Hey guys! Sorry I didn't get around to emailing this email for a few weeks,
but I decided to take some time to write this today haha
Well first off there has been some confusion with the mission address where I can recive letters, because the mission office moved locations. It turns
out this is the correct address:
Elder Johnathan Elkins
Victor Rocha Cruz
Apartado postal 118-184
Gustavo A. Madero
México D.F.-C.P. 07051
MÉXICO
If you sent a letter to the other address, I should still get it, cuz I'm
still recieving letters from there. It'll just take more time.
So the past few weeks have been pretty interesting! haha We had a mission
conference last week and it was one of the most awesome conferences I've
ever been too!! we had a member of the presidency of the 70, Craig C
Christensen, and a member of the are presidency visit us!! They taught us a
lot of really amazing things!!! And I can say that they are truly men of
God, their words invite the spirit so strongly and they can speak with such
power!!!
I really can't say great it was!! haha
and Also we got the old district back together in the conference!!! it was
great to see everyone from the MTC!! I felt like Ammon, (A powerful
missionary in the Book of Mormon) who when he found his brothers who were
still his brothers in the Lord, was over joyed to see them again :) That
day was definitly an amazing day :)
and THis last Saturday we had the baptism of Jasmin, who is one of the 6
daughters in the Chaltell family. Her baptism was great, and I know she'll
recive many blessing for showing God that she is willing to Follow Jesus
Christ.
But there's some one else I want to focus one for a minute. Her Name is
Bscilisa Santiago.
My companion and I found her my first week here. adn we started teaching
her. Her family has been members for a while now, but she never converted.
My companion and I started at the Basics with the Restoration of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, all the way up until she wanted to be baptized.
She was baptized two weeks ago. and I can tell you what, when someone is
about to be baptized, all hack breaks out and tries to stop it. That
Saturday we kept running into problem after problem. and in the end of the
day before the baptism we didn't have a whole lot of water in the baptismal
font because the water to the church building got shut off as we were
filling it up, and the brother in the church who was going to baptize her
called and hour before the baptism, and said he couldn't make it that
night. Here in this mission, missionaries aren't allowed to baptize anyone.
Our mission president made that rule because he wants members in this area
to baptize new converts, so that new person will have a friend in the
church after the missionaries leave.
But this night I ended up getting special permission to Baptize Bacilisa :)
but we had another problem, I didn't have my white clothes that we use for
baptism. ( we use white because it symbolizes purity) my clothes were still
with the brother in the church from the other baptism. But I managed to
very tightly sqeeze into the white pants we bought for Sofia's baptism (ou
can look in previous pictures, and see how much bigger I am than Sofia
hahaha)
And then the next problem was the didn't know the ordnance prayer for
baptism in spanish. So I spent a half hour trying to memorize Bacilisa's
name ( which is long haha) and the ordnance prayer in spanish.
after the program started I got into the baptismal font with bacilisa (
which was only about half full) And I said her name and the prayer, and
baptized her. (I had to go really low with her too haha )
and after she came up put of the water, my comp closed the viewing doors to
the font, and Bacilisa cough a little bit and pulled her hair out of her
eyes. I asked her if she was okay ( cuz she was coughing a little bit) and
she said she was fine. But only a few seconds after that she began to cry a
lot. at first I was worried that she was surprised by the water or maybe I
hit her head on the bottom. (that's the lifeguard in me) but then I
realized that what was happening was she was feeling the spirit testify to
her that what she just did was the will of God, and I knew in that moment
that she was feeling the incredible love of her Father in Heaven. She cried
for a while, and then after she had calmed down a little bit we stood in
the baptismal font completely silent for a good 5 minutes with my hand on
her shoulder. And the spirit was testifying to Bacilisa, and converting
her. that moment was so intense. And in that moment I knew that this truly
is the Church of God here on the earth. Only the spirit could cause what I
saw that night in the baptismal font. It was like the spirit of God Just
hit Bacilisa with such force, that I've never seen take so immediate
affect, in my life. This truly is The Church of God. I have literally seen
miracles in my life, but that moment was one of the most powerful.
