Un Bautismo Hermoso! - January 12, 2015

HOLA!!!!

ROSIBEL GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow.... It was so amazing!!!!!!!!! She got really nervous right before it started because she is scared of going under water and because they had announced it in sacrament meeting! There was a lot of people at church yesterday and they all just went straight from the chapel to the relief society room to be at the baptism. She was nervous :) But... she did it and the spirit was SOOOOOOOOOO strong!!!! I couldn’t even really “see” her be baptized because of how many people were there! I was able to kinda lay across some chairs and see the reflection in the mirror! haha! She is amazing and bore the most beautiful testimony at the end of the service! I had been a nervous wreck the whole day! I have not been to a baptism on my mission yet, let alone planned one! Our ward missionary leader didn't get any of our calls that week and neither did the branch president - so we were so scared. Although it was not the most eloquent of baptisms.. it was still beautiful! There was a lot of families there and a lot of kids!!! One even ran in during the middle of one of the talks, starts crying and then started to spit up blood! You know that you are joining the true church when in the midst of all that, the spirit can still be felt that strong! haha. Rosibel sent us a text this morning telling us that she is super happy. I asked her to tell me why and she said "Because now we can hang out more and share the word of God". This text could not have made my day anymore that it did!!!!!!!!! It has been quite the miracle!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the rest of the week: very BUSY and very LONG and very TIRING! I am drained ....................! I was not on my top game this week. It snowed and has been absolutely f r e e z i n g. The day that it snowed we got a text telling us that the cars were ‘grounded’ and we were not allowed to use them. So... we hoped on the buses and headed toward the city. We had and appointment with Rosibel and got lost in Baltimore trying to find which bus would take us there. THEN, the closest bus stop to her house was about a mile and a half away. I fell down pretty hard when I slipped on some ice :( Turns out, they had ‘ungrounded ‘the cars at around 2 that day but we never received the text message... haha :( Other car problems: Hermana Orton and I forgot to turn in our DVR which just tells how many miles we have used and what not. So... please pray that our car doesn't get taken away for a little bit!!! I feel like it shouldn't since we never got the text telling us we could use them again - jaja!!

We had a really cool experience with a former investigator. I had never met her before and we could never get an appointment with her because of her job. During our weekly planning I just got the strongest feeling that we needed to contact her. We sent her a text to which she immediately responded and said we could come over the next day. WHAT!? We went over and taught the restoration. I could NOT speak Spanish that night... it was bad! She had a lot of questions and I had a hard time answering them in Spanish. But, by the end of the lesson... thanks to the spirit taking over...  she understood everything, said she would pray about Joseph Smith, wants to come to church and that she will be baptized when we learns some more. She is G O L D E N. But, like I told you I was super off my game this week! I left our phone at her house! We saw her on Friday, the next day was Saturday and Rosi was getting baptized on Sunday! I couldn't have picked a worse time to lose it! But, our new investigator is just so awesome, she contacted the elders and we were able to get our phone back Saturday night at 5 (after the elders had changed our wallpaper, contact names and set an alarm for 2 in the morning)!!

I met a lady in our branch this week, I had never met her before. She is blind and recently fell down her stairs. She had a huge old neck brace on and just broke my heart! She is SO CUTE! When her daughter told her that the missionaries had stopped by she just grabbed out to reach my hand and started crying! She is just one of the adorable little women that says things like "Gracias a Dios" at the end of every sentence and could talk for hours and hours and hours!

Elder Ayon is going home this week! I am so sad! He is such a good missionary and who knows if I will every see him again! He lives is Mexico. We had a little surprise going away party for him at a members house in Baltimore! It was a lot of fun! I am not good at goodbyes!

Yesterday.... We got a text from the Bonilla family and they invited us over for dinner! They asked what we liked to eat and I had told them pasteles from El Salvador and tres leches. When we got there, Abraham had bought us pasteles! They were SO good! Then, he went to the fridge and whips out this giant, beautiful, extravagant cake! I asked whose birthday it was and he told me that they had gotten it for me!!! WHAT!? How are people SO KIND!? It just blows my mind!!!! I hope that I can become like the people I am meeting out here on my mission! Then, Abraham gave Hermana Orton his old jersey of her favorite soccer team! So so so so so giving!!

So... although the week started off VERY shaky and struggled big time... it had the most BEAUTIFUL ending :)

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!