I'll start again and whatever pain may come - 10/28/13

Well, another week in paradise. Hopefully you all got the picture I sent out of me and the Elders that I live with. The apartment I live in has been an Elders apartment for probably three years now, and it definitely looks like a missionary apartment. Right now we have a lamp in the bathroom because the light fixture is acting up. And the shower kind of sucks, I can't get any water pressure and I'm not quite used to the finesse required to get the temperature that I want. So it's a learning curve.

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life.  "KH" who I started teaching 11 months ago, finally got baptized. I walked into the chapel and remembered the names of everybody I saw except for the one family that moved in after I left but I quickly introduced myself to them. Most of the people there came up and said hi to me, which felt awesome. The one kid that told me he's serving a mission because of me was there, as was my family that I baptized first on my mission. I was so happy to see the girls! "M" sat down next to me and we bonded while the baptism was going on. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, it was "J" that actually brought her daughters. I didn't think she would set foot in the church but she did and stayed for the whole baptism. That touched me deeply. She's been inactive since the day of her confirmation.

If there were any people around who thought it was inappropriate for missionaries to hug people, they sure kept quiet, because everybody was giving me hugs, men women and children. Including Jody. I got a handful of pictures, too.

The baptism was full of the spirit. "K" started crying 30 seconds into my talk on baptism and I don't think she let up until after she got out of the water. She has come such a long way! And there were detours and backsliding and sister missionaries that she didn't like along the way, but she got a testimony, she got married, and now she made the step of baptism. My talk was probably the best baptism talk I've ever given. I was so happy for her. It was literally one of the best days of my life so far. 

The new ward seems pretty good. Our ward mission leader is super stoked about missionary work and is trying his hardest to rally the ward members around our banner. There are lots of old people but it's far more diverse age-wise than I was initially led to believe. I don't really know anybody but I'll get there, I'm sure. I've met all of our investigators, and there are only a handful of them. But we picked up two more this week in a super-spiritual lesson! I'm gaining confidence in my teaching abilities again. Now we just need to find them.

Love you tons! Have an awesome week guys.