a ton. 

So this past Saturday we had our first baptism in the area! This area has only had one baptism in the past year so Elder Walker and I are working really hard to change that.  

Elder Walker said that this baptism was one of the most chaotic baptisms he has ever been a part of. We worked so hard to get everything set up perfect for R_____. We spent a lot of our time just trying to get hot water for the font. We ended up getting everything to work even though it took some time. We also had to set up the whole baptismal service. Well, everyone showed up like 10 minutes late and then we couldn't find the Bishop and R_____. We then found the Bishop giving her an interview! We had no idea what was happening but we waited it out. They came out 20 minutes later and R_____ was crying. We thought the baptism wasn't going to happen. The Bishop talked to us and said that R______ had some things that she felt like she needed to clear up before the baptism but he felt like she was really repentant so we could go on with the baptism. I'm really glad that she actually wanted to clear things up before the baptism but it almost gave us a heart attack!  It just shows how awesome of a person R_____ is. She really wants to do whats right. So anyway, we went on with the program and everything went well. R____’s family came even though they don't want anything to do with the church. But don't worry, we will baptize the mom soon. I can tell.  Elder Walker and our 2 house mates, Elder Ve'e and Elder Pyper sang ¨"Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" and we killed it! We had practiced a bit so we harmonized really well. My singing is actually coming along quiet nicely. After we sang R_____ got baptized by the bishop! There was actually a good amount of members there supporting her. After the baptism we sang songs and then a bunch of people got up to bear their testimonies. It was good but we went way over time. Everything turned out well! It was a long day and there was a lot of work that we had to do but it was worth it.

We 4 missionaries get along super well though. We like to sing a lot and we are all good friends. We all like to work hard! We have been finding a ton of new investigators but it has been really hard for us to get all of them to progress. We had to drop one couple which was really sad. We met with them a lot and I thought for sure they were going to get baptized. They believed in everything we taught but they would not get married. He said he believed in God and he believed in our message and he knew God wanted him to get married but he would not get married. He absolutely refused. We tried everything but he wouldn't budge. It was really sad but I think he might change his mind one day.

I love you guys! I am sending another letter today so look for it in a couple weeks! I have to go! Keep me updated on everything.

LOVE

Elder Lacey