Last week my companion and I felt that we should invite Jimmy and Ricardo Villanueva to baptism. They are children, which is why we didn´t baptize them before because their parents can´t get married for legal issues.
However, when we asked them, their faces lit up and they said that they had been waiting for us to ask them. Jimmy has been begging us for months because he really wants to attend the temple in Santo Domingo, and he was able to go see it a few weeks ago with the Bishop. He was so excited to just be in the waiting room for a few hours! When I asked him if he would like to be baptized, his jaw about hit the floor and he wasn´t able to speak for more than 30 seconds. I knew they were ready.
SO we set to work! We set their baptism date for the 25th of April, the same date that the Elders had for 2 of their investigators. We got speakers, a special musical number, and everything ready in about a week.
During the entire week I was SUPER stressed... I was having nightmares about it and everything! Finally we got to Friday when we had the interviews and everything turned out fine. Then Elder Whitworth our zone leader was like ¨Just prepare yourself, Hermana, something´s bound to happen.¨ (He was joking but serious at the same time.)
So we get to Saturday... We went to the chapel at 1pm to clean and set up for the baptism when we find... Dirty water in the baptismal font from the last baptism in February. And it wasn´t draining.
Ricardo and Jimmy came to help clean up, so we set them to work with Elder Irish draining the font with buckets while we mopped the floor.
I wasn´t super happy at this point, but then Elder Rodas came in with my birthday package from home and I found the CITY OF JOSEPH cd inside, which I put in the DVD player and we had fun dancing to it. Ricardo began learning the chorus and is still singing it everyday. That was really a tender mercy for me... Just the music made me feel better.
After we finally got the font all ready, we went with the boys to their house to help their mom make refreshments for the baptism. When we finished, we all piled into the car (7 people in a 5 person car isn´t uncommon here and isn´t necessarily illegal.) and headed to the church.
Hermana Bates and Elder Garcia were able to attend the baptism, which was amazing! Elder Garcia was able to baptize Jimmy and Elder Irish baptized Ricardo.
I couldn´t keep from crying when I saw them enter into the water... I have been teaching these kids since I got here six months ago. Afterwards we all sang hymns together and I lead them. Everyone was so happy... I truly felt overwhelmed by the Spirit. I felt that that day made every single hard moment worth it.
I love being a missionary and I love this gospel! I want to let you guys know that I love you all so much! Keep smiling, love more, and always remember who you are (Children of God of course!).
Con muchisimo amor,
Hermana Krislee Nicole Twiner
No comments:
Post a Comment