This week was great! We had the baptisms and so now I can finally rest for a sec.
I want to start off my telling the story of Rosario, the woman who was married last week and got baptized on Saturday with her kids.
So
in my second transfer, about 5 months ago, she had never seen us
before, but she had a dream about us. This was when I was with my
trainer, Elder Rodriguez. In her dream, she said she saw us and we
started teaching her. She said we were like two angels and she knew she
needed us. She told us that her and her family were in a dark place and
her family was going deeper into the darkness. But that she was trying
to come out of the darkness and that we were the key to her coming to
the light/good. She then was an example to her family and was the only
one that could bring them out of the darkness, and to salvation. The
dream was a little more detailed and a lot more likely to give you goosebumps, but that was my interpretation. Anyway, we were walking by
her house one day, and then she saw us. She yelled something to me but I
still didn't know Spanish too well back then so I thought she was just
like the rest of the girls when they see an American and get all giddy
so I said hi, waved, and kept walking. I remember thinking that she
wanted something, not just to say hi to an American. I hesitated and
walked a little slower. Elder Rodriguez didn't hear, or was deep in
thought as he walked fast down the road. She yelled for us again, so I
stopped and yelled for my companion as he was a little ways ahead of me.
He turned around and followed me. We shook her hand and gave her a
pamphlet of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We scheduled a
day to come back and teach, and went on our way. When we came back a
couple days later for our first lesson with her, she told us the dream
she had and was so excited about it. She turned into such a great
investigator and always loved having us over. After the first couple
visits, she told us she wanted to be baptized. The only problem was that
she wasn't married to Ysidro, the man she lives with. So we taught her
the Law of Chastity and then made sure the next time, and all the times
after that, to teach her and Ysidro together. He was great too, but hesitant about baptism and marriage. So we fasted and did a lot of
praying for them. I even asked all of ya'll to fast for miracles and the
people of Los Cocos in one of my blogs during this time. A lot of you
did and thank you for that! With the combined faith of all of ya'll and
my companion & I, we got the miracle we needed. Ysidro told us in
one of our lessons that they wanted to get married and they were excited
about their decision. We were STOKED!! But we also knew it would be a
crazy hard process. For a while it seemed a little out of touch and for a
couple of weeks, they stopped progressing very much because her mom
died, then a week later his dad died. But we kept strong and having
faith with them and after a lot of planning, lessons, prayers, fasting,
loss of sleep and hair, and LOTS of blessings, they were married! We
had originally planned on baptizing them both with two of their kids who
are 10 and 11, but Ysidro needed a little more time and help because he
is trying hard to stop drinking and start living the word of wisdom, so
we baptized Rosario and the two kids because they didn't want to wait
or postpone the baptism any longer. I usually would be against not
baptizing the family all together, but that's what they wanted and
honestly, I think seeing a baptism first really helped Ysidro. He has
strong desire to get baptized and is making a lot of progress getting
ready for it. He is great and is always willing to accompany his wife to
church and activities. But, as always, quitting addicting habits and
learning to live differently is very hard, especially with Satan
constantly trying to make us fall. So I would greatly appreciate your
prayers for him. Also for Rosario and that she can stay strong and gain
an even stronger testimony of the gospel and not just have a testimony,
but to be really converted to Jesus and live His gospel.
The
day of the baptisms was great. Rosario and her two boys all wanted me
to baptize them! So I did, first Rosario, then the boys. Then right when
I was about to go back into the bathroom and change, Chaudy, a boy who
was supposed to be baptized with them too, walked in way late. Chaudy's
parents have been members for over 13 years, but his dad is less active
because he has to work on Sunday's.
Chaudy was way late, but him and his mom and sister walked in and said
they still wanted to do it! So she asked me if I could baptize him
because I was ready and already wet. I said of course! Then about 5
minutes after I baptized him, his dad walked in. I felt way bad that he
missed it! We would have waited if we had known he was coming. But he
was just happy that his son was baptized so it's ok.
On Sunday
we ate at their house and they were so happy and just kept saying how
they loved me and stuff. It was a great feeling to feel such love and appreciation.
When we walked out of the church after the
baptism, Rosario kept saying how she felt so clean and could walk 5
miles! haha. It is so awesome to see the people I teach grow, progress,
live better, more worthy lives, follow Christ, and enter the waters of
baptism and become cleansed. I could see such a light about her and know
she will continue to be a huge example for her family.
My
ward now calls me "Elder Greer the baptist" because I have baptized
everyone that has been baptized in this ward so far this year! 6 in
total!
#blessed #lovethework #baptisms #salvation ...if hashtags are still a thing ;)
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| A zone family home evening we did last night with all of the
missionaries in our ward and a few of our investigators. We played games
and sang and had the bishop told his conversion story. |
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| Today we had a zone activity for PDay where we all filled up
waterbaloons and then had a big waterbaloon fight. The we ate pizza with
our mission president and watched a disney cartoon movie. |
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| A rather huge 5 legged spider we found in our house |
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| My companion and I decided we need to be more healthy, so we kind f just
threw a bunch of healthy looking thinks in a blender and drank it. Yes,
it included salsa... :) |
