Dear Family,
I don't have any words for how awesome this week was. I don't even know where to start. This week was marvelous. Seriously. I think it is probably the best, most crazy, busiest week of my mission. What a contrast to last week! Perhaps the most exciting thing is that Joshua got baptized! Yes! It was awesome! He was just beaming at the baptism, and it was great. The spirit was there and Joshua was happy. We kind of have a funny story relating to the baptism though.
On Friday, we were going to have his baptismal interview, and we planned on meeting him in his "grandmother's" house at 4:30, chatting for a bit about the interview some more, and then walking over to the office to have it. Well. We also had zone conference on Friday (which, by-the-way was so good), and the Zone Conference was in Vega Baja, which is about a 45 minute drive west of our area. Zone Conference ended fine but we ended up waiting for a long time so we could talk to the missionary doctor who is in charge of the Carribean area, who was visiting that day. We finally finished at about 4:15, because there was a long line. When we went to get in our car though, we tried to start it and nothing happened...we ran out of battery because we had left our lights on! "Oh no! We're never going to make it to the interview now," we thought. "Luckily" (ha), just then the Vega Baja Elders "just happened" to pull into the parking lot. They "happened" to have jumper cables, fixed Pepe (our little white corolla), and sent us on our way. So, we were on the road at about 4:35. We drove really fast, and a little dangerously too, but we made it to Joshua's house by 5:05 and then ran over to the office licky-quick and made it there at 5:15...before our district leader even got there. Haha. So, all-in-all, it was a little crazy, but Joshua had the interview and he got baptized the next day and everything was good and happy.
While we were at the office, we invited all the people who work in the office to the baptism, and they all came! It was so sweet. Sister Martineau, the mission president's wife came too, with the doctor and his wife. Leo, Joshua's friend came to support him and he dressed up in a suit and tie too. It was really sweet. The Young Men's president baptized him, which I think is really great for him because they have a relationship already and that will really help him stay strong in the church. Just someone else to support him. It was a really great experience. What's better, Joshua received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday in Sacrament meeting, which is a wonderful blessing for him. We were just really happy for him and excited everything turned out well.
We had other great experiences this week too. On Monday, for P-day, we went to Isla de Cabras...it means Goat Island (which I thought was interesting, because Niagra Falls has a Goat Island too, right? What a random name to occur more than once in Geography). Anyway. Isla de Cabras was really cool. From there, you can see the Moro, which is kind of like the symbol of Puerto Rico. The Moro (along with Old San Juan) is over in the East Mission, but it was really cool to see it from far away. Just as we were about to leave, huge cruise ship was coming into the bay. It was massive. For reals. It was pretty cool.
Carolina is doing so great. She is still reading in the Book of Mormon and yesterday committed to do so daily. Yay! Also, she came to church yesterday! It was so wonderful. It was testimony meeting, and the spirit was really strong and (although we didn't get much of a chance to talk afterwards because her ride was leaving), I suspect she felt the spirit in that meeting. We talked about the Priesthood in Princples of the Gospel, which was good, but a little advanced. In Relief Society, we talked about Jesus Christ and the pre-earth life, which was perfect as a reinforcment of the Plan of Salvation lessons we taught her this week. Her son, Cristian went to primary and loved it, so that is great. He'll be able to help encourage his mom to come back to church. We had some great lessons with members this week at her house too, so we're really excited for her. The reason she couldn't come to church last week was completely out of her control and just reinforces to me that Satan really doesn't want people to have that experiece in church just because it is so important in the conversion process. It was great that she came though. We were so happy.
Rudy is one of our investigators. I don't know if I've told you about him before, but we had a lesson at his house just before Hermana Lopez left. He is a contact who called us, and that was just really exciting for us because contacts never call you. But, he called us and that really excited us. We had a lesson with him, and then didn't have another one until this week because he has a crazy work schedule. He paints houses, and so he works whenever he can get work, so it is hard to connect with him. Also, he recently moved to a new house, and the owner of the house doesn't like the church very much, so we can't teach him there. Fortunately, one of our new members lives right down the street, and they love missionary work. Really. They go out and knock doors with the Elders all the time and are always asking for pass-along cards to give to their friends. So. One of them came to our first lesson with Rudy, and they said that he could have the lessons in his house. We had a lesson there this week with Rudy and it was really good. He had read in the Book of Mormon, and what's more...he had remembered what he had read. Which, believe it or not, is not very common (the investigators remembering what they read, that is). Anyway. The cita was good. We left him with an assignment to read in the Book of Mormon and also we left him a pamphlet of the Prophet Joseph Smith's testimony. We got a call the next day while we were in a lesson with Joshua. Sister Reid answered the phone because we were waiting on the bishop before we started the lesson. It was Rudy, and I guess he had read the testimony and was really excited about what he had read. Hermana Reid said she gave him basically the whole first lesson again, over the phone. They talked about prophets and their importance and Jesus Christ and how he set up a church and then how he restored the church through a prophet because it had been lost. It was cool that he called us again and that he was so excited about what he had learned. We have a lesson with him today, so we'll see how it goes.
So many other wonderful and exciting things happened this week, but I just don't have time left. Sorry! Haha. I guess I found the words, but just to share the experiences. Not the feelings of this week. Really. I wish you could just come and feel the mission with me, because you can't describe it. This week was fabulous. Thanks for your love and support!
Love,
Hermana Miller :)
ps. Remember the green bananas in that other photo? We ate them this week! They were tasty. Actually really sweet and a fresher, happier flavor than the normal, yellow ones. Yum!
0 comments: